Improving Performance and Entrepreneurial Competences at the Base of the Pyramid. The Impact of Entrepreneurial Development Agencies

Entrepreneurial development has been seen as a gateway to economic vitality and poverty reduction in emerging economies. However, initiating and supporting economic growth in such economies through entrepreneurship has resulted problematic. This research aims to offer a model and a methodology to measure the impact of entrepreneurial development agencies (EDAs) on the performance and entrepreneurial competences of business organizations at the base of the pyramid (BOBOPs). Survey data were gathered from entrepreneurs participating in the incubation process of the Social Incubators System of the ITESM, in Mexico. Structural equation modeling gives evidence of a positive and significant impact of EDAs on performance of BOBOPs, through the mediating effect of entrepreneurial competences, particularly, market orientation and market innovation. The impact of EDAs resulted grater under less favorable contextual factors.