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Circular economy (CE) has emerged as a sustainable alternative to the current "take, make, waste" linear approach. Although prior studies have highlighted the salience of collaborative efforts between start‐ups and incumbents, little is known about the mechanisms behind collaboration in a CE context. This study enhances our understanding of the topic by drawing on six cases of circular start‐ups (CSUs) operating in the United Kingdom's business‐to‐business market and investigating the mechanisms by which start‐ups collaborate with incumbents. Using the Context, Intervention, Mechanism, Outcome framework, the paper's findings demonstrate that CE does not necessitate high‐risk and expensive changes and show that CSUs can collaborate with incumbents in low‐risk ways by outsourcing and developing service contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we focus on entrepreneurs' passion as a signal in influencing fundraising success via equity crowdfunding. Moreover, we look at the role of entrepreneurs' task-specific experience – industry and startup experience- and company control in influencing the credibility of passion as a signal. Through a text analysis of 606 equity crowdfunding campaigns in the UK, we found that entrepreneurs' displayed passion positively influences funding success and that entrepreneurs' startup experience reinforces the credibility of this signal, i.e., the impact of passion on fundraising success. Additionally, we found that when entrepreneurs retain more shares of the company, the influence of displayed passion on funding success is greater. Our study contributes to the crowdfunding literature highlighting the importance of entrepreneurs' passion in influencing fundraising success via crowdfunding, and what influences the credibility of passion as a signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to identify the development, trends and research gaps related to start-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this research identified future research directions. Design/methodology/approach: This research is a bibliometric study using 192 Scopus-indexed articles with the assistance of the VOSviewer. The selected articles discussed start-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic and were published between 2020 and 2022. The analyses included initial statistics on publication trend, distribution of research field, most productive journals, most productive authors, most cited article, geographic distribution, multinational collaboration and science. Findings: Between 2020 and 2022, the literature on start-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased. Most articles are in Business, Management and Accounting, Economics, Econometrics and Finance and Social Sciences. Regarding geographic distribution and multinational collaboration, the USA, India and the UK led the numbers. The UK was also the forerunner in research collaboration. Based on the science mapping results, COVID-19, fintech, entrepreneurship and innovation were the most simultaneously used keywords. Furthermore, this study also identified that there is a lack of study regarding consumer behavior, employee behavior and quality management of start-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications: This research also has several limitations. First, this research only used the Scopus database. Even though Scopus has advantages compared to other databases, combining the Scopus database with other databases will be able to provide more comprehensive data. However, there is a risk associated with combining two or more databases, namely, duplication. When using more than one database, researchers must ensure no repetition of the articles used because it will affect the analysis results. Future research can consider combining the Scopus database with other databases. Second, this bibliometric study covered the publication of start-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. This condition indicated that several research on start-ups during COVID-19 are still being performed and will be published. Thus, future bibliometric study start-ups during COVID-19 were needed to update the trend of the research on start-ups during COVID-19. Practical implications: The bibliometric study provided at least two main practical implications that can be used to support the growth of start-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, this research has mapped the existing literature on start-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic. This information can be used as input for start-up practitioners and policymakers when they need scientific reference and evidence in developing a policy and/or a management action/program needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, this research highlighted several clusters of keywords that are attracted many researchers. These keywords can be viewed as important issues that are needed to be monitored by start-up practitioners and policymakers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social implications: Start-ups have an important role in economic development. It is well known that start-ups can boost productivity and economic growth. As start-ups tend to use technology, it also has an important role in disrupting traditional economic practices. Start-ups may also offer a more convenient life. Furthermore, the availability of start-ups may also increase the quality of life of the people that are serviced by the start-ups. