创业的知识外溢学说

TheknowledgespillovertheoryofentrepreneurshipZoltanJ.AcsÆPontusBraunerhjelmÆDavidB.AudretschÆBoCarlssonAccepted:5November2008/Publishedonline:13December2008
TheAuthor(s)2008.ThisarticleispublishedwithopenaccessatSpringerlink.comAbstractContemporarytheoriesofentrepreneur-shipgenerallyfocusontherecognitionofopportunitiesandthedecisiontoexploitthem.Althoughtheentrepreneurshipliteraturetreatsopportunitiesasexogenous,theprevailingtheoryofeconomicgrowthsuggeststheyareendogenous.Thispaperadvancesthemicroeconomicfoundationsofendogenousgrowththeorybydevelopingaknowledgespillovertheoryofentrepreneurship.Knowledgecreatedendogenouslyresultsinknowledgespillovers,whichallowentrepre-neurstoidentifyandexploitopportunities.KeywordsOpportunity
Knowledge
Entrepreneurship
Endogenousgrowth
Start-ups
NewproductinnovationJELClassificationsJ24
L26
M13
O3Anycourseofactionmustexposethechoosertonumberlessdifferentsequels,rivalhypotheses,somedesiredandsomecounter-desired…Theentrepreneurisamakerofhistory,buthisguideinmakingitishisjudgmentofpossibilitiesandnotacalculationofcertainties.G.L.S.Shackle(1982,vii)1IntroductionWheredoentrepreneurialopportunitiescomefrom?EndogenousgrowthmodelssuggestR&Dactivitiesare‘‘purposefulinvestmentinnewknowledge’’undertakenbyprofit-maximizingfirms,whereknowl-edgeisaninputintheprocessofgeneratingendogenousgrowth(Romer1990;Segerstrometal.1990;AghionandHowitt1992).1Thesetoftechno-logicalopportunityisendogenouslycreatedbyZ.J.Acs(&)SchoolofPublicPolicy,GeorgeMasonUniversity,Fairfax,VA,USAe-mail:[e-mail]TransportandEconomics,TheRoyalInstituteofTechnology,Stockholm,Swedene-mail:[e-mail]mentalandPublicAffairs,IndianaUniversity,Bloomington,IL,USAe-mail:[e-mail]lofManagement,DepartmentofEconomics,CaseWesternReserveUniversity,Cleveland,OH,USAe-mail:[e-mail]1Griliches(1979)formalizedtheknowledgeproductionfunction.Inthismodel,firmsarealsoexogenousandpursueneweconomicknowledgeasaninputintofutureinnovativeactivity.123SmallBusEcon(2009)32:15–30DOI10.1007/s11187-008-9157-3investmentsinnewknowledge.Technologicalchangeiscentralinexplainingeconomicgrowth:TherateofpercapitaGDPgrowthequalstherateoftechnolog-icalchangeonthesteadystategrowthpath.Thisexplanationassumesthatefficiencyofknowledgeproductionisenhancedbythehistoricallydevelopedstockofscientific-technologicalknowledge.2Inadditiontofacilitatingtechnologicalchange,knowledgealsogeneratesopportunitiesforthird-partyfirms(Jaffeetal.1993;ThompsonandFox-Kean2005),whichareoftenentrepreneurialstart-ups(Shane2001).Thisoccursthroughintra-temporalknowledgespillovers.Therefore,entrepreneurialactivityinvolvesbotharbitrageofopportunities(Kirzner1973)andexploitationofnewopportunitiescreated,butnotappropriatedbyincumbentfirms(Schumpeter1934).Endogenousgrowthmodelsarebasedonstrongassumptionsforthetechnicaleaseandanalysis.However,theseadvantagesimposedrawbacksofdeviationsfromreal-worldbehavior.Theendogenousgrowthframeworkoffersnoinsightintowhatrole,ifany,entrepreneurialactivityplaysintheintra-temporalspilloveroftacitknowl-edge.Whilethenewgrowththeoryenhancesourunderstandingofthegrowthprocess,theessenceoftheSchumpeterian(1934)entrepreneurismissed.Asaresult,endogenousgrowthmodelsfailtoincorpo-rateacrucialelementintheprocessofeconomicgrowth:Transmissionofknowledgespilloversthroughentrepreneurship(Audretsch1995).Thisimpliesthatknowledgebyitselfisonlyanecessaryconditionfortheexerciseofsuccessfulenterpriseinagrowthmodel.AninterestingapproachrecentlyfocusesontheallocationofsocietalresourcesspentonR&Dandentrepreneurship.Michelacci(2003)concludesthatlowratesofreturntoR&Dmaybeduetolackofentrepreneurialskills.Hence,theabilitytotransformnewknowledgeintoeconomicopportuni-tiesinvolvesasetofskills,aptitudes,insightsandcircumstancesthatisneitheruniformlynorwidelydistributedinthepopulation.Thispaperdevelopsaknowledgespillovertheoryofentrepreneurshiptoimprovethemicroeconomicfoundationsofendogenousgrowthmodels,inwhichthecreationofknowledgeexpandstechnologicalopportunity.Thetheoryshiftstheunitofanalysisfromexogenouslyassumedfirmstoindividualagentswithnewknowledgeendowments.Agentswithneweconomicknowledgeendogenouslypursuetheexploitationofsuchknowledge,implyingthattheexistingstockofknowledgeyieldsspillovers.Thisfurthersuggestsastrongrelationshipbetweensuchknowledgespill-oversandentrepreneurialactivity.Thetheoryprovidesanexplanationfortheroleoftheindivid-ualandthefirminaneconomy.AccordingtoRomer(1996,204),suchanapproach‘‘…removesthedeadendinneoclassicaltheoryandlinksmicroeconomicobservationsonroutines,machinedesigns,andthelikewithmacroeconomicdiscus-sionsoftechnology.’’Themodelisonewherenewproductinnovationscancomebothfromeitherincumbentfirmsorstart-ups(AcsandAudretsch1988).3Wecanthinkofincumbentfirmsasreliantonincrementalinnovationfromtheflowofknowledge,suchasproductimprovements.Start-upswithaccesstoentrepreneur-ialtalentandintra-temporalspilloversfromthestockofknowledgearemorelikelytoengageinradicalinnova