Are new rural ventures different from new urban ones? An exploratory analysis of businesses located in Portuguese incubators and science parks

Published date02 December 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JEPP-08-2019-113
Date02 December 2019
Pages470-482
AuthorLúcia Pato,Aurora A.C. Teixeira
Subject MatterStrategy,Entrepreneurship,Business climate/policy
Are new rural ventures different
from new urban ones? An
exploratory analysis of
businesses located in Portuguese
incubators and science parks
Lúcia Pato
Centre for Studies in Education, Technologies and Health (CI&DETS) and
Research Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society (CERNAS),
Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Agrarian School, Viseu, Portugal, and
Aurora A.C. Teixeira
CEF.UP, Faculty of Economics, Universidade do Porto, INESC TEC;
OBEGEF, Porto, Portugal
Abstract
Purpose Considering the differences between rural and urban spaces, through the theoretical framework
developed, the purpose of this paper is to uncover and rationalize the differences between rural and urban
new ventures in terms of the environment surrounding the new venture, their general characteristics (e.g.
sector, size) and export/economic performance.
Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework is empirically assessed resorting to
exploratory statistical analysis based on data collected from a questionnaire survey responded by 408 new
ventures headquartered in Portuguese business incubators and science parks. The data collected were treated
with the Software Package for the Social Sciences.
Findings The results evidence that rural and urban new ventures differ in terms of generic characteristics,
namely sector, size and collaboratorshuman capital. Additionally, they differ concerning export and
economic performance as well in relation to the perception of the municipality support.
Research limitations/implications Albeit the present study is mainly exploratory, it constitutes a
stepping stone for future research into the differences between rural and urban new ventures regarding their
export and economic performance determinants.
Originality/value The present study innovatively contributes to uncover the role of rural and urban
context in entrepreneurship and adds to the scanty empirical literature in the area.
Keywords Theoretical framework, Entrepreneurship, Rural, Theoretical framework,
New venture strategy
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Entrepreneurship exists around the world but is far from standardized (Dana, 2017). The
social, institutional, economic and spatial contexts frame entrepreneurial activities, and
shape the content and outcomes of these activities (Müller and Korsgaard, 2018). In recent
years, there has been increasing interest in comparing entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship
from different locations and cultures (Dana, 2006, 2017).
Despite the voluminous and increasing literature devoted to regional entrepreneurship,
the studies that explore the local situation or compare smaller spatial entities are largely
underrepresented (Aryal et al., 2018; Müller, 2016). These latter have mainly focused
metropolitan and urban spatiality (Baumgartner, Pütz and Seidl, 2013), where
entrepreneurship is higher as a result of localization and urbanization effects (Freire-Gibb
and Nielsen, 2014; Renski, 2008; Smith, 2017). Rural entrepreneurship has been largely
overlooked (Müller and Korsgaard, 2018; Pato and Teixeira, 2016, 2018).
Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Public Policy
Vol. 8 No. 4, 2019
pp. 470-482
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2045-2101
DOI 10.1108/JEPP-08-2019-113
Received 13 October 2018
Accepted 1 March 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2045-2101.htm
470
JEPP
8,4

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