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first bibliometric study that discussed start-ups during the pandemic. It provided a comprehensive literature review process to identify research gaps that allowed future researchers to develop studies related to start-ups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over fifty countries have introduced regulatory sandboxes to foster financial innovation. This article conducts the first evaluation of their ability to improve fintechs' access to capital and attendant real effects. Exploiting the staggered introduction of the UK sandbox, we establish that firms entering the sandbox see an increase of 15% in capital raised post-entry. Their probability of raising capital increases by 50%. Sandbox entry also has a significant positive effect on survival rates and patenting. Investigating the mechanism, we present evidence consistent with lower asymmetric information and regulatory costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, the UK government made the decision to offer loans to new entrepreneurs who were excluded from the credit market through the start-up loan (SUL) scheme. By 2021, loans totalling £759 million have been issued to 85,809 new start-ups. A disproportionate share of these SULs was issued to previously unemployed people to support their transition into self-employment. This paper questions whether those who started with the fewest resources achieved better or worse outcomes than those who started from a more beneficial position. Our findings show that previously unemployed start-ups had smaller loans and that they had a higher default hazard on their loans than entrants from waged employment, but more educated and older unemployed entrants survived longer. More generally, SULs to unemployed start-ups were cost-effective for the government in a loan portfolio sense, but once the benefits of supported entry into self-employment were fully accounted for, the overall contribution was very positive. This highlights the potential more comprehensive societal benefits of removing capital constraints by supporting the transition from unemployment to self-employment. Furthermore, we propose testing the effect of replacement start-up subsidies by soft loans in those countries, offering only direct grants, to increase the efficiency of public financial resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Along with technology-based ecosystems, healthcare start-ups are expanding multi-fold. On the other hand, underlying uncertainties pose several challenges for these health-tech enterprises at macro-meso-micro level, influencing their business circumstances and profitability. The current study aims to comprehend the macro-, meso- and micro-level barriers that make it difficult for enterprises to set up healthcare technology start-ups. The study also observed the perceived effect of these challenges on firms' performance and cost structure over time. Using the theory of behaviour under uncertainty, the study revealed multiple systemic, sector-related, human and implementation barriers that hinder business growth and lead to uncertainties for health-tech start-ups. Design/methodology/approach: Using a grounded theory approach, the study collected the views of 51 health tech start-ups in the UK using an online participants pool. The data was collected using qualitative data techniques in the form of open-ended essays, and a content analysis using thematic coding process was conducted. The questions centered around the different institutional uncertainties or barriers while setting up or running a healthcare start-up. Findings: The study revealed several macro-, meso- and micro-level barriers these technology-based enterprises perceive in the healthcare industry. These are recognised as systemic barriers, such as lack of funding and procedural issues; sector-related barriers, such as market-related impediments; human barriers, including psychological barriers and resistance to new technology; and implementation barriers, such as operational and personnel issues. Research limitations/implications: The study used qualitative, open-ended essay techniques to collect the data. Future studies may use a mixed-methods approach to provide holistic insights. The study is conducted in a single developed country, the UK. Future work may expand these findings by comparing developed market challenges with those of emerging markets and by assessing the viewpoints of healthcare start-ups. Practical implications: This research will assist the healthcare sector and government understand health tech start-up hurdles and uncertainty. Policymakers must assist start-ups and encourage entrepreneurial innovation. Regulating and enabling policies will help. The paper examines start-ups' macro, meso and micro uncertainties. Policymakers promoting sector entrepreneurship must consider these barriers while designing policy guidelines. Originality/value: The study contributes to the existing literature on technology start-ups, particularly in the healthcare industry, and identifies significant barriers these start-ups face. The study synthesizes research on health-tech start-up uncertainty and bridges the gap between theory and practice by applying empirical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research indicates that investors rely on various criteria to evaluate early-stage companies. However, past research in this area has focused on subsets of factors and does not distinguish between the predictors and causal determinants of start-up valuation. In our study, we applied machine learning and causal discovery to analyze a comprehensive dataset with 57 independent variables and 2,366 valuations of start-ups in the United Kingdom. The results show a strong relationship between good predictors and causal determinants of valuation. However, noncausal variables may still be useful for prediction, and inversely, some observed causes may not help in the prediction task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper draws on network theory to employ concepts of homophily and heterophily to investigate whether the presence of familiar, unfamiliar or a mix of actors in an entrepreneurial ecosystem is related to start-up rates. The empirical focus of this study is on 81 UK university entrepreneurial ecosystems and their outputs in terms of academic spinoff companies. The paper finds that university entrepreneurial ecosystems with access to actors of predominantly heterophilious character are associated with higher spinoff start-up rates. It is concluded that in stimulating the development of successful entrepreneurial ecosystems there is a clear need to focus on their openness to heterophilious actors, inclusive of other ecosystems. This is especially important in the context of network lock-in that may arise from dependence on homophilious ties. Plain English Summary: Entrepreneurial ecosystems characterised by openness to diverse actors generate more firms, as shown in a study focusing on 81 UK university entrepreneurial ecosystems. The paper studies network character of actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems and whether this character is associated with start-up rates. Specifically, it focuses on the familiarity of actors, inspecting whether it is