Ross Brown

• University of St Andrews

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs) have quickly become a key lens for exploring regional entrepreneurial phenomena. Thus far there appears little consensus around the most relevant geographical unit of analysis for examining EEs however, both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. In this paper, we set out to test whether wider EE geographi...

Plain English Summary Entrepreneurial ecosystems are not self-contained entities. While entrepreneurship is fundamentally a local event, the resources which help enact and accelerate firm growth are often predicted on non-local factors and actors. This paper examines the spatial financial interlinkages between different places and various forms and...

Research on high growth firms is booming yet a strong conceptual understanding of how these firms obtain (and sustain) rapid growth remains (at best) partial. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the role founders play in enabling episodes of rapid growth and how they help navigate this process. This paper reports the findings from a qualit...

Recent research has identified a key subset of the business population that comprises firms who had sought external finance but subsequently withdrew from the credit market completely despite still requiring finance. Utilising the UK’s Longitudinal Small Business Survey between 2015 and 2020, we identify the consequences in terms of lost jobs and s...

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) has quickly established itself as a major focus within regional development research. A key conceptual framing commonly adopted by scholars theorizing about the growth and evolutionary dynamics of EEs is via anthropomorphized life-cycle models. In this article we offer a critique and argumentation as...

This paper examines a novel and innovative methodological approach and dataset for measuring the complex relational dynamics underpinning entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). Existing measurement techniques have largely failed to yield sufficiently nuanced data or insights to inform robust policy recommendations within this research field. To rectify...

In this paper, we investigate whether innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more likely to be discouraged from applying for external finance than non-innovators. These so-called discouraged borrowers are credit worthy SMEs who choose not to apply for external finance despite the fact that this is needed. We find that SMEs undert...

This paper examines a novel and innovative methodological approach and dataset for measuring the complex relational dynamics underpinning entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). Existing measurement techniques have largely failed to yield sufficiently nuanced data or insights to inform robust policy recommendations within this research field. To rectify...

In this commentary, we trace the economic and spatial consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of potential business failure and the associated job losses across the 100 largest cities and towns in the United Kingdom (UK). The article draws on UK survey data of 1500 firms of different size classes examining levels of firm-level precautionary...

Regional resilience is a topic of growing academic and policymaker interest. This article empirically examines this concept by scrutinising the impact of Brexit on Scottish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Given their crucial importance for the Scottish economy, SMEs are a good 'unit of analysis' and a powerful barometer for measuring reg...

This paper illustrates how chronic uncertainty caused by crisis events affects the availability of entrepreneurial sources of finance for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To explore this line of argument, this paper examines Crunchbase real-time data examining entrepreneurial finance investments in China during unfolding Cov...

As COVID-19 spreads across the globe, a common public policy response has been to enforce the temporary closure of non-essential business activity. In some countries, governments have underwritten a proportion of the wage income for staff forced to furlough or broadened their welfare systems to accommodate newly laid off workers or small business o...

This commentary explores the manner in which the current COVID-19 crisis is affecting key sources of entrepreneurial finance in the United Kingdom. We posit that the unique relational nature of entrepreneurial finance may make it highly susceptible to such a shock owing to the need for face-to-face interaction between investors and entrepreneurs. T...

This debate article provides a critical examination of the rationale for, and validity of, mission-oriented innovation policies. It does so by providing a critique of the ‘mission-oriented’ approach espoused for the new Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB). The central contention put forward in this paper is that its mission-oriented approach c...

Efforts to develop entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) have proliferated in recent years, marking it out as the latest industrial policy 'blockbuster'. This article reports the findings from the first comprehensive empirical analysis of EE policy approaches. It posits a basic typology of different policy frameworks deployed under the ecosystem rubric....

This paper examines the potential impact of Brexit on UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Using a major longitudinal survey of UK SMEs, the analysis suggests that Brexit-related concerns are escalating. Larger, export- and import-oriented SMEs are most concerned, as are those located in major urban and peripheral locations. Among SMEs wit...

