1. OECD FINDINGS ON
ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS
AND GROWTH-ORIENTED
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Marco Marchese, Economist
OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development
Local Economic and Employment Development Division
marco.marchese@oecd.org

2. OECD background work
• Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development
Reviews
– Helicopter view on issues and policies affecting
entrepreneurship and SME development (systemic and policyoriented perspective)
• Thematic work on growth-oriented entrepreneurship
– Empirical analysis on local distribution and local determinants
of HGFs (DE, IT, UK, DK, BE)
– Thematic seminars (Copenhagen, Warsaw, The Hague)
– Comparative analysis of programmes for HGFs

3. Main areas affecting entrepreneurship and
SME development (OECD reviews approach)
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Entrepreneurial attitudes
Entrepreneurship skills
Innovation and knowledge networks
Access to finance
Business support infrastructure
Strategy and policy delivery

4. What is new in the ecosystem approach
• Role of leader & serial entrepreneurs
– Successful enterprises are the main incubators of
new entrepreneurship, i.e. waves of spinoffs
• Importance of connectors, i.e. the glue of the
system
• Supportive conditions emerge spontaneously
after early wave of spinoffs (C. Mason) …
• … Ecosystems become self-sustainable after a
certain stage of development (D. Isenberg)

5. What is the role of policy in the
ecosystem?
• Being connector and facilitator?
• Setting right framework conditions
(taxation, EPL, PMR)?
• Or anything more proactive (mgmt. skills
dev., equity fin., res. comm.)?
• And if there is a more proactive role:
– how do ecosystem policies differ from cluster
policies?
– How do we facilitate/build growth-oriented
entrepreneurial ecosystems?

6. OECD main findings on HGFs may provide some ideas
(+):pos.rel.; (-):neg.rel.; (~):nonlinear rel.; (=):no rel.; *: in line with
prevailing evidence
• Macro sector*: greater incidence of HGFs in services
• Age (-)*: young firms more likely to become HGFs
• Tech-intensity (+)*: greater incidence of HGFs in high-tech
sectors than non high-tech
• Non-tech innovation (+)*: firms investing in IAs more likely
to become HGFs
• Ownership*: greater incidence of HGFs among foreignowned firms
• Debt financing (~)*: firms receiving debt financing more
likely to achieve HG only up to a certain threshold

7. … continued
• Population density (+)*: positively influence
incidence of HGFs through agglomeration
economies (complementary services, inputs)
• Tertiary education (+)*: positively influence
incidence of HGFs through skilled entrepreneurship
and LF.
• High Unemployment & low GDP GR (=): HGFs born
global and thus less sapped by adverse local PM &
LM conditions?

8. Policy implications from a growthoriented ecosystem perspective
• Environment conducive to start-ups
– Social (entrepreneurial culture) and organisational norms
(not hampering spinoffs)
• Strong local knowledge base (R&D and non-R&D)
– Knowledge flows (inter-firm and industry-university collaboration)
creating entrepreneurial opportunities
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Openness to external sources of knowledge and markets
Educated and skilled labour force
Right mix of financing sources
Macro conditions are not so important, but
agglomeration economies are.

9. Discussion points
• Is this list exhausistive? Is it wrong?
• Where does it make sense to encourage a
growth-oriented entrepreneurial
ecosystem? How?