related to greater venture formations. In so doing, the study examines 81 UK university entrepreneurial ecosystems. It finds that university entrepreneurial ecosystems that generate more ventures are associated with having a presence of actors of unfamiliar character, drawing attention to the openness of ecosystems' networks. The key implication of the study is in recognising the link between the ecosystem's openness to diverse actors and its entrepreneurial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about what happens after an un successful equity crowdfunding campaign. Taking a socioemotional wealth perspective, we hypothesize that family business start-ups are more likely to eventually still raise equity financing relative to nonfamily business start-ups. Moreover, while family business start-ups are initially less likely to provide voting rights, we hypothesize that they are more likely to offer shares with voting rights after an unsuccessful campaign. Using data on the UK equity crowdfunding market, we find support for our hypotheses. This study adds novel insights into the nexus between equity crowdfunding and family business literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second quantum revolution has been producing groundbreaking scientific and technological outputs since the early 2000s; however, the scientific literature on the impact of this revolution on the industry, specifically on start-ups, is limited. In this paper, we present a landscaping study with a gathered dataset of 441 companies from 42 countries that we identify as quantum start-ups, meaning that they mainly focus on quantum technologies (QT) as their primary priority business. We answer the following questions: (1) What are the temporal and geographical distributions of the quantum start-ups? (2) How can we categorize them, and how are these categories populated? (3) Are there any patterns that we can derive from empirical data on trends? We found that more than 92% of these companies have been founded within the last 10 years, and more than 50% of them are located in the US, the UK, and Canada. We categorized the QT start-ups into six fields: (i) complementary technologies, (ii) quantum computing (hardware), (iii) quantum computing (software/application/simulation), (iv) quantum cryptography/communication, (v) quantum sensing and metrology, and (vi) supporting companies, and analyzed the population of each field both for countries, and temporally. Finally, we argue that low levels of quantum start-up activity in a country might be an indicator of a national initiative to be adopted afterwards, which later sees both an increase in the number of start-ups, and a diversification of activity in different QT fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of this paper is to compare immigrant community's business start‐up experiences in ethnic enclaves of London (UK) and Dubai (UAE). The primary data were collected through 20 in‐depth semi‐structured interviews (10 from each country) identified through personal contact networks and snowball sampling approaches in each country. The data were collected from November 2020 to March 2021 and analyzed using the template analysis approach. The findings reveal positive and ambitious business start‐up motivations and experiences among a psychologically "transient" migrant community in the UAE, despite starting their business under stricter business start‐up regulations in comparison with the UK sample where adverse motivations for business start‐up were reported with negative business start‐up experiences among a "naturalized" migrant community with comparatively liberal business start‐up regulations. This study contributes to the empirical cross‐national studies in immigrant entrepreneurship and provides impetus to the mixed embeddedness model while also reviving the seminal works of Phizacklea and Ram as a continuation of a stagnant discourse on cross‐national ethnic entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social entrepreneurs navigate a complex landscape of legal structures in which they need to select among for-profit, nonprofit, and mixed-entity structures. This study of 48 hybrid organizations identifies why social entrepreneurs chose one legal structure over another and explains what motivates half of them to change their legal structure as they build their enterprise. It highlights the critical desire for flexibility among social entrepreneurs, discusses the implications that changes to legal structure may have for companies and hybrids in partnerships, and explores how companies can leverage hybrid structures to go beyond their current scope of CSR initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By shifting towards Romer's (Am Econ Rev 94:1002–1037, 1986) economy and so the spread of knowledge economy, universities started to adopt a collaborative approach with their entrepreneurial ecosystem. They turn out to be risk taker, autonomous, proactive, competitive, and innovative. In a nutshell, they are entrepreneurial oriented with the aim to generate new innovative ventures, known as research-based spin offs. Doubly, this has induced an improvement of technology transfer and the degree of entrepreneurship in the current knowledge economy. However there still is a paucity of studies on the spill over effect of entrepreneurial orientated universities and research-based spin off on technology transfer need to be more explored. Therefore, the article investigates the link between entrepreneurial orientation and such spill overs by offering an outlook of two universities and two research-based spin offs in the United Kingdom. The scope is to provide a deep view of technological innovativeness in a research context, entrepreneurial oriented. Our research suggests that entrepreneurial attitude has become an imperative to succeed in the context where British institutions currently operate. Entrepreneurship brings the necessary technological innovation to the university and its students, which results in better positioning of the university at national and international levels, with the subsequent impact on their ability to attract not only new students and academics but also funding to conduct their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognising the economic value of London hosting 17 of the world's top 50 FinTech firms, HM Treasury's strategy is determined 'to ensure Britain