Author(s):
1. Guillermo Andrés Zapata Huamaní, 2. Sara Fernández López, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
3. Isabel Neira Gómez, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Abstract:
According to Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 (2012) there are three phases of economic development: the Factor-driven economies, the Efficiency-driven economies and the Innovative-driven economies. In this sense, an Innovative-driven economy would be the economic threshold what a country should achieve and/or maintain. In the last decade, it has been claim that most of the South American countries have shown Efficiency-driven economies (GEM, 2012), even when their great differences in both economic and social issues are taken into account. Therefore, the next step for these countries will be to achieve Innovative-driven economies which are mainly based on the knowledge and innovation development. As a result, some of the main agents of this process are the new companies whose business is underpinned by a technology base (New Tecnology-Based Firm - NTBF). If it is generally accepted that new firms contribute to increase the employment and to promote the economic growth and social development of a country, the technology-based companies are often attributed a higher potential than other kind of more conventional firms (Oakey, 1995). Since technology-based entrepreneurship is important for the economic growth of a region, it is crucial to find out whether there are different factors in this process from the perspective of both the individual and the country. Hence, the aim of this paper is double; it aims to analyze what personal and macroeconomic characteristics can be acting as drivers to engage the South American individuals in setting up business in the media and high-tech industries and whether these characteristics of \"technology entrepreneurs\" differ from those ones that identify the \"conventional entrepreneurs\". Our analysis is based on a representative sample of the adult population aged 18 to 64 in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela), using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data, for the 2011 year. First we will make a brief descriptive analysis to define the technological entrepreneurial profile through the use of the most representative statistical. Then we will use econometric techniques (logit model) to identify the personal and macroeconomic determinants of creation of new technology-based companies.

Key words:
Entrepreneur, New technology-based firms (NTBF), personal and macroeconomic determinants.

Date of abstract submission:
20.11.2013.

Conference:
REDETE 2014 - Researching Economic Development and Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies