Abstract
The new concepts of knowledge spillovers and strategic entrepreneurship have received attention from both academia and professionals alike. The association between the two and the impacts of one on another is of great interest to both segments due to the significant potentials of the knowledge spillovers on the economic growth of its surrounding regions. Thus, this chapter aims to uncover the theoretical and empirical research on knowledge spillovers and strategic entrepreneurship in the management context. The chapter follows a review approach to discover and extract the most relevant concepts in this conversation. This chapter is set forth to introduce a brief look at the background of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship and the relationship between knowledge spillovers and strategic entrepreneurship. It is finalized by the avenues of the research and conclusion.
TopThe Knowledge Spillover Theory Of Entrepreneurship
The link between knowledge spillovers and entrepreneurship began to be addressed in the book of “Innovation and Industry Evolution” by Audretsch (1995). Audretsch starts a conducive discussion about the importance of small new ventures creating innovations and promoting growth. In this book the author argues that entrepreneurship, starting new firm, is a response to under exploited and commercialized knowledge created by universities or incumbent firms. The author finds evidence that in industries with greater investment in new knowledge, entrepreneurial activity is higher, but it is lower in industries with low technology investment.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Competitive advantage: Favorable position an organization seeks in order to outperform its rivals.
Strategic Entrepreneurship: Actions planned for seeking competitive advantage, which accelerates entering into new products, processes, technological advancements, and markets by new ventures and incumbents.
Innovation: A new idea, method, or device, the introduction of something new.
Growth: Refers to company growth or economic growth. It denotes a positive development, highly beneficial for companies, investors, and the country's economy in general.
Knowledge Spillovers: The external benefits from the creation of knowledge that accrue to parties other than the creator, occur at multiple levels of analysis, be it within or across organizations and networks.
Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship: This theory posits that Knowledge created endogenously results in knowledge spillovers, which allow entrepreneurs to identify and exploit opportunities.