remains the best place in the world to set up and grow a FinTech business.' The Financial Conduct Authority's 'Sandbox' regime has attracted FinTech start-ups from around the world to test their technology and business with supervision and regulatory protections, providing an opportunity to grow into major businesses. The success of the intuitive Sandbox has however led to it being replicated in jurisdictions worldwide, eager to benefit from the growth of FinTech. Competition for high-calibre start-ups means the UK's post-Brexit Sandbox may need to go further than its existing FinTech Sector Strategy to continuing attracting and developing firms helping the City of London to remain the global centre of finance as perceived in the UK's Industrial Strategy. The article examines existing regulations and analyses how the UK can develop an enhanced structure to both further attract and accommodate legitimate high-calibre FinTech entrepreneurs, whilst offering strong client and investor protections to ensure financial stability. It proposes unprecedented legal and policy reforms for the Sandbox structure, including a permissible model to capitalise on funding from amateur private investors worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Start-up companies represent the elite of global entrepreneurship. The search for self-actualisation is what prompts entrepreneurs to start new ventures, an imagining deeply embedded in a specific set of practices related to the expression and dramatization of feeling. In this article, I focus on the category "make it happen" prevalent in start-up companies. I seek to understand this "making it happen" from an ethnographic standpoint and encompass situated and contextual meanings and practices in order to produce a more textured account of the contemporary experience of living under changing socioeconomic structures. My fieldwork was conducted in Brazil and the United Kingdom between 2014 and 2017 among young entrepreneurs and networks of investors, consultants, and experts in the making of their own start-up companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A case study was undertaken to evaluate the use of self-reflection in enterprise education in a UK university, where the taught content was tailored to ensure relevance to the students who were from a variety of subject disciplines. Design/methodology/approach: Enterprise taught content was established in masters level 7 programmes across a range of subject disciplines. Taught content was designed using problem based learning, and evaluated using self-reflective methodologies. The paper reflects on the current position of enterprise education and asks the research question of whether the use of self-reflective teaching methodologies are valid for enterprise education. Findings: Results suggest that the students appreciated the introduction of enterprise into their course and in the main did not view it as disjointed or irrelevant to their wider aims. More so, the students commented favourably towards the integration of enterprise into their primary discipline, and noted an enhanced learning experience because of this integration. Research limitations/implications: For the University: A novel approach to enterprise teaching has been developed at a UK university, focusing on teaching non-business students how to be more valuable to a business within their degree subject context. This has empowered the students with an enhanced understanding of commercial issues and increased employability (Rae 2007; Huq and Gilbert 2017). This has also led to enhanced relationships with industry and given students a wider understanding of their degree area. Practical implications: For the educator: The use of self-reflective teaching methodologies (Hayward 2000) are noted to be vital in order to deliver enterprise education in a way that is relevant to the student cohort body. By reflecting on one's teaching style and delivery method, the authors were able to engage non-business students in enterprise education, and receive a high level of student satisfaction. It is noted that self-reflection was a valuable process for delivery to each degree discipline. By employing problem based learning and self-reflective teaching methodologies, an increased synergy between the business taught elements and the science subjects was created. Originality/value: This approach is shown to empower the students with an enhanced understanding of commercial issues and an increased employability. This has led to enhanced relationships between academia and industry, and given students a wider understanding of their degree area; the enhanced relationships with industry offer students a wider commercial understanding of their degree area. A gap in the current knowledge base in enterprise education has been identified: enterprise education with the aim of educating the student to be more valuable to a business as opposed to starting a business. The use of self-reflective methodologies has offered a novel approach to enterprise teaching in a UK university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: The resource‐based view of the firm characterizes brands as important resources for firm growth and competitive advantage. Existing studies offer theory and evidence that venture capital (VC) backing enhances the growth of new technology ventures along different dimensions. It is not clear, however, whether and how VC backing affects the development of brand assets. In a study of VC‐backed and non‐VC‐backed nanotechnology ventures in the United Kingdom, we find a positive association between VC backing and the development of brand assets. We also find that VC‐backed technology ventures tend to create brand assets with a wider scope, which can be deployed across multiple different product‐markets. Managerial Summary: Brand strategy is critical for the success of entrepreneurial firms and can be challenging for firms operating in nascent industries that aim to commercialize innovations stemming from general purpose technologies. Such firms face dilemmas on whether to diversify or not into different product‐markets, how many brand assets to develop, and whether to leverage a brand asset across multiple product categories. In a study of nanotechnology ventures, we find that VC‐backing can affect the development of brand strategy: VC‐backed ventures tend to develop more brand assets compared with