Title: Entrepreneurship and ICT: a comparative analysis between Germany and Portugal

Authors: Joao Leitao, Joao Ferreira

Addresses: Department of Management and Economics, University of Beira Interior, Edificio Ernesto Cruz, 6200–209 Covilha, Portugal. ' Department of Management and Economics, University of Beira Interior, Edificio Ernesto Cruz, 6200–209 Covilha, Portugal

Abstract: The paper aims to investigate the impact of the liberalisation of the European telecommunications markets on the business ownership rate, employment, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and investment in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in two European countries: Germany and Portugal. For this purpose, a Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive (CVAR) model is used in order to identify the impacts that originate from the adoption of this kind of public policy. In the case of Germany, a surprising causality relationship is detected, in the sense that the GDP precedes the decreasing business ownership rate. In the case of Portugal, the business ownership rate pulls for additional investments in ICT. Besides, a creative entrepreneurial destruction is somehow ratified, since the business ownership rate impacts negatively on the level of employment.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; information technology; communication technology; ICT investment; cointegrated vector autoregressive model; CVAR; Germany; Portugal; European telecommunications; business ownership rate; employment; gross domestic product; GDP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2009.023023

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2009 Vol.7 No.3, pp.324 - 346

Published online: 08 Feb 2009 *

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