The triple whorl for industrial parks entrepreneurial ecosystem development: Unleashing the integrated role on small ventures growth

Developing countries need industrial parks (IPs) to modernize their industries and technologies as well as to enable the growth of ventures by combining the entrepreneurial elements in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Industrial parks will integrate domestic and foreign investment through public-private partnerships (PPP), academia-industry linkage (AIL), and foreign direct investment (FDI). However, there is weak integration of PPP, AIL, and FDI in IPs and poor involvement of small ventures in IPs in Ethiopia. In this regard, the current study was conducted in Addis Ababa city administration, with an emphasis on examining the triple whorl (i.e., integration of PPP, AIL, and FDI) of IPs’ contribution towards small firm growth. Using a sample of 245 small manufacturing enterprise owners selected through simple random sampling, the data for this research were obtained through primary data sources. These data were analyzed using partial least squares technique structural equation modelling. From this, we identified that the partial least square technique structural equation modelling result indicates that PPP, AIL, and FDI significantly improve the growth of small ventures. However, the independent influence of the triple whorl is intensified when government commitment is greater. Therefore, the government should commit to incorporating small enterprises in benefiting from the integration of the triple whorl of IPs to improve the growth of small ventures. This study is the first to develop the triple whorl model that integrates PPP, AIL, and FDI, and contributes to the improvement of entrepreneurial ecosystem and venture growth of IPs. It also makes a novel contribution by testing the elements of the triple whorl at the micro-level by relating to the small ventures.