La mesure de l'entrepreneuriat. Rapport d'étude

Entrepreneurship is considered a key instrument in improving competitiveness between countries, promoting economic growth and increasing job possibilities. Researchers and decision makers agree that an entrepreneurial economy is a dynamic and innovative economy, that is, an economy that experiments with new ideas, new products and processes, allowing it to renew itself.

This study is the first in a series undertaken by the Institut de la statistique du Québec aiming at defining and measuring entrepreneurship and its main determinants for Québec, objectives that, for the most part, are in line with those of the OECD’s Entrepreneur Indicators Programme launched in partnership with Eurostat in 2005. It is the fruit of a collaboration between the Institut de la statistique du Québec and the Institut de recherche sur les PME of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, particularly represented by researchers Pierre-André Julien and Louise Cadieux.

This report reviews the various definitions of entrepreneurship used in scientific and professional literature, proposes a theoretical framework for distinguishing the determinants of entrepreneurship, and lists relevant databases for measuring entrepreneurship in Québec.