Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Facebook, Google, Apple, Tesla, airbnb, Uber, twitter, Dropbox: all of these highly successful companies have started as innovative start-ups and all come from Silicon Valley. Why does this small region in California create such a high density of innovative business concepts? The answer to this question lies in the contextual consideration of start-ups and their entrepreneurs. They do not operate in a vacuum, but in interaction with their environment. Thus, the high density of innovative and scalable start-ups in Silicon Valley can be explained by the successfully established local Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. An Entrepreneurial Ecosystem is a spatially limited region which, through the work of networked independent actors and regional resources, offers a supportive environment for entrepreneurship and thus provides favourable conditions for the development of start-ups. Although Silicon Valley is the dominant and most successful entrepreneurial ecosystem in the world, there are also established ecosystems in Germany with Berlin (Zalando, SoundCloud, ResearchGate) and Munich (Freeletics, Flixbus). Driven by the success of such examples, other regions are also striving to specifically support the emergence of such an ecosystem. Due to the relatively recent state of research, however, the success factors and the interaction of relevant elements of an ecosystem are largely unknown. With its research, LEMEX supports a better understanding of ecosystems, their elements and their interaction. Research is carried out in theoretical, conceptual and empirical ways.

Contributions to this topic:

• Harima, A., Harima, J., & Freiling, J. (2024). Ecosystem Orchestration: Unpacking the Leadership Capabilities of Anchor Organizations in Nascent Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 48. doi.org/10.1177/10422587241241824
• Marquardt, L., & Harima, A. (2022). Expanding Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Boundaries with Digital Architecture: A Resource Perspective. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2022(1). https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2022.18066abstract.
• Harima, A (2022). Creating Bonding and Bridging Social Capital in Nascent Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Academy of Management Proceedings 2022 (1), 13922
• Baron, T. Phuong, Q.D., Freiling, J. (2022) Inno-Quarter: Open Innovation Quarters for quick end-user feedback at European Festivals
• Harima, A., & Harima, J. (2021). Anchor Organizations as Change Agents in Nascent Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: An Ecosystem Governance. Academy of Management Proceedings 2021 (1), 16498.
• Harima, A., Harima., J., & Freiling, J. (2021). The Injection of Resources by Transnational Entrepreneurs: Towards a Model of the Early Evolution of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 33(1-2), 80-107.
• Baron, T. & Freiling, J. (2019): Blueprint Silicon Valley? Explaining Idiosyncrasy of Startup Ecosystems. Management Issues, 17(1), 6584.
• Baron, T., & Harima, A. (2019). The role of diaspora entrepreneurs in startup ecosystem development-a Berlin case study. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 36(12), 74-102.
• Freiling, J. & Baron, T. (2017): A Resourcebased View of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, in Burr, W. & Stephan, M. (Eds.). Technologie, Strategie und Organisation, 6584. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.
• Harima, A., Juling, J., Freiling, J. (2017). Startup Chile: Facilitating Knowledge Transfer from Transnational Entrepreneurs to the Santiago Startup Ecosystem. Conference Proceedings 3rd International Conference on Migration & Diaspora Entrepreneurship (MDE2017)
• Juling, J., Harima A., Freiling, J. (2016). The Eight Capital Model of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. Conference Proceedings, 6th Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship (LCE2016)