Ecosystems’ start-up: the interplay between entrepreneurial and relational capabilities

This paper examines the issue of the entrepreneurial start-up and it questions about the ability of catching and creation of opportunities through exploitation/exploration strategies. The research, hence, investigates whether in an ecosystem the leading actor can be the entrepreneurial actor for the whole system, able not only to catch but also to create opportunities by exploiting and valorizing the resources of the different actors. Furthermore, the attention is focused on the understanding of entrepreneurial capabilities that exploit strategic resources and generate competitive advantage. The interesting issue is to focus, more than on individual start ups, on business districts themselves’ start ups. Within them, there is a network of already existing firms and new ventures can be started. In this last case, start-up issues develop at a double level: the district start up and the new initiatives promoted by the district (both new firms and-or new inter-firm ventures). The latter, besides, becomes also a signal of the district successful performance. Using the case study analysis methodology, the paper tries to cover some unexplored points within the referring entrepreneurship literature on start-ups. The proposed case study of the “District of high technology for Cultural Heritage” provides a conceptual and empirical foundation that allows to understand what should be the main capabilities within an eco-system in order to favor the creation of new business ventures that can translate into successful start-ups. This paper offers interesting both theoretical and empirical insights, showing the way through which the entrepreneurial actor can be an accelerator in creating strategic networks and business districts.