This paper examines the role of accelerator programmes in promoting transnational entrepreneurship. Designed to assist the growth of start-ups by providing seed finance and structured entrepreneurship support, these programmes are now a prominent feature in many entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world. Drawing on in-depth qualitative evidence f...

This paper investigates the role of credit card financing in UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and how this varies by location and business orientation. Using a large-scale data set of UK SMEs, the results of a regression-based analysis suggest that firms located in peripheral geographical areas have greater usage of credit cards relativ...

This article considers whether employee ownership mitigates the negative workplace outcomes identified by the Disconnected Capitalism Thesis (DCT). Drawing on a programme of in‐depth interviews with workers and managers in employee‐owned businesses (EOBs), the article reveals how they are partially insulated from the vicissitudes endemic within con...

This paper outlines findings from a large-scale interview based study of start-ups who obtained equity crowdfunding in the UK. It takes a novel integrative approach towards the analysis of entrepreneurial networks by examining both personal and business networks involved in the equity crowdfunding process. Adopting a processual perspective, the emp...

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has quickly established itself as one of the latest ‘fads’ in entrepreneurship research. At face value, this kind of systemic approach to entrepreneurship offers a new and distinctive path for scholars and policy makers to help understand and foster growth-oriented entrepreneurship. However, its lack of spe...

Promoting high growth firms (HGFs) has become a strong fixation within enterprise policy. This is a debate article seeking to examine and challenge the mythology perpetuated by policy makers and embedded within high growth entrepreneurship policy frameworks. Within the article we argue that a number of distinctive ‘myths’ have become deeply embedde...

This paper examines the dynamics of entrepreneurial acquisitions undertaken by UK high growth small and medium enterprises (SMEs). While entrepreneurial acquisitions are increasingly deployed by SMEs, little is known about their antecedents, motivational drivers and organisational outcomes. Drawing on detailed case study evidence from Scotland, the...

High growth firms are now a major focus within enterprise policy. This paper provides a theoretically informed analysis of the rationale and effectiveness of targeted public sector support designed to develop these firms. Drawing on empirical research undertaken in the UK, this paper challenges the appropriateness of the theoretical assumptions emb...

This article considers geographical variations in the demand and supply of bank finance for innovative firms in the UK. It uses a detailed survey on the finances of almost 40,000 UK Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises for 2011–2013 to investigate both the extent and type of applications for bank finance by innovative firms in peripheral regions, wh...

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest by policy makers in high growth firms (HGFs). Interest in these dynamic firms has primarily been driven by their prodigious ability to create new employment. Despite this, very little is known about the complex corporate geographies of these firms and their internationalisation processes. Using...

As part of their ‘third mission’ to commercialise research and cultivate growth in local economies, universities have been accorded a central role in regional innovation systems. This paper takes issue with this policy emphasis. It presents empirical evidence suggesting the entrepreneurial spillovers from universities have been greatly exaggerated,...

Enterprise policy is increasingly favouring support for high growth firms (HGFs). However, this may be less effective in promoting new jobs and economic development in peripheral regions. This issue is addressed by a study of HGFs in Scotland. Scottish HGFs differ in a number of respects from the stylised facts in the literature. They create less e...

Start-up accelerator programmes are now a prominent feature of the entrepreneurial landscape in Silicon Valley. This paper examines the motivations ambitious transnational entrepreneurs have for joining these burgeoning start-up accelerator programmes. Drawing on in-depth case studies of high-tech transnational entrepreneurs, the research found a s...

This paper explores the concept of open-book accounting. It illustrates the benefits of open-book reporting policies in terms of their potential ability to correct informational asymmetries, and it sets out some ideas for a future research agenda centred around the concept. The discussion is grounded in large part in the experiences of employee-own...

Brown R., Gregson G. and Mason C. A post-mortem of regional innovation policy failure: Scotland's Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI), Regional Studies. The Intermediate Technology Initiative (ITI) was one of the most ambitious ‘systemic’ regional innovation policy instruments developed in the UK in recent years. However, little of the ITI's a...

