ABSTRACT
In previous chapters we have outlined institutional theories of enterprise which suggest that the business and economic environment in which entrepreneurs operate will shape their activities and will, in part at least, determine levels of entrepreneurial activity (Bruton et al., 2009). In European and some Asian economies, for example, the stigma attached to business failure has often been said to be a greater barrier to entrepreneurship than it is in the USA. In 2010, for example, 26.7 per cent of adults in the USA said fear of failure would prevent them starting a business compared to 40.5 per cent in France and 50.9 per cent in Greece (GEM, 2010, pp. 17—18). These differences may help to explain part or all of the difference in entrepreneurship rates in the US and Europe and also between regions within individual countries. Vaillant and Lafuente (2007), for example, argue that the potential stigma of business failure is a significant determinant of differences in entrepreneurial activity between different parts of rural Spain. In other emerging economies lack of finance, or the difficulty of enforcing property rights, have also been said to have a significant effect on the level of entrepreneurial activity (Stenning et al., 2010).
