The role of MNEs in the genesis and growth of a resilient entrepreneurial ecosystem

Abstract

This article reports on a longitudinal process study of the critical role of anchor MNEs in the metamorphosis of a high-tech industrial cluster into a local entrepreneurial ecosystem. It draws on entrepreneurial ecosystem and international business literatures to frame the study of the genesis and evolutionary processes of an entrepreneurial ecosystem that emerged from two MNE subsidiaries, both of which had evolved into advanced R&D centres of excellence around a technology specialism. It shows how multiple new venture spinouts by former MNE employees introduced technological heterogeneity that catalysed into a resilient entrepreneurial ecosystem. The theoretical and policy implications that can be drawn from this case study emphasize the existence of both technology specialism and heterogeneity for resilience in an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and that reaching such a position is evolutionary in nature.