non‐VC‐backed ventures and tend to create brand assets with a wider scope, which can be deployed across multiple different product‐markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effects of immigration on entrepreneurship, making a distinction between the individual level and the neighbourhood characteristics. The study combined individual level drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data with neighbourhood level data for the English Index of Multiple Deprivation East Midlands region in the UK and applied a maximum likelihood logit model to test the hypotheses. The empirical evidence suggests that there is no direct link between the internal immigrants and start-ups on the one side; yet, there is direct link between the external immigrants and start-ups on the other side. However, the findings point to the importance of indirect effect of neighbourhood characteristics, as external immigrants have a significant effect on an individual's perception of new entrepreneurial opportunities which predicts start-up activity. Their presence in the neighbourhood has a positive monotonic effect on individual entrepreneurship. Therefore, the critical factor is not that external immigrants come with unique knowledge and skills they utilise in the creation of their own businesses, instead they produce positive local externalities enabling others to start-up businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of new service development has been relatively neglected in the literature on innovation and new product development. This paper explores some of the similarities and differences between new product development and new service development. It outlines the typical stages of the new product development process and then suggests how new product development in service organisations may differ because of the characteristics of services like intangibility and inseparability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of small business start-ups in the UK continues to increase. This article discusses the stages of business and marketing development that a small business can expect to encounter. Success in business depends upon a number of factors, these are described and discussed under the headings of individual qualities and key components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equity crowdfunding has rapidly established itself as an important part of the funding landscape for nascent entrepreneurial ventures. To date, however, little is known about the nature of the demand for equity crowdfunding or its impact on recipient firms. This article draws on an interview-based study of entrepreneurs of 42 equity crowdfunded start-ups in the United Kingdom. The study found strong demand for this funding from these experimental and improvisational entrepreneurs within innovative, consumer-focused, early stage firms. Many entrepreneurs were classic ‘discouraged borrowers’ attracted by the ability to obtain finance quickly with relatively little diminution of their equity or autonomy. In terms of impact, equity crowdfunding seems to confer important intangible benefits to investee companies which amount to more than money. Given their strongly improvisational nature, the concept of entrepreneurial bricolage seems a suitable theoretical lens explicating the behavioural aspects of the entrepreneurs examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to large established firms, technology-based new firms (TBNF) seem well placed to produce breakthrough innovations although questions remain as to their adeptness at subsequent exploitation. Building on the innovation and strategy literatures, the study identifies two different knowledge-development approaches or modes (business models) in TBNFs-internal versus external-and examines their relation to breakthrough innovation and subsequent progression of the product to market. The internal mode assembles knowledge inside the firm to generate its innovations, whereas the external mode relies heavily on alliances to develop and assemble knowledge among firms embedded in a creative network. The study uses a unique panel dataset of 69 UK new biotechnology firms over an 11-year period to explore this issue empirically. The findings show that the external knowledge-development mode is associated with more breakthrough innovations and a faster movement of innovations to market. The externally focused mode is not impeded by its relative lack of internal knowledge; it uses partners to access, assemble, and develop a wide scope of knowledge in a flexible manner. In addition, partners provide deep domain expertise to undertake the requisite deep-dives. In contrast, the internal mode has the huge challenge of assembling knowledge resources internally and suffers from a quicker onset of path dependence that impedes the generation of breakthroughs. This study provides a choice of business models (internal or external) that is associated with different breakthrough and speed to market performance outcomes. Going forward, policy makers and managers seeking breakthrough innovations, and speedy progression of the innovations to market should consider the potential resource efficiency of the external mode and the vital role played by collaborations-small firm versus large firm and private versus public entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work seeks to identify behavioral processes that new entrepreneurs can adopt to construct legitimacy in frequently changing temporary business environments. Focusing on independent television content production in the UK, the study finds that new entrepreneurs exploit the varying roles that their projects can play and then sequence these in order to tailor the legitimacy they need to build their business. This research draws on a 5-year inductive study of 81 projects won by entrepreneurs of five new independent television production companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the legal aspects of a global sharing economy (platform economy) involving startup companies in places such as San Francisco, California and Great Britain which utilize digital platform technology as of 2016, and it mentions the impacts that the platform economy is having on consumer protection laws, safety and health regulations, and zoning laws in places such as the U.S. Web 3.0 third-generation digital business models are examined, along with economies of scale.