Publications

Modelling entrepreneurs’ use of business support services: evidence from Barcelona

The First UOC International Research Symposium took place in Barcelona on the 18 ^th December 2013. Three participants in the CINet project, Gisela Ammetller-Montes, Inma Rodríguez-Ardura and Josep Lladós-Masllorens, prepared the paper, which was presented by Gisela Ammetller-Montes.

The paper offers an integrative model about those services oriented to support entrepreneurial initiatives. By contrast with conventional perspectives from the entrepreneurship field, mainly drawn from a resource-based view, it proposes a two-fold approach to design services for new business creation: by considering the role of resources within the start-up’s reach (internal and external); and by incorporating a behavioral and decision-making approach. On the basis of the suggested decision-making framework, a multi-stage model is developed and tested by means of a representative sample of entrepreneurs linked to a local development agency in Barcelona. The results show that the adoption and use of support services for new business creation is a complex and reflexive process, triggered by the entrepreneur’s internal forces. The entrepreneur searches for information throughout the process and, with assistance from internal teams and external networks, evaluates the choices of business-support services. The findings offer relevant implications and recommendations for business incubators and institutions.

First UOC International Research Symposium