Innovative Entrepreneurship in Cities and Regions: Knowledge Connectivity, Incumbent Appropriation Strategies, and Multinational Firms

Innovative entrepreneurship introduces new products, processes, or business models that form the basis of the development of new markets and long term prosperity of countries and regions. Incumbent (multinational) firms may however leverage their hold on global intangible assets and appropriation strategies to fence off the competitive threat of new innovative entrants. Innovative entrepreneurship is particularly salient in metropolitan areas with strong international knowledge connections (‘global cities’). We examine the influence of knowledge connectivity, ownership concentration of innovation, foreign and domestic multinational firm activity, and appropriation strategies in facilitating or hampering innovative entrepreneurial entry, growth of innovative entrants, and economic growth and resilience in (metropolitan) regions. To this end, we construct and analyse a comprehensive database on corporate innovative entry and growth in European regions and industries at a fine-grained (NUTS-3 and NACE-4) level.