Print VersionA Sampling of CIBER-Funded Research
Fall 2004 Spring 2005 Fall 2005 Spring 2006 Fall 2006 Spring 2007 Spring 2008
Entrepreneurial Entry in a Climate of Trust and Support
Phillip Kim, assistant professor of management and human resources, UW-Madison
Previous research on entrepreneurial entry has focused primarily on individual-level attributes, such as demographic characteristics, prior experience and network location. This study will explore how societal-level attributes such as social trust, associational environments, quality of legal institutions and public provision of sill investments encourage the formation of new businesses. It will develop a multi-national database that integrates country-level measures on social capital and legal institutions with individual-level measures on entrepreneurial activity. The research team will then conduct analyses to test their predictions that individuals are more likely to start new businesses in a climate of high generalized trust and supportive institutions. Finally, the project will explore how regional differences in these societal-level characteristics account for variations in entrepreneurial entry across countries.
Unanticipated Benefits and Dangers of the Pursuit of University Technology Start-Ups
Anne Miner, professor of management and human resources, UW-Madison
In an attempt to encourage entrepreneurship, regions in the United States or across the globe might hope to replicate the success of Silicon Valley or North Carolina’s Research Triangle by emulating what those regions did. However, differences in state laws, governmental structures or local institutional support may alter the results and transporting ideas across international borders magnifies those differences and the chances of unintended outcomes. Efforts to promote entrepreneurship also may change the very institutions providing the encouragement or the settings in which entrepreneurship takes place. This project seeks to map the unintended consequences of efforts to encourage entrepreneurship in order to assist policymakers, universities and other institutions when they consider whether and how to promote entrepreneurship. The research also will contribute to an ongoing debate among policymakers and university faculty over the ways in which promotion of entrepreneurship may change institutions.