Institutions and entrepreneurship in the framework of endogenous development: towards the formation of a theoretical framework for Latin America

In Latin America, it is feasible to infer the inexistence of a school of thought aimed at examining the relevant agents and links for entrepreneurship, seen as a holistic system of institutional connections that impact performance in terms of innovation, employment, and economic growth. The objective of this work is to answer the question inherent in the feasibility of generating a theoretical current for entrepreneurship in Latin America based on the precepts of economic institutionalism and endogenous development. For this purpose, it is proposed to integrate a theoretical scheme aimed at identifying the institutional dimensions and relevant endogenous spheres that have the capacity to promote or inhibit entrepreneurship in Latin America. Methodologically, this approach is configured from a documentary review on representative authors of institutionalism, endogenous development, and entrepreneurship. The results indicate the possibility of originating a theoretical current referring to entrepreneurial activity through the inclusion of four dimensions applicable to any region: institutional context, heterogeneity of actors, connective capacity, and results of the entrepreneurial system -environment; as well as a dimension of applicability for Latin America. The latter, called institutional failures, involves structural and conjectural elements that have a negative impact on entrepreneurial activity.