Longitudinal analysis of entrepreneurship and competitiveness dynamics in Latin America

For many countries, entrepreneurship plays a very important role like a key motor for economic growth and new job generation (Birch, 1979, 1987). Additionally entrepreneurs may contribute with innovations (products or processes) and make important contributions to market competitiveness (Acs and Audretsch, 2003). In Latin America (LA), the -micro and small entrepreneurial business- maybe are one of the most important factors for social development by the high level of job creation (or self-employment) that these kind of enterprise efforts can generate. As a field of research, entrepreneurship in LA is a relative young and rapidly expanding field of knowledge (Tiffin, 2004). Some Latin American countries have experienced a remarkable transformation in the last 20 years, both in terms of economic growth and institutional development. Export of natural resources or commodities and some low value-added processing led the economic expansion until the mid-1990s, but in the last few years the economic growth has showed variations and lower degrees of growth (Echecopar, 2004). For this reason, there is an emerging interest in opinion leaders from public administration, business, academics and general society on how to develop more value-added industries. We think that entrepreneurship and innovation are keys to overcoming this recent lack of dynamism on LA economy. In this research we investigate the relation of entrepreneurial activity and economic development and competitiveness performance of some LA countries.