Entrepreneurship and Start-Ups in the Boston Region: Factors Differentiating High-Growth Ventures from Micro-Ventures

The use of entrepreneurship to stimulate economic growth in lagging regions of the world has grown over the last decade. The type of business needed for job creation is a new venture rather than a micro-business. The experience of a major program in the U.S., empowerment zones, has failed to produce many jobs, mostly because the program has stimulated micro-businesses rather than growth ventures. This paper analyzed the factors differentiating between the formation of high-growth ventures and micro businesses, and discussed how these factors may best influence the activities of organizations that either nurture ventures or create government policies for regional development. The data consisted of ninety business plans submitted to a business plan competition in Boston. The results showed that founders of high-growth ventures have work experience or advanced training in their technologies, and teams rather than individuals created the plans. The results suggest that a combination of exogenous and endogenous approaches may be needed to stimulate a lagging region's economic growth.