Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the relational dimension of a networked business incubator (NBI), by investigating the intermediary role of incubator management in fostering social and business ties linking tenants among each other, with the incubator management and external actors.

The paper offers a literature review on the NBIs and advances a comprehensive analytical framework of the networked incubation model. This framework is empirically illustrated through a case study research on a leading Italian private NBI, namely, H-Farm. The collection of primary data was conducted by means of face-to-face in-depth interviews and a survey. Data were processed through social network analysis (SNA) tools.

The results highlight the co-presence and interaction of social and business ties, which build up a vital environment nurturing an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Community-based relationships and the intermediation of incubator management are crucial for supporting tenants in product and business development activities.

These results pave the way to further research, oriented to the conceptualization of a NBI as a (small) cluster. Moreover, the application of the SNA tools adopted invites further research on networked incubators, applying the same methodology in new directions.

This paper adds to previous literature on NBIs by providing evidence of the intermediary role of incubator management in promoting and facilitating social and business relationships occurring among tenants, between tenants and the incubator management, as well as with external advisors, clients and suppliers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of being located in a science park (SP) on the level of a firm's intellectual capital (IC) performance.

Using a sample of 183 Italian firms (i.e. 61 tenant and 122 non-tenant firms), and through the GLS technique, the authors regress the firms’ IC performance across various explicative variables including a dummy that discriminates tenant and non-tenant firms.

Consistently with expectations, the results show that the location of a firm in a SP leads to improved IC performance. Moreover, the authors find that some other firm characteristics, such as size, age, and leverage, are important predictors of its IC-based performance.

The sample is small and the impact on performance might be biased by factors related to the regional context (e.g. level of industrialization, quality of education, and science system).

Implications for policy makers: support the growth of firms in SPs especially in those industries full of firms with scarce performance in IC. Implications for SP managers: they could “sell” (in terms of marketing) to both entrepreneurs to attract and policy makers this result. Implications for institutional investors: they should look at SPs with greater interest to find high-quality firms and improve their screening activity.

This paper aims to extend literature about factors explaining the level of a firm's IC performance and the current understanding of the impact of SPs at firm level.

Technology parks (TPs) are used as a tool to improve economic outlook of the region through innovation generation. This study aims to evaluate the perception of tenants of TPs to determine the gap in the expectation and identify types of firms preferring to locate in a TP.

This is the first study in Pakistan to collect data about perceived benefits of TPs in Pakistan from the decision-makers of 110 tenant firms. The cluster analysis and lift ratios are used to draw statistical inferences.

The firms can be classified into three clusters – commercial-orientation firms, science and technology-oriented firms and young tech firms – with distinct needs for survival and growth in a TP. Moreover, TPs should not just be treated as property projects for providing support services, also knowledge sharing, training and development opportunities and proximity to hubs of knowledge and markets is vital to attract a variety of industry.

Academia and policymakers have been equally interested in the potential impacts of these innovation hubs. However, there have been lack of empirical evidence on how and what to offer the incumbents of these TPs. The government of Pakistan is trying to build more TPs for promoting business activities under CPEC. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine the needs of tenants of TPs for successful utilization of huge amount of public money to be invested in TPs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the connection between university research and technological capital developed by science park (SCP) firms in order to elucidate whether the causal linkage is owing to non-pecuniary research spillovers or pecuniary technology transfer activities.

Two publicly available surveys, one dealing with the research and transfer activities of 45 Spanish universities and another with the patenting activities of 44 Spanish SCPs, are matched in such a way that hypotheses can be tested using regression analysis.

The patenting performance of SCP firms is positively related to the competitive R&D projects undertaken by the universities to which they are affiliated and negatively related to the technology transfer activities carried out by those universities. These findings suggest that the scientific knowledge produced by universities principally contributes to private technology-based firms’ technological capital through non-pecuniary research spillovers, whereas the pecuniary technology transfer agreements remain uncertain or may even prove to be detrimental.

Firms that are considering locating or remaining in a university-affiliated SCP should be aware that the university's pecuniary orientation when managing its intellectual capital may become a barrier as regards the firm filling its technological capital shortages. From a university administrator perspective, the complementary or substitute role of technology transfer offices vis-à-vis SCPs should be considered in the light of the selling or revealing approach adopted by the university in order to commercialize and diffuse potential inventions.

This study contributes to existing literature by shedding light on the causal linkage between university research and firm innovation, obtaining evidence in favor of an upstream, non-pecuniary and revealing role of universities in support of the accumulation of technological capital amongst SCPs tenant firms.

This study aims to offer a mid-range theory conceptualization of factors central to understanding and facilitating business actor engagement (BAE). Reports on a study of real estate companies and their sustainable development goal (SDG) driven business initiatives. The aim is to identify the factors that need to be in place to facilitate positive engagement amongst actors in business-to-business (B2B) settings.

A case study of real estate companies (landlords of business premises) and their business customers (tenants of offices and warehouses) – comprising interviews and workshops – offer insights related to the factors that need to be in place to facilitate BAE types and outcomes.

