Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Literature and Frameworks

The following are brief synopses of some of the literature addressing entrepreneurial ecosystems. This is
not an exhaustive review but does provide an introduction to some authors and concepts. The reviews
here are meant to provide applicants reference resources for understanding the logic and current work in
the field of entrepreneurship driving the creation of ROI as a strategy in Oregon.

Resources:
Energizing Entrepreneurs: Charting a Course for Rural Communities
Markley, D., Macke, D. & Luther V. September 2005. Lincoln, NE: Heartland Center for Leadership
Development. Resource download.
Energizing Entrepreneurs is a guide for the rural community leader who is helping to transform their
communities into hotbeds of entrepreneurship. It discusses what communities can do to energize
entrepreneurship in general, and how to support local entrepreneurs individually. Packed with
insightful tips and advice from experts with years of experience in the field, Energizing Entrepreneurs
is a “must have” for anyone working to create supportive environments for entrepreneurs, new
sources of wealth and sustaining economic betterment.

Startup Communities
Feld, B. September 2013. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
“Startup communities” are popping up everywhere, from cities all over the United States like Boulder,
Boston, New York, Seattle, and Omaha to countries like Iceland. These entrepreneurial ecosystems
are driving innovation, new business creation, and job growth. Startup Communities documents the
strategy, dynamics, tactics, and long-term perspective required for building communities of
entrepreneurs who can feed off of each other’s talent, creativity, and support. So, if you think Silicon
Valley is the only place to start your next venture, think again. These days, great business ideas can
come from anywhere, and this audiobook is the smart wake-up call you’ve been waiting for.

Disrupted: Strategy for Exponential Change

Quick, L. & Platt, D. September 2015. Victoria, Australia: Resilient Futures Media.
Disrupted is a guidebook to the exponential era and a toolbox for proactively leveraging change. By
exploring well-known examples of disruption-opportunists like Apple and Tesla Motors, Disrupted
helps readers to understand the kind of “strategic thinking” that allow teams and leaders to confidently
pursue opportunities with a shared strategic language, and a methodology designed for timely and
agile execution at all levels of their organization.

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Diagnostic Toolkit

Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs. December 2013. Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute.
Document download.
The toolkit presents findings from a review of nine frameworks that are designed to assess
entrepreneurial ecosystems. The frameworks vary based on geographic unit of analysis, level of
detail, and domains of analysis. The assessment frameworks address one or more of three foci:
entrepreneurship determinants (e.g., services, finance), entrepreneurial performance (e.g., number of
firms, firm survival rate, jobs created), and impact (e.g., employment levels, GDP). The authors define
eight factors (culture, finance, human capital, infrastructure, markets, policy, business support, R&D)
and offer a draft set of indicators for each, though suggest that indicators be tailored (e.g., additions
or deletions) as appropriate.

Enabling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

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Auerswald, P. A. October 2015. Kansas City, MO: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Document
download.
The author provides an in-depth exploration of the meaning of entrepreneurship and discusses the
meaning and relevance of the ecosystem concept to entrepreneurship. The author also cites research
on factors that influence entrepreneurs’ location and start-up decisions (finance, human resources,
market opportunities, quality of life of location). Six strategies for enabling entrepreneurial ecosystems
are offered: favor incumbents less; listen to entrepreneurs; map the ecosystem; think big, start small,
move fast; avoid artificially segmenting your community or your strategies.

A critical review of entrepreneurial ecosystems: towards a future research agenda

Borissenko, Y. and Boschma, R. (November 2016). The Netherlands: Utrecht University. Review
download.
This paper explores the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems, including limits to current theory. The
information may be useful for informing program design and evaluation.

How to Cook Up a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. November 4, 2015. Entrepreneurship Policy Digest.
This policy digest offers three myths and facts regarding entrepreneurial ecosystems and provides
“ingredients” for a recipe for entrepreneurial success. The suggest that venture capital is not essential
for ecosystems to flourish; business performance is not correlated with incubator and accelerator
affiliation; incubator and accelerator quality vary dramatically and additional research regarding their
effects is needed; and university research funding does not necessarily lead to more new business
creation.

City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: A Resource for City Leadership
Gibson, J., Robinson, M. and Cain, S. 2015. Download the report.
City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (CITIE) supports policymakers to
create policy initiatives that catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship in cities. The focus is on tech
and innovation, however, a number of points are relevant to entrepreneurship in general. The CITIE
effort includes a diagnostic tool and survey of 40 leading cities from around the world. Three key
findings from high-performing governments include: policy coherence (policies in one area don’t
undermine policies in another); default to openness (habitually connect with people outside of city hall
to solve problems); government work styles more closely associated with start-ups than
bureaucracies. The CITIE framework identifies nine roles in three policy dimensions that can
influence entrepreneurship and innovation. These policy dimensions (and roles) are openness
(regulator, advocate, customer), infrastructure (host, investor, connector), leadership (strategist,
digital governor, datavore).

