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Entrepreneurship; Technology Transfer; Incubators; Accelerators

Postgraduate, Faculty Development Programs (FDP) and Management Development Programs (MDP) in areas of Technology Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Education, Incubator and Accelerator Management.

Madras Mind Works Private Limited (MMW) is an entrepreneurial venture set up by four friends in Chennai (earlier known as Madras) in Tamil Nadu, India. MMW intends to use the emerging trends in virtual reality and exploit opportunities that arise from its application. MMW has received invitations to join both an incubator as well as an accelerator. After detailed deliberations among the four co-founders that yielded no conclusion, the team left the responsibility of taking the decision to its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Srinivasan Krish (Srini). Srini now has to decide whether MMW must join the incubator or the accelerator.

At least five factors will be learnt based on which tech start-ups can decide whether they should join an incubator or accelerator. Two important players in the entrepreneurship ecosystem are incubators and accelerators. You will learn to define them, describe their characteristics and services and learn their similarities and differences. You will learn what constitutes an entrepreneurial ecosystem using the BEEP framework. You will learn about many ecosystem players including but not limited to – incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, technology transfer offices, research parks, angels, venture capitalists, government support schemes, university research centres, etc.

Board Plans, YouTube Video Links.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

As the move from the business incubator loomed, Abdul Khan had to decide where his business should relocate to. ACEES Group LLC, a small consulting firm, had grown from three friends working out of Abdul Khan’s house to a 20-person firm generating more than a million dollars in revenue within five years. This growth had necessitated the need for a larger and more prominent place. Although Abdul knew he did not want to renew the lease at the incubator, and he did not want to move his business too far from its current location, but the decision he had to make was whether ACEES Group should lease a commercial place or buy its own property. He was particularly torn because the real estate prices had fallen considerably, and were now on the mend and interest rates were still low.

The primary source of materials in the case was an interview with the owner (pseudo name: Abdul Khan). The owner wishes to remain anonymous. The financial statements of the firm produced in the case have been modified by a fixed factor so as to disguise the actual numbers but not materially alter the information in any fashion. Other secondary sources of materials include information about the business incubator program, the MBE certification and its benefits through the State of Florida, real estate and lease rates in Central Florida and other economic information.

This case is primarily intended for undergraduate students taking a course in entrepreneurship, real estate investments or financial management, with emphasis on real estate valuation, cash flow forecasting and/or valuation of business. Students should be familiar with time value of money concepts, understand the concept of NPV and IRR, and preferably be comfortable in the use of Excel. This instructor manual provides all calculations of space needs analysis, and discounted cash flow analysis for lease vs buy analysis. A few suggestions to discuss qualitative aspects of this decision making are also included.

Entrepreneurship, management and emerging markets.

Undergraduate and Graduate courses in Entrepreneurship, Managing in Developing Countries/Emerging Markets, Small Business Management, Social Entrepreneurship, International Business

IntEnt is a business incubator that provides training and other support services to nascent entrepreneurs, helping turn their investment ideas into successful business ventures. But IntEnt focuses on a unique clientele: diasporas, or migrants and their descendants, who dream of establishing a new venture back in their country of origin.The incubator is well known and respected by policymakers and migrants alike. Despite these successes, Mr Molenaar has struggled to grow and diversify IntEnt's funding base. He also is under increasing pressure from the foundation's stakeholders to define and measure the foundation's performance. But Molenaar is committed to expanding IntEnt's operations and continue to bridge the divide between diaspora investment interest and action.

To understand and describe the financial-, human-, and social-capital challenges faced by transnational diaspora business ventures during the business development and launch phase.To explain how business incubators can provide solutions to the specific, unique problems that transnational diaspora entrepreneurs face, particularly in emerging markets. To discuss the governance challenges associated with operating a transnational business venture as well as those of an incubator aimed to support transnational entrepreneurship.

Teaching note.

Entrepreneurship.

MBA and masters in management.

Raizcorp Chief Executive Allon Raiz was faced each day with many applications to join his business incubation prosperator programme. He knew what to look for in an entrepreneur, but it was not always “cut and dried”. In September 2012, he and his panel were considering an applicant who had passed all the tests with flying colours, and they were unanimous in their belief that he had what it took to be successful. His business, however, left them in doubt. It was a struggling IT support company, which they felt had no differentiating factors in an already overtraded industry. Raizcorp believed in “backing the jockey but not the horse”, which often meant having to change the entrepreneur's mindset and helping them explore new ideas. Would they be successful in this case? And was it worth the investment of time and resources? It worried Raiz, because he knew if the individual was to embark on a new venture, it would take some time before Raizcorp would see any return on its investment.

