Posted: June 20th, 2015

Literature review chapters on Entrepreneurial ecosystem and policy

Purpose of research

An entrepreneurship ecosystem is the condition that exist in a country or an organization that nurture entrepreneurship. The Financial Times highlight that several factors contribute to the creation of a proper entrepreneurship ecosystem in a country. These may be political, or social reasons. Entrepreneurship is an important topic in the creation of a sustainable economy. Oman, like many countries in the Gulf, is a country, has been reliant on oil production. However, the decrease in oil reserves and the decrease in oil prices has led to the economy decreasing (Financial Times, 2014). The main problem is the reduced chances of employment provided by the government. The government needs to come up with different ways that employment can be provided for the growing population. The main way to do this is by empowering the private sector. For the private sector to grow, there is a need for greater entrepreneurship in the country. The private segment of an economy is made up of large corporations as well as small businesses. Entrepreneurs owe most of the small businesses. The easiest way of increasing the employment opportunity is by increasing this class of business. This means that conducive environments for entrepreneurship need to be established (Sophia, 2013). The creation of a proper working entrepreneurial ecosystem is important, and this study will provide information that can be implemented to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Oman.

Research questions

There are three main research questions that arise from the provided topic.

• What are the features and outcomes of the ecosystem approach in terms of employment and mobility?
• What government regulations can be implemented to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Oman?
• What issues in the financial sector help or hinder the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Oman?

Research methods

The proposed research involves looking at the governmental and financial factors that affect the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Oman from becoming effective. The study can either be done from a primary approach or from a secondary approach. A primary approach involves collecting fresh data from Oman and using the data to investigate the entreprenuerial ecosystem in Oman (Goodwin, 2012). The approach of the study is also important. The study will take an exploratory approach that seeks to create a model that can be used for future studies. The model is based on the existing factors in Oman and the possible ways that the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country can be improved (Graham, 2012).

An important note is that studies on entrepreneurial ecosystems have not been done in Oman. Yet, Oman is not part of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and therefore no data is available as part of GEM surveys. The study will rely on GEM methodology to collect the primary data and should only use national Experts Survey (NES) for the entire study.

Conceptual framework

When discussing the development of an economy, the economic theory is the theory that is accepted by most to offer the best explanation of the relationships between parts of an economy. However, researchers like Schumpeter, have highlighted that entrepreneurship has been neglected. In most countries, the bulk of small and medium sized companies is made up of entrepreneurship (Kuratko, 2013, p. 32). This means that entrepreneurship plays an important role in the economy of a country. The combination of the factors that affect entrepreneurship is called the entrepreneurial ecosystem (Feld, 2012, p. 21). In different countries, the effect is distinct, and no single model can be used for all the countries around the world. The situation in Oman is unique and different factors influence the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The first is the education system. When creating an improved entrepreneurial ecosystem, the education system offers the basic level where social perceptions are changed. The next aspect is a political perspective that controls the regulation in a country (Windecker & Pfülb, 2014). Favourable policies have been documented to increase entrepreneurship in an organization beyond certain standards. In addition to this, the financial sector provides the funding for entrepreneurship start-ups. Favourable financial conditions increase number of entrepreneurship in a country (Matthews & Brueggemann, 2015, p. 286). The combination of these factors is believed to contribute to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Oman. This has been clearly shown in the following conceptual diagram that will form the basis of the study.

References

Feld, B., 2012. Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City. 1st ed. New York: WIley and Sons.

Financial Times, 2014. Definition of entrepreneurial ecosystem. [Online]
Available at: http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=entrepreneurial%20ecosystem
[Accessed 18 May 2015].

Goodwin, J., 2012. SAGE secondary data analysis. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Sage.

Gott, R. & Duggan, S., 2003. Understanding and using scientific evidence : how to critically evaluate data. 1st ed. London: Sage.

Graham, J. W., 2012. Missing data : analysis and design. 1st ed. New York: Springer.

Kuratko, D., 2013. Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice. 1st ed. New York: Cengage Learning.

Matthews, C. H. & Brueggemann, R., 2015. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Competency Framework. 1st ed. London: Routledge.

Sophia, M., 2013. Oman’s Entrepreneur Ecosystem Needs Strong Government Push. [Online]
Available at: http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/09/omans-entrepreneur-ecosystem-needs-strong-government-push/#.VVm3HJNZgqQ
[Accessed 18 October 2015].

Windecker, G. & Pfülb, S., 2014. Young Omani entrepreneurs inspired by Germany’s economic model. [Online]
Available at: http://www.kas.de/wf/en/33.36963/
[Accessed 18 May 2015].