The influence of entrepreneurial infrastructure on entrepreneur networking: a comparative case study of Russian and Finnish founding teams

摘要

Entrepreneurial infrastructure strongly affects different outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviour, in particular, the establishment of new business relations and their development. This study aims to explore the influence of entrepreneurial infrastructure on the process of establishing new business relations and to compare the networking activities of founding team members from Russia and Finland. Adopting a process based view and following a comparative case study strategy, we found that the entrepreneurial infrastructures of the two countries, specifically referring to the stability of the economic climate, availability and access to the services of entrepreneurship supporting organisations, and the overall level of trust, all influence the ratio between formal and informal relations in the entrepreneurial networks of the founding teams studied. Our findings suggest several practical implications for entrepreneurs and business managers in both countries.