Entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness: what is the connection?

Entrepreneurship has attracted growing interest about its role in decision-making policies capable of fostering economic and social development. There has also been an increased attention on how entrepreneurs innovate and in so doing consequently contribute to higher levels of international competitiveness. Following recourse to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Global Competitive Index (GCI) data, the objective of this study involves analysis of the interlinkages between three constructs: entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness across the three phases of development defined by the GEM. To this end, we analyse the influence of the entrepreneur profile not only through both their intrinsic and extrinsic knowledge but also through their innovation and competitiveness across the three GEM development phases. The results convey how the importance attributed to entrepreneurship is dependent on the stage of economic development and consequently may reflect in either a positive or negative impact on this same economic growth strategy.