Table 4 Examples of Activities in Integration of Effort

Reward Distribution

Value co-creation

Value creation;

Rewards;

Free basic services;

Government support;

Government allowances;

Profit model.

“One of the biggest problems of entrepreneurship is how to find suitable investors, and also many investors have trouble finding good entrepreneurship projects. Therefore, our platform (service provider) connect entrepreneurs and investors to help them make a pair. Unlike other service providers which take cash as a reward, we mainly take the shares of the start-up company as our reward, which means we bind our interest with entrepreneurs and it’s to our profit to help them find suitable investors.”

Entrepreneurial culture

Culture as an incentive;

Preferring knowledge sharing;

Social norms avoiding free-riding.

Cultural identity;

Diffusion of entrepreneurial culture;

Influence of entrepreneurial culture.

“Staying here (ZGC DEE), entrepreneurs will not feel excluded or lonely like anywhere else, because here is the home of entrepreneurs.”

“In function, this street is nothing special, with coffee shops, book shops and work places. But it is unique for its culture. People around here are friendly and easy to talk to. I can learn something or get some interesting information just sitting in a coffee shop. That’s why I love this street and come here frequently.”

Information Flow

Physical collocation plus virtual supporting tools

Local communication;

Online communication;

Convergence of information;

Information rewarding;

Communication cross provinces.

“All entrepreneurial accelerators locate in this street, and we (the architect) established a group chat in Wechat (one well-known mobile chatting application in China) that contains every manager of an accelerator and related government officers.”

“I (a venture capitalist) have joined many parties or chambers of commerce, in which I can get much information through activities, other members and Wechat groups. The information is the main reason I joined.”

Intensive conferences

Holding conferences;

Attending conferences;

Benefits of conferences;

Numbers of conferences;

Influence of conferences.

In ZGC every place, such as coffee shops, book stores and accelerators, holds an event every day, and sometimes one place may hold above 3 events in one day. These events include road shows (an open show where entrepreneurs can promote their project), industrial communications, new product promotion and lectures from well-known people.

“We (a start-up in the pension industry) held a conference here because we want to know how these technology start-ups solve elder care problems. Meanwhile, we are also seeking new technology, smart hardware and new models to accelerate the pension industry in China.”