B0033 - ECOSISTEMI IMPRENDITORIALI, SOSTENIBILITA' E INNOVAZIONE

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on the main features of entrepreneurial ecosystems, with special emphasis on the interaction between institutions and economic agents. It introduces to the use of quantitative methods for the analysis of innovative entrepreneurship and the evaluation of its environmental, social, and economic sustainability. At the end of the course students will have achieved the knowledge necessary to support the choice of investment strategies and the implementation of public policies aimed at fostering the emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Course contents

The course provides the fundamentals for the study of entrepreneurial ecosystems, from the perspective of both firms and policy makers.

Structural features of network industries. Industry cases: Telecommunications; Transport networks; Non-obvious networks.

Readings/Bibliography

Isenberg, D. J. (2010). How to Start an Entrepreneurial Revolution. Harvard Business Review, 88(6): 2-11.

Stam, E. (2015). Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Policy: A Sympathetic Critique. European Planning Studies, 23(9): 1759-1769.

Spigel, B. (2017). The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 41(1): 49-72.

Baumol, W. J. (1996). Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive, and Destructive. Journal of Business Venturing, 11(1): 3-22.

Parker, S. C. (2018). The Economics of Entrepreneurship. Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition.

Carbonara, E., & Santarelli, E. (2023). The Impact of Constitutional Protection of Economic Rights on Entrepreneurship: A Taxonomic Survey. Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship. 19(2): 126-223.

Acs, Z. J., Estrin, S., Mickiewicz, T., & Szerb, L. (2018). Entrepreneurship, Institutional Economics, and Economic Growth: An Ecosystem Perspective. Small Business Economics, 51(2): 501–514.

Rocha, H., & Audretsch, D. B. (2022). Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Regional Clusters, and Industrial Districts: Historical Transformations or Rhetorical Devices. Journal of Technology Transfer, forthcoming.

Teaching methods

Lectures, class discussion, courseworks.

Assessment methods

Students who choose to actively participate in the course will take a two-part exam, and the grade obtained in each part will contribute 50% to the final grade. The first part (coursework) involves preparing a 10-15 minute video in which the strengths and weaknesses of a research paper published in an international scientific journal are presented and discussed. Each video will be created in collaboration by at least two students. The papers will be made available to the students at the beginning of the course. The second part consists of a written final exam in which students will have to answer 5 out of 8 (both open-ended and multiple-choice) questions.

For students unable to attend the classes, the final exam will consist of 8 open-ended questions and 4 multiple-choice questions that they will have to answer.

Grading criteria:

18-23: the student has sufficient preparation and analytical skills, spread however, over just few topics taught in the course, the overall jargon is correct

24-27: the student shows and adequate preparation at a technical level with some doubts over the topics. Good, yet not to articulate analytical skills with the use of a correct jargon

28-30: Great knowledge about most of the topics taught in the course, good critical and analytical skills, good usage of the specific jargon

30L: excellent and in depth knowledge of all the topics in the course, excellent critical and analytical skills, excellent usage of specific jargon.

Teaching tools

Other teaching material, including slides used during the lectures and papers will be made available to students on a weekly basis through the 'Virtuale' platform.

Office hours

See the website of Enrico Santarelli