Studies of entrepreneurship increasingly focus on the context of entrepreneurship, rather than on the characteristics of the entrepreneur.  Arguing that the inability of particular firms to control high-skill labor is responsible for a critical component of contemporary entrepreneurship –  technologically-based spinoffs –  this paper provides a theoretical basis for the effects of career dynamics on entrepreneurship.  A theory of entrepreneurship, drawing on human capital theory, skills-opportunity theory, and internal labor market theory, links declines in firm market share to a disequilibrium in labor market matches.  That imbalance leads to the breakdown of control and the consequent generation of spin-offs.  Combining theory with qualitative and quantitative evidence, support is drawn from a study of the U.S. semiconductor industry from its beginning until its early maturity in the mid-1970s.
 

Environment and Planning A 32: 2133-2160 (2000)
 

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