The Determinants of Entrepreneurship: the Case of Business and Innovation Centre in Portugal

This research aims at studying the determinants of entrepreneurship, focusing on the special case of firms created within Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) in Portugal. We start by looking to the concept of entrepreneurship and its main determinants and then proceed with a brief discussion over the relevance of entrepreneurship policies. Next, we proceed with a survey of the firms created within Portuguese BICs in order to evaluate the role of those entities in supporting start-up firms. Our results show that the respondent firms were quite different from typical Portuguese firms, as in our case, most firms have a medium or high level of technology and the entrepreneur has typically a higher education level. However, there is some parallel with most Portuguese firms, as in both cases there is evidence of an endogenous entrepreneurship, either spatial or functional. From our results, we were able to conclude that entrepreneurs welcome BICs' support when starting the firm and also during its growth. Additionally, new entrepreneurs appreciate BICs' support in areas such as the development of the business plan, personal assistance support and other infrastructures. Finally, most entrepreneurs classified BICs' services as being above their expectations.