Understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems using complex adaptive systems theory: getting the big picture for economic development, practice, and policy
本文融合复杂适应系统理论与创业生态系统,提出一个包含人、地、目的和过程的框架,并通过案例展示如何分析动态互联的社会系统,为经济发展干预提供指导。
This paper demonstrates how the theory of complex adaptive systems (CAS) and entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) can be synthesized to create a comprehensive framework for understanding EEs as comprising dynamic and diverse actors, factors, and interdependencies. We adapt four elements common to CAS and propose a context-specific framework for explaining EEs through people, place, purpose, and process to provide insights for policy, development, and regulatory interventions. Motivated by the challenge to develop a practical and parsimonious framework for comprehensive EE analysis, we present a case study using a CAS approach to illustrate the nature of EEs as dynamic, interconnected social systems and identify opportunities for economic development interventions. The study offers a novel framework for system-level EE analysis, and in doing so, it contributes to entrepreneurial economic development, research, policy, and practice.