Financial Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: An Analysis of Urban and Rural Regions of Norway

Abstract

Based on the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) perspective, this paper examines the role of finance and interrelated value-adding activities in ecosystems. The study employs a multiple-case design and interviews with 11 rural and urban innovative start-ups and stakeholders in the Norwegian market for entrepreneurial financing. The analysis disentangles the term recycling of entrepreneurial resources in ecosystems, explained here as a self-enhancing cycle of finance under certain conditions that allows enhancement of the ecosystem and members. The aim is to explain these mechanisms in business-level ecosystems, why they are important, and how they are new to entrepreneurship theories. The study argues that the robustness of ecosystems is characterised by the extent of such activities and how they affect entrepreneurial and regional growth. Bottom-up ecosystems can be spatially scattered and enable start-ups in disadvantageous localities to harvest critical resources from more advantageous places. This study provides a theoretical extension of EEs.

Assessing the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Sweden: a comparative study with Finland and Norway using Global Entrepreneurship Index

“…Norway should focus on the integration of market orientation and globalization into the heart of the business model. This is essential for providing better business development skills and facilitating the expanding availability of high-quality public and private risk capital (Frimanslund, 2022). Also, the increasing availability of resources and assistance, and inspiring and supportive ecosystems, networks, and communities for entrepreneurs to boost their businesses (Startup Universal, 2021).…”

Rural Entrepreneurship and Its Financing: A Theoretical Review

“…Olivares (2004, p.39) It is important to mention that informal financial institutions have a minimal or no legal framework, operating rules and internal standards. Among these informal sources, they can be: Rural savings banks, revolving funds, workers' savings banks, cooperative committees (Frimanslund, 2022). As well as those that offer other financial services such as: Savings clubs, rotating savings associations, insurance systems, and moneylenders.…”

Lessons from a rural ecosystem

“…The analysis seeks to locate available resources in the ecosystem and the process whereby these resources flow between entrepreneurs. Therefore, recycling is an essential part of the resource flow in an ecosystem and can be defined as a self-enhancing recycling of resources under certain conditions that allows the enhancement of the ecosystem and its members (Frimanslund, 2022). Resources such as economic capital, mentors, competent labour and entrepreneurial knowledge are acquired in the ecosystem over time through investment and entrepreneurial activity.…”