Context and entrepreneurship in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with small business enterprises

Abstract

Entrepreneurship research has often focused on the capabilities and motivation of the entrepreneurs themselves, but there have also been more recent attempts to understand the contextual factors that can engender and support entrepreneurial activity. This article examines the contextual factors in evidence in four Knowledge Transfer Partnership case studies, where entrepreneurial activity has played a key role in developing and implementing significant change projects in small business enterprises. Based on a detailed analysis of these case studies, a number of contextual factors are identified that may act as a model for others researching entrepreneurship in similar contexts. The study finds that four main factors in the broader socio-economic environment were key in engendering entrepreneurial activity: the influence of the local university, availability of financial support, regional knowledge production and the presence of industry clusters pursuing similar objectives. There were also a number of influencing factors within the small business company environment: the potential to develop human and social capital, particularly evident in family businesses, and the opportunities to rapidly adopt and change technology platforms and systems that encouraged entrepreneurial thinking and initiative taking. The case studies also evidence that entrepreneurial initiatives may not always produce successful long-term outcomes.