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Article
Publication date: 9 July 2018

Nadzeya Kuryan, Mohammad Saud Khan and Veronika Gustafsson

This paper aims to analyze born globals and business incubators from an empirical standpoint. Particularly, the role of business incubators in the emergence and development of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze born globals and business incubators from an empirical standpoint. Particularly, the role of business incubators in the emergence and development of born global firms is focused, thereby outlining the significance of incubator influence on rapid internationalization.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on extant literature on born globals, business incubators and their interrelationship that nurtures internationalization, a theoretical model is developed and empirically tested to analyze potential born globals residing in business incubators.

Findings

Due to services provided, such as infrastructure, business support and networking, business incubators create a favorable environment for rapid internationalization of their tenants. However, the initiative to go international comes from the incubatees, and the motivating role of business incubators in this process is fairly insignificant.

Originality/value

The incubator-incubation phenomenon is notably under-researched, with most of the literature focusing on “incubator topics.” This relationship is extremely important to understand to choose appropriate political measures and orchestrate effective management of business incubators.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 March 2021

Luiz Guilherme Rodrigues Antunes, Cleber Carvalho de Castro and Andrea Ap da Costa Mineiro

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the performance of incubators in the stages of formation and development of incubated business networks, especially in bottom-up and…

1671

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the performance of incubators in the stages of formation and development of incubated business networks, especially in bottom-up and top-down network models.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is defined as qualitative and descriptive, with the application of multiple case studies, in which two networks of incubated businesses were investigated, one being top-down and the other bottom-up, which emerged within the incubation process of two business incubators (CIETEC and INCIT). To make the study operational, 11 semi-structured interviews were carried out and the thematic analysis of content was developed.

Findings

The results pointed out that in the top-down network the incubator performs a new assignment, the network orchestration, which corresponds to the actions of formation, coordination and governance of the group. In the bottom-up network, it was found that the role of the incubator was to expand the value offers usually practiced.

Research limitations/implications

As a limitation of the research, the very limitation of case studies is pointed out that is they do not allow for generalizations.

Practical implications

The research contributes to reflections on the effectiveness of the incubator and sheds light on the complementarity of networks in incubation processes, providing gains for incubators, incubated businesses and society.

Originality/value

The originality of this document is the new role of the incubator, which is orchestration, and its categorization. The results allow us to understand the effects of providing networks and relationships for incubated businesses. In addition, this study broadens the focus of traditional analyses of the incubator–incubated duo to consider the incubator–network–incubated trio.

Details

Innovation & Management Review, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2515-8961

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2016

Are Branstad and Alf Steinar Saetre

Corporate incubation is a type of business incubation designed to assist small firms to develop using know-how available in large companies. The purpose of this paper is to…

Abstract

Purpose

Corporate incubation is a type of business incubation designed to assist small firms to develop using know-how available in large companies. The purpose of this paper is to explicate how incubation services can be co-produced and describe the contributions and conditions influencing learning and firm development.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a longitudinal single-case method to analyze a small firm’s development process during four years of incubation. The authors recorded and analyzed interviews with the incubator manager and the entrepreneur, and with incubator staff and external stakeholders.

Findings

The incubator provided knowledge- and network-based services. These services emphasized the need for the entrepreneurs to be both proactive and receptive to counseling. Although the incubator and the entrepreneurs made progress in developing the company, a dispute over ownership shares threatened to break down the incubation process.

Research limitations/implications

Taking evidence from a longitudinal case study, this paper exemplifies and emphasizes that incubation can be a process of interdependent service production in which entrepreneurs are active contributors. Future research should explore how managers and entrepreneurs handle the ambiguities of valuation of incubator contributions.

Practical implications

For managers it is important to take seriously the key task of communicating the value of the incubator’s contribution to the companies they recruit. For entrepreneurs it is important to find ways to estimate potential for value added from the incubator.