The case has the following objectives: to demonstrate understanding of the key concepts of entrepreneurship, to discuss entrepreneurship as a process, to analyse human and social capital attributes relating to successful entrepreneurship, to identify entrepreneurial motivations/cognitions/behaviours, to appreciate the key factors of successful entrepreneurship practices, to assess the relevance of the practice of entrepreneurship to individuals and society, to illustrate key ideas of entrepreneurship with reference to empirical case studies on entrepreneurship, and to analyse rigorously the RAMP model in the case study.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

The paper aims to understand the process of transfer of agricultural technology, which comprises incubation of the technology business, valuation, evaluation, licensing and commercialization, to examine various dimensions of the process of technology transfer and the effectiveness of transfer object use criteria, to explore ways of sustaining incubation and commercialization through an autonomous unit responsible for technology transfer, to peruse the role of agribusiness incubators in creating an effective agri-entrepreneurship eco-system and to study the factors that promote or inhibit the sustainability of business incubators in an academic or research institution setting.

An innovative technology for production of liquid bio-fertilizers was developed and nurtured to market levels by Anand Agricultural University (AAU), a State Agricultural University in Gujarat. The technology for production of liquid bio-fertilizers, developed during 2009-2010 to 2013-2014 was licensed to some of the state public and private sector undertakings under the World Bank-financed National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) implemented through Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). For commercializing the technologies from the University, a Business Planning and Development (BPD) Unit was set up at AAU along the lines of a technology transfer office, under the aegis of NAIP during later part of 2009. The NAIP funding from World Bank for BPD Units ceased in June 2014 with closure of the project. With funding no more available, Rajababu V. Vyas, a research scientist at the Microbiology and Bio-fertilizer Department of the University and Head of the BPD Unit, had serious concerns about the BPD unit’s sustainability, as well as sustaining the process of technology transfer from the University.

Anand Agricultural University (AAU), a state-run university in Gujarat, developed and incubated a technology to produce liquid biofertilizer, licensed the technology and marketed its product through a few state-run and private fertilizer firms. The technology was developed between 2009/2010 and 2013/2014 as part of the National Agricultural Innovation Project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research with funds from the World Bank. A unit to incubate agri-businesses, referred to as Business Planning and Development Unit (BPDU), was set up in late 2009 to expedite the process of technology transfer from AAU to agribusiness firms. Rajababu V. Vyas, a research scientist at the Microbiology and Bio-fertilizer Department of the university, was concerned about the unit’s sustainability, because funding from the World Bank had ceased from June 2014, and wondered how to sustain the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the field in the light of the data available to him.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Entrepreneurship

After completion of the case study, students will be able to evaluate the journey of launching a business in an emerging market context and judge how opportunities and challenges can be navigated to build sustainable enterprises; assess the relevance of individual attributes and process skills that are necessary for entrepreneurial agency to transform social structures through entrepreneurial action; formulate an argument highlighting the role of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in growing a competitive business in an emerging market context; make an informed decision and critique how accelerators and incubators affect the development of ideas and access to finance in South Africa; and propose various strategic options available for technology entrepreneurs, considering the challenges they face in emerging economies.

In April 2023, Queen Ndlovu, CEO and founder of QP Drone Tech, a provider of drone business solutions, was considering options to fulfil her original dream of manufacturing drones in South Africa. She had encountered obstacles to achieving the same in 2019, and had decided to focus on providing commercial drone consulting services. However, her dream had not extinguished, and in 2022, she decided to restart her efforts. She found practical support from The Innovation Hub, an incubator that was supporting her business, which enabled her to enhance the prototype of her drone. She then had to think about how she would manufacture drones locally by ensuring she had access to production infrastructure, funding, partners and customers. Would she be able to gain a competitive advantage that would differentiate her from competitors? Or should she reconsider whether she should be manufacturing in the first place, as there are risks and benefits for smaller businesses in this regard.

This case is intended for discussion in postgraduate diploma in business and Master of Business Administration courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Indian Railways (IR) has been slow in innovation. The competition from other modes of transport has posed new challenges to IR. Railways worldwide have taken help from startups to develop innovative solutions to improve railway operations. Such collaborations have helped in leveraging the technical expertise of startups in domains which are non-conventional for railways to develop in-house. These collaborations have been made possible by funding startups through various investment channels.

The novelty of this case is the multidisciplinary focus where the aspects of entrepreneurship, marketing strategy and finance are mixed together. Students are expected to apply their knowledge of Business Model Canvas and Marketing 4.0, as well as learn about the new type of entrepreneurial finance such as crowdfunding. The setting of this case is novel too – the new quest games industry in Russia. Finally, the novelty of this case is its format where the protagonists’ interview is available as a podcast, and thus, the students will need to review only the tables and the appendices.

