Firm location choice in the New Economy
exploring the role of entrepreneurial work-lifestyles of neighbourhood entrepreneurs in the business location decision
Chapter
Anne Risselada and Veronique Schutjens investigate to what extent the choice to run a business from home is linked to the entrepreneur’s work-lifestyle. The question has been largely neglected in studies on firm location processes, though it appears that a growing number of firms that are active in developing sectors – such as the knowledge, personal services and consumer sectors that contribute to feed the New Economy – are home-based businesses. The authors use information collected from 370 entrepreneurs operating in 41 residential neighbourhoods in five Dutch cities. Their results show that work-lifestyle factors matter to whether neighbourhood firms are home based: the likelihood of being home based increases with caring for family needs or when the business does not provide the primary household income, and decreases with the growth ambition of the entrepreneur.