The impact of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (investors, regulators, incubators) on the fit of the Italian start-ups into the value chain (suppliers, partners, customers).

The impact of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on the fit of the Italian start-ups into the value chain. The analysis of a generic entrepreneurial ecosystem is a though challenge, since it includes different variables and players extremely correlated among them. The aim of this study is to focus strictly on the relationships happening between the start-ups and the other actors in the ecosystem. Since many researchers – mentioned in the literature review – already studied broadly and deeply these dynamics separately, this analysis wants to bring new concrete conclusions with a new perspective. In particular, it will look to how these relationships affect what at the end is the crucial parameter of a start-up survival: its fit into the value chain. Therefore, when assessing the features of each relationship with a category of actors, the research will be not limited to listening to qualitative thoughts by the entrepreneurs, but it will try to understand the real and quantitative impact on the start-ups revenue. In other words, this study will be not focused on the one-to-one relation that a start-up may create with the different actors in the ecosystem but will try to link them with the effect on the firm economic performance. The preferred target audience of this study includes mainly two categories of actors. On one side, all the players in any entrepreneurial ecosystem that want to act to relieve some of the obstacles faced by the Italian start-uppers. On the other side, all the entrepreneurs that – surrounded by many challenges and obstacles – are looking for guidelines to establish successful relationships that are bringing real value to their new ventures. This document is structured in two parts. The first one is the literature review on the topic and includes an introduction on a generic entrepreneurial ecosystem framework, followed by one section for each type of players in an ecosystem (namely regulators, investors, incubators and value chain players). In each of these sections, the research hypotheses will be formulated. The solidity of these hypotheses will be then assessed in the second part, where the research method will be explained, the results commented and finally the hypotheses validated or rejected.