Entrepreneurship research and the biological metaphor of the entrepreneurial ecosystem
Abstract
This paper surveys the evolution of measuring entrepreneurship – from self-employment counts and startup rates to systemic, context-sensitive indices – and advances a biological metaphor that links the fauna of venture types (mice, elephants, gazelles, unicorns) to the flora of habitat conditions (climate, vegetation, rules, nutrients, pathways). The paper illustrates the balance and functioning of flora and fauna through
three African ecosystems: the desert, the savannah, and the tropical rainforest. I evaluate the domestic entrepreneurial ecosystem based on this biological metaphor. The contribution is conceptual (integrating fauna and flora) and empirical (using GEI logic to diagnose and prioritize), offering a tractable way to relate measurement to development-relevant policy.
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