Knowledge, entrepreneurship and performance: evidence from country-level and firm-level studies

This book investigates the interrelations between knowledge and entrepreneurship, and their consequences with regard to economic performance. Both knowledge and entrepreneurship are recognized as new twin driving forces for economic growth. Recent studies suggest that neither knowledge nor entrepreneurship alone is sufficient to drive growth. Investing in new knowledge is only a necessary condition; new knowledge needs to be exploited and put into commercial use such that it can lead to higher levels of competitiveness and economic growth. Entrepreneurship is acknowledged to play an important role in this process. It is thus essential for economists and policy-makers to understand how knowledge and entrepreneurship relate to each other and why they lead to economic growth.

The five empirical chapters included in this book provide new insights into aforementioned issues on the firm- and country-level. Chapter 2 is based on a country-level analysis and identifies the moderating role of entrepreneurship in turning knowledge into innovation, which may ultimately lead to economic growth. Chapters 3 through 5, taking a firm-level perspective, investigate how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) manage their knowledge assets (including organization knowledge and human resources) to stimulate innovation performance. Chapter 6 pays special attention to the determinants of SME growth. The findings of the chapters indicate that entrepreneurship catalyzes the transformation of new knowledge into innovation on the one hand; and the other hand, knowledge plays a significant role in stimulating innovation performance and SME growth.