Introducing the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem: Four Defining Characteristics

Isenberg, D. May 25, 2011. Forbes.
The author suggests that each entrepreneurial ecosystem is unique but that all are comprised of six
domains (factors), which consist of hundreds of elements. The six general domains include culture,
finance, human capital, markets, policy, and supports. The author suggests that success breeds
success and that once the six domains are strong enough they become relatively self-sustaining.

How to Start an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Isenberg, Daniel J. 2010. Harvard Business Review 88(6): 40-50.
The author emphasizes that ecosystem performance is a function of the interaction between
ecosystem elements, not merely the presence of those elements. He suggests a holistic approach
and offers nine principles for creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem. These include shaping an
ecosystem to local conditions and engaging the private sector from the start. Of particular value, the

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 article includes a set of questions for assessing entrepreneurial ecosystem that may be adapted for
use on the ROI survey.

The article generated significant interest and the author wrote a follow-up piece titled How to Start an
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Six Months. The second article suggests the following: start local; get
the word out quickly via town halls, convenings, and meetings; connect resources online and in bricks
and mortar spaces; support and mentor entrepreneurs and latent entrepreneurs to find customers,
advisors, investors, and business partners; bring visibility; have a small group of advisors; connect to
leaders.

The entrepreneurial development system: Transforming business talent and community economies
Lichenstein, Gregg A., and Lyons, Thomas S. 2001. Economic Development Quarterly. 15(1): 3-20.
The focus here is on entrepreneurial development systems rather than entrepreneurial ecosystems,
however, the article has value for considering the technical, managerial, entrepreneurial, and
personal skills identified as important to for entrepreneurial development.

Gauging a Region’s Entrepreneurial Potential

Low, S. Henderson, J. and Weiler, S. 2005. Economic Review. 90(3): 61-89.
The authors propose measures to assess the breadth (quantity) of entrepreneurs and depth (quality)
of entrepreneurs in a region. The first is calculated as the number of self-employed persons divided
by the total employment and the later is calculated by average income and revenue capture. The
measures are intended to assess the degree to which entrepreneurs add value in the form of income,
wealth, or jobs. The authors suggest a range of factors that influence breadth and depth including the
size of the local economy, human capital, amenities, financial capital, and infrastructure.

The evolutionary dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems

Mack, E., and Mayer, H. 2016. Urban Studies 53(10): 2118-2133.
Using Phoenix, Arizona, as a case, the authors explore how elements of an entrepreneurial
ecosystem interact and evolve over time. The authors use Isenberg’s six factors (policy, finance,
culture, support, human capital, markets, and policy) and create metrics for the stages of ecosystem
birth, growth, sustainment, and decline. Their assessment statements could be adapted for use on
the ROI assessment.

Creating entrepreneurial communities: building community capacity for ecosystem development

Markley, D. Lyons, T., and Macke, D. 2015. Community Development Journal 46(5):580-598.
The authors suggest a systems approach to entrepreneurial development that bridges business
development approaches (i.e., a focus on individual entrepreneurs) and community development
approaches (i.e., a focus on place context). Building on the work of Lichtenstein and Lyons they
suggest a focus on enhancing the skills of entrepreneurs (technical, managerial, entrepreneurial, and
personal maturity), while also enhancing the system of supports available to entrepreneurs.

Making (and Measuring) an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Meyers, M. 2015. Economic Development Journal. 14(3): 28-36.
This article identifies key entrepreneurial ecosystem activities to be mapping assets, making them
visible, and strengthening the network. The author suggests that communities exist at various stages
of entrepreneurial development and that programs and metrics need to be appropriately matched to a
community’s stage, though does not define these various stages.

Creating an Entrepreneurial Appalachian Region: Findings and Lessons from an Evaluation of the
Appalachian Regional Commission’s Entrepreneurship Initiative 1997-2005
RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship and Appalachian Regional Commission. 2008. Download
report.

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 This report includes impacts, lessons for practitioners and policy makers, and recommendations. Key
lessons include incorporating capacity assessment and capacity building into program design,
focusing investments on long term approaches, requiring initiatives to be market driven and practice
continuous improvement, emphasizing investments in initiatives that demonstrate the ability to partner
and collaborate, and investing in evaluation.

Measuring an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Stangler, D. and Bell-Masterson, J. March 2015. Kansas City, MO: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The authors propose four indicators of entrepreneurial ecosystem vibrancy (density, fluidity,
connectivity, and diversity) and suggest potential measures for each. The article includes an appendix
of potential data sources and gaps.

