Speech on Germany as a location for start-ups at Harvard

Together with Nehar Prashar from Aston Business School and Rolf Sternberg and Lennard Stolz from Leibniz University Hannover, Christian Hundt is researching how the start-up behavior of individuals is influenced in different institutional contexts. The results suggest that start-up activities develop better in the liberal and comparatively less regulated market economy in England than in the more collaboratively organized market economy in Germany. This is particularly evident in transitioning from the pre-start-up phase to market entry. While many people in Germany are not (or cannot) convert their original intention to set up a business into an actual business start-up, this phenomenon, which indicates high barriers to setting up a business, cannot be observed in England.
Country-specific urban-rural differences can also be observed:  The disparity in start-up rates harming rural areas is much more pronounced in Germany than in England.
The presentation was part of the annual meeting of the "Microeconomics of Competitiveness" (MOC) academic network founded by Harvard Professor Michael Porter, which took place from December 18-19, 2024 at Harvard Business School in Boston. The members of the network research and teach primarily on issues relating to the competitiveness of firms, regions, and nations.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Christian Hundt