A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial ecosystems in advanced and emerging economies

• Published in: Small business economics 2021-06, Vol.57 (1), p.75-110
• Main Authors: Cao, Zhe, Shi, Xianwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business and Management; Conceptual models; Emerging markets; Entrepreneurship; Governance; Industrial Organization; Literature reviews; Management; Microeconomics; Policy making
• ISSN: 0921-898X; 1573-0913
• DOI: 10.1007/s11187-020-00326-y

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has been gaining considerable attention during the past decade among practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. However, to date, entrepreneurial ecosystem research has been largely atheoretical and static, and it focused mostly on advanced economies. In this paper, we therefore do two things. We first systematically review entrepreneurial ecosystem literature and propose a conceptual model that explicates three entrepreneurial ecosystemdynamics based on resource, interaction, and governance logics, respectively. We then systematically review empirical studies of emerging economy entrepreneurial ecosystems to build a theoretical framework that highlights their salient features. We reveal three key findings that challenge the direct application of the model vis-à-vis advanced economy entrepreneurial ecosystems to emerging economy entrepreneurial ecosystems: resource scarcities, structural gaps, and institutional voids. Our findings contribute to entrepreneurial ecosystem literature in terms of ecosystem dynamics and contextualizing entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging economies. We also provide policy implications for emerging countries in fostering new venture creation.