The Rainforest Canvas

T2 Venture Capital. Nd. Download report.
Designed similarly to a business model canvas, the Rainforest Canvas is used to identify assets and
opportunities in the following nine categories: Leaders, Stakeholders, Frameworks, Resources,
Activities, Engagement, Role Models, Infrastructure, Capability and Community, Culture. Questions
are listed for each and some could be adapted for use on the ROI assessment.

Building the Rural Economy with High-Growth Entrepreneurs

Henderson, J. September 2002. Economic Review Q3: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Download
report.
Entrepreneurs create economic growth in their communities by forming new firms. Each year during
the past decade, more than half a million businesses were started that added new jobs in the United
States. In the 1990s, during the longest economic expansion in the United States economy, the
majority of new jobs were created by small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs operating high-growth
businesses. Because entrepreneurs are such a wellspring of growth in the economy, many rural
policymakers have shifted their long-time focus of recruiting existing firms, such as branch plants, to
developing new entrepreneurs. New policies generally support a wide range of entrepreneurs.
However, policies often fail to recognize that the benefits of entrepreneurs can vary dramatically,
depending on the entrepreneur’s desire to build a high-growth business. And rural areas often lack
these high-growth entrepreneurs. Henderson reviews entrepreneurial activity in rural America and
discusses some of the new ways policymakers are beginning to encourage high-growth
entrepreneurs in their communities. After discussing the benefits entrepreneurs offer communities, he
examines the pattern of entrepreneurship in rural areas and the difficulties many rural communities
face in supporting high-growth entrepreneurs. Finally, he discusses some of the policies supporting
the startup and growth of this valuable resource.

Community Readiness
RUPRI. December 2013. Lincoln, NE: Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. Download document.
Economic development is hard, long-term work. To be successful, communities must be ready to
launch a new initiative. We define community readiness as having the understanding, capacity and
commitment to engage in entrepreneur-focused development. Our collection of Community
Readiness resources can help you assess your community's readiness for entrepreneur-focused
economic development.

Unlocking Entrepreneurship: A Handbook for Economic Developers

Garmise, PhD, S. & Ghosh, S. 2011. Washington, DC: International Economic Development Council.
Download handbook.
Unlocking Entrepreneurship: A Handbook for Economic Developers has been developed by IEDC
under the guidance of its Economic Development Research Partners (EDRP) Program. It introduces
economic development professionals to the increasingly urgent need to support entrepreneurship as

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 a necessary strategy, explains what entrepreneurship is and who entrepreneurs are, dissects the
essential components of an entrepreneurship ecosystem, and includes a toolkit for practitioners to
assess and implement economic development strategies in their communities. Several case studies
of entrepreneurial firms as well as organizations that support these businesses provide an insight into
the variety of policies and programs out there to support and foster entrepreneurship in a community.

Revitalizing Rural Economies Through Entrepreneurship Development Systems

Edgcomb, E., Klein, J., & Black, D. December 2008. Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute. Download
report.
Entrepreneurship development systems (EDSs) reflect a theory whose time has come. Emerging
across the country as rural practitioners seek more effective engines for rural revitalization, these
systems are intended to strengthen and integrate programs, products and services to better meet the
needs of entrepreneurs. They are designed to: create a pipeline of entrepreneurs by identifying and
supporting youth and adult entrepreneurs, implement a system of financial and technical support for
entrepreneurs of all types, and foster a policy and cultural environment that is supportive of
entrepreneurship.

Examining the Connections within the Startup Ecosystem: A Case Study of St. Louis
Motoyama, PhD, Y. & Watkins, K. September 2014. Download report.
We critically examine how an entrepreneurial ecosystem is structured using an exploratory and
bottom-up approach. Past studies in this area have discussed the presence of elements in the system
or captured the ecosystem as holistically as possible by extending to social, cultural, and institutional
dimension. However, we find that such aggregated conceptualizations gave limited understanding to
how different elements are connected and constitute the system. Here, we apply a social network
approach by analyzing the connections of the ecosystem at multiple layers: (1) among entrepreneurs,
(2) among support organizations, and (3) between and among entrepreneurs and key support
organizations. Through a series of interviews with entrepreneurs and support organizations in St.
Louis, we find that the ways in which support organizations in this region interacted with each other
and with entrepreneurs, including explicit cross-organizational collaboration and strategic structuring
of resources, significantly impacted the way that entrepreneurs interacted with one another and with
organizations, thus deepening our understanding of these connections and identifying intervening
points within the ecosystem.

Enabling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Davis, Susan. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, vol. 7, no. 2, 2012. Download
resource.
The journal features cases authored by exceptional innovators; commentary and research from
leading academics; and essays from globally recognized executives and political leaders. The journal
is jointly hosted at George Mason University's School of Public Policy, Harvard's Kennedy School of
Government, and MIT's Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship. Topics of interest
include entrepreneurship and global development, the revolution in mobile communications, global
public health, water and sanitation, and energy and climate.