 Erkko Autio, director of the HEC Institut Stratège in Lausanne, Switzerland |
High-growth entrepreneurial firms represent a small minority of all new businesses, yet they create the bulk of new jobs. Despite their significance, though, it isn’t easy to find information about these high-growth firms precisely because of their rarity. The largest survey conducted to date is the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) analysis of high-expectation new firms.
It was to those findings that Erkko Autio, director of the HEC Institut Stratège in Lausanne, Switzerland and professor in technology-based venturing, turned his attention when he spoke on “High-Growth Entrepreneurship in a Global Perspective” on April 13, 2006 at a Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center-sponsored event at Florida International University.
He was the ideal person to do so.
“After seven years of experience as a core member of the GEM coordination team, Autio has been able to explore the factors leading to growth-oriented new firms,” said Paul Reynolds, professor in the College of Business Administration’s Department of Management and International Business and director of the Pino Center’s Entrepreneurial Research Institute.
In his lecture, Autio discussed differences between countries in terms of high-expectation entrepreneurial activity, explored the backgrounds of high-expectation entrepreneurs, and looked at how these firms react to national entrepreneurial frameworks.
“His analysis contributes to our understanding of how the United States maintains a leadership role in this high-potential area of entrepreneurship,” said Reynolds, one of 25 people who attended the lecture.