Promoting new technology-based firms is the cornerstone of technology entrepreneurship policies in advanced industrial economies. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence from the UK, this paper provides a critique of these policy frameworks. The aggregate analysis shows that vast majority of these firms are micro firms, a small m...

Increasing the number of high growth firms (HGFs) is now a major focus for industry policy in developed countries. However, existing approaches are proving ineffective. Simply creating supportive framework conditions is insufficient. Creating favourable environments for business start-ups is not leading to the creation of more HGFs. And transaction...

This paper examines the nature of high growth firms (HGFs) and how they are supported by public policy. HGFs have become a key focus for public policy within the UK and across many OECD economies in recent years. In parallel with this, there has been a growing body of research and evidence which has accumulated on the nature of these firms. However...

Purpose As a means of contributing to the literature surrounding the evolution and growth of firms, this paper seeks to outline the explanatory concept of growth trigger points. It aims to examine the forces that propel firms towards different stages of growth and argues that high‐growth firms (HGFs) often encounter important “trigger points” that...

High growth firms play a disproportionate role in contributing to the economic vitality of regional economies. These are precisely the types of businesses that policy makers need to support in order to generate economic growth. Despite this, the article argues that current regional industrial and enterprise promotion policies in the UK are poorly e...

Lessons for Nordrhein-Westfalen The paper is based on a study undertaken by EPRC to identify the main lessons behind Scotland’s success as a location for electronics foreign direct investment (FDI). In order to inform promotional policy in Nordrhein-Westfalen, the research sought to review the nature of investment flows into Scotland, especially in...

Writing in Small Business Economics Scott Shane argues that policy-makers should stop subsidising start-ups and instead focus on supporting the small subset of new businesses with high growth potential. However, both Shane and other scholars who have made the same argument only offer broad-brush proposals to achieve this objective. The aim of this...

This paper presents a review of ageing in the Scottish labour market. Scotland's population structure has been ageing for some decades leading to an ageing of the working population, at a rate ahead of many countries in Europe. Low levels of fertility, increased participation in post-compulsory education and low levels of labour market participatio...

John Smith, when Leader of the Labour Party, said that devolution was “the settled will of the Scottish people”. However, far from quelling debates about governance – and particularly the implications for economic policy and performance in Scotland – such debates continue unabated. These issues dominated much of the Scottish Parliament election in...

The underlying theme of this book is the impact of the increasing globalization of economic activity, and the advent of the knowledge‐based economy, on the spatial distribution of economic activity, both between countries and within countries. More especially, it seeks to reconcile the paradox of ‘slippery space’, as demonstrated by the growing tra...

The paper examines how the localization of multinationals can be linked to the globalization of local business networks, particularly whether domestic linkages with foreign subsidiaries can facilitate the internationalization of local suppliers. Detailed interviews were held with 16 suppliers and 8 foreign investors in both the Scottish oil-gas and...

While export development has been a long-standing government task, it has traditionally been characterized by a focus on some, but not all, of the barriers facing exporters, particularly those relating to a firm's environment. In response to more complex understanding of internationalization, new policy approaches have emerged in recent years which...

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of regional development policies designed to promote and develop regional clusters. Regional policymakers in Europe strive to develop local clusters to promote regional economic growth mainly through supply chain development initiatives, particularly in regions dominated by branch plants of large mult...

The paper examines the role played by foreign direct investment in developing local linkages in Singapore’s electronics industry. Backward material linkages have developed as a result of two processes: the development of indigenous local suppliers, mostly within the fabricated parts sector, and foreign investment by overseas suppliers, especially i...

Abstract The paper reviews the academic ,and policy literature on clusters ,and cluster-based development strategies. In particular, it highlights the key issues which will affect cluster development ,activities in Scotland and how ,Scottish Enterprise can progress with its current and future cluster action plans. The ,paper has the following objec...