Understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems using complex adaptive systems theory: getting the big picture for economic development, practice, and policy

This paper demonstrates how the theory of complex adaptive systems (CAS) and entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) can be synthesized to create a comprehensive framework for understanding EEs as comprising dynamic and diverse actors, factors, and interdependencies. We adapt four elements common to CAS and propose a context-specific framework for explaining EEs through people, place, purpose, and process to provide insights for policy, development, and regulatory interventions. Motivated by the challenge to develop a practical and parsimonious framework for comprehensive EE analysis, we present a case study using a CAS approach to illustrate the nature of EEs as dynamic, interconnected social systems and identify opportunities for economic development interventions. The study offers a novel framework for system-level EE analysis, and in doing so, it contributes to entrepreneurial economic development, research, policy, and practice.