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Silicon Valley and Finland 63EBay, and Google, in the Internet in the 1990s. Silicon Valley concentrates asignificant part of the strong American entrepreneurial drive (figure 2.7).There are also strong supporting structures for new entrepreneurs. They canspecialize in quite narrow areas of expertise because there are many companiesthat have complementary skills. Silicon Valley is based on the networkenterprise model where some companies focus on innovation and brandingand others focus on subcontracting for these companies. Network enterprisesreconfigure their networks of partners based on their changing needs, leavingmuch of the production to electronics manufacturing companies, such asSolectron. This dynamic adaptation of the network enterprise is possiblebecause of the ready availability of flexible labor: only one-fifth of labor haslong-term, non-flexible jobs (Benner, 2002).The financial and business services of Silicon Valley are experienced infinancing and advising new high-tech companies. The venture capitalists, forexample, are used to helping dreamers who believe in a new idea turn it intoa business reality because many of them are former successful technologyentrepreneurs, such as Fairchild’s Kleiner (Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, andByers) and Valentine (Sequoia) or, more recently, Sun’s founder VinodKhosla. Their help goes far beyond financial assistance: venture capitalists arebusiness counselors who help in developing the business plan, participate onthe board, and so on. However, even entrepreneurs need capital to start a business.So, there is still another essential component of the process leading toinnovation: finance.USFinlandSingapore0 2 4 6 8 10Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2001Figure 2.7Level of start-up activity (% of adult population trying to start anew business), 2001