"Entrepreneurship and Firm Foundation Across Countries"
A research project on worldwide entrepreneurship by Wharton Profs. Raffi Amit and Mauro Guillen and World Bank colleagues Leora Klapper and Juan Manuel Quesada, the result of several years ago of data collection and analysis, found that beuracracy is a big barrier for entrepreneurial activity.

Amit and Guillen's report, which is analyzed in the "Get it Started!" newsletter, is just the beginning of a multi-year effort to analyze patterns of entrepreneurship around the world. Ultimately, the two scholars hope to be able to rank countries based on their level of entrepreneurial activity, similar to the way that Transparency International rates perceptions of governmental corruption.

Technology Commercialization Research Program (TRCP)
The Technology Commercialization Research Program (TCRP) is a research collaboration between the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization at the College of Management of Technology at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The purpose of the program is to explore technology commercialization practices and outcomes in the USA, the EU, and Japan.

The research program is being jointly conducted by Professor Ian MacMillan, Professor Marc Gruber and James Thompson. » Find out more

Social Wealth Creation via Experimental Entrepreneurial Philanthropy
Ian C. MacMillan

Governments and philanthropists spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year towards supporting start-up firms and small entrepreneurial businesses, a strategy linked to the belief that the creation and growth of new enterprises fuels the growth of the economy, particularly through employment. To date few people have considered the role that entrepreneurial activity can play beyond improving employment. Based on our research, we contend that such activity can directly confront social problems and create new societal wealth.  » View the full paper on-line

Venture vs. Vulture
Wharton professor Gary Dushnitsky ponders the paradox of corporate venture capital.
» Read the Article

Does Success in Tech Ventures Follow from Better R&D? Think Again
Technology-based businesses often assume that if they want to steal a march over their competitors, they need to excel in R&D. That may be true, but it's not enough, say Ian C. MacMillan, director of Wharton's Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center, and Rita Gunther McGrath, a colleague from Columbia University. The key, they say in a new paper, is to empower technology managers to adopt a business-oriented approach that connects technology creation to the target market.
» Read the Article

Compete or Cooperate?
Wharton professor David Hsu's research shows that cooperation with big rivals is just as viable a strategy as competition for some start-ups.
» Read the Article

For more research from Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center access Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton School's online research and business analysis journal.

Find more articles about WEP's research, teaching, and outreach efforts in Get It Started, WEP's quarterly newsletter.