Abstract:

The availability of quantitative information on the factors affecting the success of Internet-based businesses plays a crucial role for the design and the appraisal of policy tools in an industry still affected by post-shakeout turmoil. Based on an original database of Italian web agencies where the entrepreneur directly participates in technical operations, the paper shows that the survival of a web agency results from a mix of factors spanning across different areas: both the entrepreneur’s personal characteristics, the firm peculiarities, and the features of the geographical location affect the hazard rate. In addition, micro-firms significantly differ form entrepreneurial web agencies.