This decision case was field researched by the authors who interviewed the founders of this start-up and the business incubator (BI) director. No information was disguised in any way. Also, the secondary research on the main trends in the development of the international and Russian quest markets was completed by the authors in the preparation of this case.

Paranoiabox.ru case presents an entrepreneurial and strategic marketing decision situation. In May 2019, in Moscow, Russia, two young residents of the MGIMO University BI, Anastasia and Max, founded the start-up business called Paranoiabox.ru. This project was a quest in a new format with home delivery: a mixture of escape, detective and board game. The player received by post a box containing various objects. Interacting with them, he/she unraveled the plot thread, found clues and gradually approached the final clue. The game with complex copyright puzzles had a built-in hint system and provided mechanisms for interaction online. By July 2019, 30 boxes for their first quest were sold. The subscribers were waiting for a new quest. Despite the first sales, Anastasia and Max had no budget for hiring freelancers or outsourcing. They were faced with an urgent and challenging dilemma: whether to concentrate on the current product sales and spend all the budget on promotion or, alternatively, to launch a series of new quests and focus on the target market with high brand awareness. There was an additional funding dilemma: should they apply for crowdfunding?

This case is a multidisciplinary case with the aspects of entrepreneurship, marketing strategy and finance. This case is intended primarily for a course in entrepreneurship at the undergraduate or graduate level. This case is also ideal to be used as a capstone project in a degree programme for entrepreneurs.

This case applies a stakeholder analysis to examine the trade-offs between the firm’s strategy and the interests of different stakeholder groups. A PESTEL analysis supports an evaluation of the firm’s situation. Consumer behavior theories on psychological ownership and territoriality offer a framework for analyzing the conflicts that arise from the inhabitants’ protests.

This case relies on secondary sources, including news reports, social media sites and company websites. This case has been classroom tested with undergraduate students in a strategic management course in January 2019 at the University of Cologne, Germany.

In November 2016, Google announced its intentions to rent a building in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin to open a Google Campus, a business incubator for tech start-ups that would offer entrepreneurs support, workshops and access to networks. Following the announcement, dissatisfied local communities organized protests, in which leaders complained that “It is extremely violent and arrogant of this mega-corporation, whose business model is based on mass surveillance and which speculates like crazy, to set up shop here” (Business Times, 2018). Berlin’s Government supported the Google Campus plan; inhabitants rejected it with fierce and persistent protests. In face of this challenge, was it still possible for Google to continue its plans in Berlin?

This case qualifies for use in strategic management classes at undergraduate and MBA levels. Its focus aligns well with stakeholder analyses, PESTEL analyses and business strategy. In addition, for courses on organizational communications or public relations, this case provides a way to explore the relationship between Google and its stakeholders, especially protesters, in detail. Moreover, this case is well suited for consumer research and public policy courses (e.g., transformative consumer research) centered on discussions of territoriality.

Thematic area and related topics. The general thematic area involves the organizational culture of micro-businesses and also addresses the following related topics: entrepreneurship; formation of work teams; organizational development; and strategic planning. Courses where this case study may be applicable: enterprise pre-planning; development of entrepreneurs; and technological entrepreneurs.

MBA

It puts forward the scenario of a young entrepreneur following a course of study in systems engineering (Nacho), who identified a business opportunity in the area of customized software development. In order to exploit this opportunity, Nacho formed a partnership with a group of colleagues who were engaged on the same course of study; unfortunately however, it soon became apparent that the lack of administrative experience of the members of the partnership would present difficulties. To summarize, the case seeks to illustrate the importance of the evaluation of critical factors in the formation of work teams, using the formation of the OpenGate enterprise as a vehicle. In addition, it seeks to illustrate the administrative challenges facing such enterprises where the founders do not have a formal business background.

To stimulate reflection on the part of students about the importance of considering the strengths and weaknesses of business partners instrumental in new enterprise start-up. To identify critical factors related to the success of an entrepreneurial team. To identify organizational challenges for start-up businesses. Specific teaching objectives: identification of the following entrepreneurial characteristics: professional characteristics; experience; tolerance of ambiguity; sensitivity to business opportunities; and personal values. Identification of the following elements in the new business start-up team: organizational structure; culture; strategy; client relationships; and provider relationships. To propose organizational alternatives for the business based on an analysis of the aforementioned elements (definition of position profiles). To identify critical points in the management of the business (leadership, culture, organization, etc.).

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email: support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.