Originality/value

This paper provides a processual understanding of the dynamics of incubator co-production, not found in extant literature.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2010

Are Branstad

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main tasks and challenges of the manager role in a hybrid incubator organization, here defined as being one owned by both private…

2021

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main tasks and challenges of the manager role in a hybrid incubator organization, here defined as being one owned by both private companies and public organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a stakeholder management approach to focus on tasks related to multiple relationships. It employs an interview‐based case method. Semi‐structured qualitative interviews and documents were used to collect data. Interviews with external stakeholders provided additional information about management tasks and how they appear in the incubation context. The role of the incubator and the manager is described through the stories of three different technology ventures, which the incubator worked with at the time of the study.

Findings

The tasks and challenges of the incubator manager concentrated around helping incubated companies gain access to much‐needed knowledge. Different modes of knowledge were added to the start‐up companies from the incubator's staff and manager and the owner companies. In order to manage knowledge flows effectively, organisational knowledge mode was highly valuable to the incubator manager. The hybrid corporate incubator's assignment is more diverse and less associated with the parent companies' core strategies than what is typical for a corporate incubator's assignment. Production of shareholder value did not have the highest priority. Other stakeholder groups than the shareholders reaped most of the benefit from the incubator's work.

Practical implications

The paper discusses practical challenges tied to the work of incubator managers such as the need to be able to maintain relationships, align diverging interests and manage expectations from different stakeholders.

Originality/value

No previous studies have examined corporate incubator management through a single‐case study. A corporate incubator's different stakeholders have not often been examined.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 July 2019

Michael Kötting

Through digitization and globalization, corporate incubators have gained new relevance as tool to foster innovation within established companies. Although many studies address…

1121

Abstract

Purpose

Through digitization and globalization, corporate incubators have gained new relevance as tool to foster innovation within established companies. Although many studies address business incubators in general, the specifics of corporate incubators are often neglected in the literature. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The author systematically reviewed academic articles regarding corporate incubation, published in peer-reviewed journals. In the course of a subsequent analysis, open questions for further research were identified and addressed.

Findings

Corporate incubators differ significantly from business incubators. Based on an analysis of 45 academic papers, the main features of corporate incubators have been identified and addressed.

Originality/value

The present work suggests that it is one of the first that systematically analyze the literature on corporate incubation. Based on the literature review, a holistic framework was constructed that highlights the different elements of corporate incubation and also considers the incubator as knowledge broker between business units and ventures.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 June 2022

Ana Lucia Brenner Barreto Miranda, Cristine Hermann Nodari, Eliana Severo and Julio Cesar Ferro De Guimarães

This research aims at analyzing the antecedents of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in the companies incubated in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. In this context, 111…

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims at analyzing the antecedents of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in the companies incubated in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. In this context, 111 incubated companies took part in the research.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used the confirmatory factor analysis and the multiple linear regression to analyze the relationship of the dependent variables (ACAP) with the dependent variables (interaction with other companies, professionals' knowledge (PK), knowledge use (KU) and knowledge acquisition).

Findings

The results highlight that external KU was the construct that most influences the ACAP. Among the dependent variables suggested, only the construct concerning the incubators' PK presented no model significance, which shows that the PK is not an antecedent of ACAP in the incubated companies.

Originality/value

This study is relevant due to pointing out that the incubators may not be providing their professionals with knowledge properly, or that this knowledge is not being accessed by the incubated companies, which allows actions turned to encouraging businesses in this context.

Details

Innovation & Management Review, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2515-8961

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2020

Christina Öberg, Markus Klinton and Helen Stockhult

Incubators, as providers of advice and resources, suggest fostering the development of early-idea firms. Literature and practice seem to suggest an ever-increasing amount of…

Abstract

Purpose

Incubators, as providers of advice and resources, suggest fostering the development of early-idea firms. Literature and practice seem to suggest an ever-increasing amount of incubator support. The creation of business relationships is at the heart of any business development, and this paper addresses whether a laissez-faire incubator fosters the creation of business relationships. The purpose of this paper is to explore the creation of business relationships among incubated firms during and after their time in the incubator along with the roles that these relationships play for the incubated firms.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirically, the paper is based on retrospective interviews with representatives of all incubated firms in a university incubator. A total of fifteen interviews were conducted with representatives of the incubated firms, the incubator and its owners, complemented by secondary data sources.

