Support Programs for Entrepreneurship in Spain: A Multiple Case Study

Abstract

Today there is no doubt about the importance of new firms when it comes to generating wealth, employment, and social welfare (Birch 1979; Storey 1994; Wennekers and Thurik 1999; Reynolds et al. 2002; Carree and Thurik 2003; Parker 2004, among others). Consequently, both governments and researchers have increased their interests in new and small businesses. Currently, in many nations and regions, policymakers are designing support programs to foster entrepreneurship. Additionally, in Europe, increasing attention has been given to the role and nature of SMEs support services (European Commission 2002). At the same time, several authors are analyzing EU and US entrepreneurship policy (North et al. 2001; Lundström and Stevenson 2001; Audretsch and Thurik 2001; Stevenson and Lundström 2002; Storey 2003; Lambrecht and Pirnay 2005, among others). In this context, Spain is not an exception. On the one hand, the government is improving regional and local conditions fostering dynamic and innovative new firms. On the other, the increased competences endowed by its autonomous regions in the last few decades have allowed them to develop new support programs for entrepreneurship. Furthermore, intrinsic to the development of support programs for new and small businesses is the growing academic interest to identify the best practices and issues involving the support programs, such as the nature of activities, services, and immediate outcomes.