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Author: | Harrison, R.T. Mason, C.M. Girling, P. |
Title: | Financial bootstrapping and venture development in the software industry |
Journal: | Entrepreneurship & Regional Development
2004 : JUL, VOL. 16:4, p. 307-333 |
Index terms: | Finance Venture capital Entrepreneurship Small business Software Industries Product development |
Freeterms: | SME |
Language: | eng |
Abstract: | Access to finance has been identified as a significant constraint on the development of technology-based businesses. Although important, institutional venture capital (hereafter as: v-cap.) and business angel finance are used by only a small proportion of new and growing ventures. The role of bootstrapping (hereafter as: b-s.) - defined here as access to resources not owned or controlled by the entrepreneur - has been largely overlooked in studies. This paper analyses the role and importance of b-s. in product development and business development in the software industry. Results from two regions of the U.K. are compared with data from the USA (Massachusetts). Overall, b-s. techniques are less extensively used in the Northern Ireland industry than in South East England, and in both regions b-s. is less common than in Massachusetts. This may account for the smaller employment size, growth profile and stronger service/consulting orientation of these firms. In addition, there appear to be considerable variations in the use of b-s. |
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