Placing the Dutch Entrepreneurship Paradox
The rise of self-employment
and its implications for the neighbourhood
Erik Stam & Vareska van de Vrande
ESRC Seminar Entrepreneurial Neighbourhoods
Delft University of Technology, Delft, 9-10 September, 2015
Placing the Dutch Entrepreneurship Paradox
Self-employment rates, 1890-1970
Sources: Steinmetz & Wright 1989; Wennekers 2006
0,00
0,05
0,10
0,15
0,20
0,25
0,30
0,35
0,40
1890 1910 1930 1950 1970
Netherlands
Germany
US
NL employment 5 largest multinationals, 1985-2012 (-74%)
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
1985 1997 2003 2007 2012
Philips DSM AKZO Shell Unilever
Decline managerial economy, rise entrepeneurial economy
Flexibilization of work
Dutch Entrepeneurship Paradox
• …a rise in entrepreneurship that did not lead to a similar rise innovation. – 150,000 entrepreneurial poor…
• More a transition in labour organization (flexibilization of work) than industrial organization (entrepreneurial economy)
• Implications for the spatial organization of entrepreneurship?
Placing the Dutch Entrepreneurship Paradox
Problematizing the Dutch Entrepreneurship Paradox
Entrepreneurial Poor
Lack of innovation
Loneliness
Co-workers Seats2Meet
Occupational status Industries
95% higher educated (HBO, WO)
Co-workers Seats2Meet
Visits
• 62% at least once a week
• 78% >4 hrs per day
• 93% commutes less than 20 minutes (29% even less than 10 minutes)
• 49% by bike, 25% by train
Motivations (5-7)
• Meet customers: 52.0%
• Meet colleagues: 61.7%
• Meet new people: 84.1%
Placing the Dutch Entrepreneurship Paradox
Erik Stam & Vareska van de Vrande
ESRC Seminar Entrepreneurial Neighbourhoods
Delft University of Technology, Delft, 9-10 September, 2015