Findings

The paper points out three antecedents for business relationship creation: the lack of experience and connections; convenience; and trust based on the interactions with others in the incubator. These antecedents are connected to the roles of transforming businesses and of adaptation in the dyadic relationships. The laissez-faire incubator helped through the learning-by-doing among the incubated firms, which made them focus on business relationship creation from early on.

Originality/value

Most incubator research portrays the unilateral transfer of knowledge from the incubator to the incubated firm, with the latter being a service taker rather than a co-producer. The paper adds knowledge about business relationships among firms in incubators and the roles that these business relationships could play for the firms. The focus on an incubator providing limited support is of high practical relevance, given the trend of incubators facilitating more and more services.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 35 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2002

Alistair Davidson

Interviews the founder and executive director of the International Business Incubator (IBI) of Silicon Valley, which stimulates regional growth and acts as an economic development…

716

Abstract

Interviews the founder and executive director of the International Business Incubator (IBI) of Silicon Valley, which stimulates regional growth and acts as an economic development agency. States that despite the collapse of the ‘dot‐com’ bubble, IBI has continued to nurture businesses that choose the sales growth route to expansion. Explains that the company, a traditional not‐for‐profit incubator largely funded by the City of San Jose Redevelopment Agency, helps organizations to deal with the special problems experienced by foreign companies entering the USA. Points out that they only accept firms with sales experience in their own country, which helps their success rate, but warns of a number of common misconceptions. Describes the successful incubator model, stressing the importance of working to reduce risk for the startup or new company, the entrepreneur, the investors and for the region. Regards the incubator’s most important contribution as the quality and scope of relationships with professionals and consultants available to its clients.

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 30 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2012

Bruno Armano and Simone Domenico Scagnelli

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a study examining the role played by academic entrepreneurs in science‐based companies grown in university incubators. The…

1236

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a study examining the role played by academic entrepreneurs in science‐based companies grown in university incubators. The authors aim to address whether the presence of academic entrepreneurs improves economic and financial performances. Moreover, the authors aim to verify whether different levels of involvement of academic entrepreneurs (i.e. shareholder, member of board of director) can contribute to different levels of financial performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was carried out on a sample of science‐based companies originating predominantly from Northern Italy, which had graduated from the Turin Polytechnic Incubator, called I3P. Data about the presence of academic entrepreneurs were obtained by interviewing the Incubator's CEO, while companies' financial performance was assessed by financial ratios analysis. A multiple linear regression model was developed to test the relationship between presence of academic entrepreneurs and financial performance, while controlling for the life cycle stage and the industry of the companies.

Findings

The results of the statistical analysis show that there is a negative relationship between the presence of academic entrepreneurs and the overall financial performance of the incubator's graduated companies. However, there is a positive relationship between a deep involvement of academic entrepreneurs (acting both as shareholders and as directors) and financial performance.

Originality/value

Given the current debate about the different conditions under which university involvement provides advantages or disadvantages for newly created firms, this study provides empirical evidence about the presence and the role played by academic entrepreneurs on science‐based companies by focusing on their financial outcomes. Also, little literature has addressed the performance of academic ventures after their graduation from incubators, and as such, the evidence is based on the performance after the companies' graduation from the incubator.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2018

Andriele De Prá Carvalho, Paula Regina Zarelli and Bruna Madey Dalarosa

The purpose of this paper is to understand a typology of eco-innovation that best characterizes an innovation incubator, with the aim of strengthening the management of this…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand a typology of eco-innovation that best characterizes an innovation incubator, with the aim of strengthening the management of this habitat to leverage the development of new eco-innovation technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

The typologies of 22 studies identified in the Web of Science, Scopus, Scielo and Science Direct databases were analyzed through a theoretical and descriptive study and method of systematic literature review. In the typologies analyzed, none were found that fit directly into the environment of an innovation incubator.

Findings

The most detailed typology, by Fernando et al. (2015), is characterized as a type of eco-innovation developed in a specific market, but it does not address the characteristics of this innovation habitat, which is the incubator.

Practical implications

Thus, based on the typologies presented, this paper demonstrates the construction of an instrument that contemplates the authors analyzed, with emphasis on its application in incubators.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates the construction of an instrument that contemplates the authors analyzed, with emphasis on the application in incubators.

Details

World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-5961

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 3000