International Business Research; Vol. 13, No. 4; 2020 ISSN 1913-9004 E-ISSN 1913-9012 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 52 Small is Beautiful? Niche Entrepreneurship with a Swiss Touch Jung Eung Park 1 , Jim Pulcrano 1 , Benoit Leleux 1 1 IMD (International Institute for Management Development), Lausanne, Switzerland Correspondence: Jung Eung Park, IMD, Ch. de Bellerive 23, P.O. Box 915, CH-1001 Lausanne, Switzerland. Received: February 20, 2020 Accepted: March 17, 2020 Online Published: March 20, 2020 doi:10.5539/ibr.v13n4p52 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v13n4p52 Abstract Entrepreneurship in Switzerland seems to be the exact opposite of that in Silicon Valley and can be described as low-impact entrepreneurship, or niche-centric entrepreneurship. We used an online survey to investigate the characteristics of Swiss entrepreneurs, their business performance, activities in securing investments, as well as their expectations from supporting institutions. In addition, as an effective example of utilizing the ecosystem, we investigated the entrepreneurs’ activities in venture competitions. We provide empirical evidence that supports the view that Switzerland, at least regarding high-tech, early stage companies, has a unique ecosystem – low financial expectations, niche technology specialists, mostly angel and self-financed, high survival rates and clear success, defined via great products and innovation, and positive social/environmental impact. Keywords: entrepreneurial ecosystem, entrepreneurship, Switzerland, venture competition 1. Introduction Entrepreneurship has received great attention with successful, young, high-tech start-ups highlighted regularly in the popular media. The so-called unicorns, young companies valued at over 1 billion dollars, have inspired many. Moreover, due to the positive role start-ups play in creating new jobs, governments have attempted to promote entrepreneurship in their regions (Schwartz, Goethner, Michelsen & Waldmann, 2013). Silicon Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area in general, is considered the global role model for an entrepreneurial ecosystem. According to Ernst and Young's annual survey (Schreiber & Pinelli, 2013), the USA ranked best in terms of access to funding and the entrepreneurship culture. Moreover, Silicon Valley was ranked as the top ecosystem, attracting 47% of all venture capital invested in the USA in 2015, and 30% of all deals (Herrmann, Gauthier, Holtschke, Berman & Marmer, 2015). Though northern California has been proposed as a role model for policy-makers in other countries, entrepreneurs, investors and government officials everywhere must find the model that best suits their region. The different forms of capitalism in the USA and Germany have often been compared as they represent, respectively, the typical liberal market economy (LME) and coordinated market economy (CME) as presented in Hall and Soskice (2001). A CME, such as Germany, is perceived to have advantages that allow it to compete with LMEs. Witt and Redding (2012) found that typical US business leaders emphasized that the purpose of business is maximizing shareholder gains, thus focusing on business profitability. German executives often mentioned their attention to stakeholders in general, including their obligation to employees and impact on the society. Accordingly, different characteristics could be observed in each economy: workers in CMEs tend to develop firm-specific skills expecting long-term employment, while laborers in LMEs tend to develop general skills to adapt to a fluid labor market. CMEs usually seek incremental innovation with a quality-driven approach, while LMEs appreciate radical innovation, propelled by a market-driven approach. Hall and Soskice (2001) classified six countries as LMEs (USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland) and another ten as CMEs (Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Austria). Nevertheless, the characteristics of each country vary, and within a large country such as the USA there will be regional differences. Silicon Valley seems to be the epitome of an LME, an ecosystem without unions, workers with transferable skills who move from company to company, a focus on impatient, short-term capital, and competitive arms-length relationships between companies. In this paper, we provide the first instance of empirical research that supports the view that Switzerland, at least regarding high-tech, early stage companies, has a different ecosystem entirely – low financial expectations, niche technology specialists, mostly angel and self-financed, high survival rates and success defined via great products