The identified central factors of BAE – needed to understand and facilitate positive engagement to unfold – are the actors’ perception of: willingness (to act), resourcefulness (to contribute and solve issues) and influence (to affect decisions) regarding solutions related to the business initiative at hand. Failing to facilitate these factors may result in negative outcomes of BAE where “engagement” merely constitutes perceived obligations and responsibilities.

The study offers theoretical and managerial insights on how to manage the factors needed for BAE. It also sheds light on how actors can use SDG-driven business initiatives to achieve sustainability goals.

It contributes to the concept of BAE, by emphasizing the dynamics of engagement, from the motivational and behavioral dimensions specific to B2B settings. It offers insights how to managerially cogovern rather than control BAE. It presents central factors needed to include and capacitate customers, facilitating successful implementations of SDG-driven business initiatives to reduce absent or negative outcomes.

This paper aims to empirically examine the mediating role of knowledge acquisition between social capital and innovation for firms located in science and technology parks (STPs).

Partial least squares offers the primary statistic technique for assessing survey data collected from 214 Spanish tenants.

Knowledge acquisition fully mediates the relationship between social capital and firm innovation. Moreover, social capital at the firm level has a significant influence on both knowledge acquisition and innovation.

Further research should include more independent variables to understand the complex phenomenon of firm innovation.

Tenant firms in STPs must develop strategic management tactics for their interfirm relations to acquire and exploit key resources such as knowledge. For specialized firms, close social interactions in specific contexts can enhance both knowledge acquisition and innovation to compensate for their resource constraints.

By demonstrating the impact of social capital on knowledge acquisition and innovation in the specific context of STPs, whose artificial environment encourages and promotes close social interactions among tenants, this article overcomes previous and contradictory findings regarding the relationship between social capital and innovation. A key element is the contingent and mediating role of knowledge acquisition. Finally, this study considers social capital at the firm level as a multidimensional, second‐order latent construct that includes structural, relational and cognitive aspects simultaneously.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the influence of social capital on competitive advantage through collective learning and absorptive capacity.

The study carries out analyses based on structural equation modeling to measure the main constructs and test the hypothesized relationships among the variables. The primary statistical technique for assessing survey data collected from 358 Taiwan tenants is partial least squares analysis.

Collective learning and absorptive capacity fully mediate the relationship between social capital and competitive advantage. Moreover, social capital has a significant influence on both collective learning and absorptive capacity.

Tenant firms in industrial parks must develop effective management tactics for the nurturing of inter-firm relations to enhance collective learning and their absorptive capacity to acquire and exploit key strategic resources such as tacit and explicit knowledge. For specialized firms, close social interactions in specific contexts, mediated by collective learning and absorptive capacity to make up for their resource constraints, can heighten their competitive advantage.

By demonstrating the impact of social capital on competitive advantage in the specific context of industrial parks, whose artificial environment encourages and promotes close social interactions among tenants, this paper overcomes previous and contradictory findings regarding the relationship between social capital and competitive advantage. A key contingent factor is the mediating role of collective learning and absorptive capacity.

Research on Science parks (SPs) has attracted a growing interest in the last decades. This widespread innovation policy initiative pursues technology-based industrial and entrepreneurial growth through business development and technology transfer across new and mature firms. Despite the common agreement on SPs' potential benefits, literature have showed mixed results regarding the performance of SPs. To explain this findings, current research pointed out at the lack of a common guiding framework. To cover this knowledge gap, this manuscript proposes an integrative definition and research model together with a multidimensional measurement instrument suitable to encompass the diverse reality of this global phenomenon.

Based on a systematic literature review of 281 indexed journal articles published between 1990 and 2018, the paper provides an integrative framework of enabling factors of SPs' performance.

The results illustrate an integrative conceptual framework of SPs that allows further comparison and generalization of research. At the same time, this manuscript provides valuable insights for managers and entrepreneurs as it conveys a standardized view of SPs' internal context useful for benchmarking.

Grounded in the resource-based view (RBV), the paper conducts a thorough literature review to develop an integrative research model featuring three value streams: physical infrastructures, formal links and support services. In addition, a multidimensional measurement tool to operationalize these three dimensions is proposed.

The purpose of this paper is to determine enabling factors influencing the success of technology business incubators (TBIs) with respect to existing and acquired resources, and describe how these enabling factors have been implemented in practice.

The potential enabling factors were identified based on the literature review through the lens of the resource‐based view (RBV) perspective. The Q‐sort method was then applied to classify those factors according to the experts' opinions, for evoking group consensus on the classifications. Finally, a Thailand science park incubator was taken as a case to illustrate the applicability of the findings.

The strategic resources and their categories which can be considered as TBIs' enabling factors were found through the RBV theory. They are important to TBIs' success and improvement of technology‐based SMEs' competitive advantage.

Because of the lack of international comparisons and the experts' panel selection bias, attempts to generalize the findings should be made with caution.

The findings have been formulated into a set of comprehensive recommendations for all stakeholders (mainly public policy makers), which will help to enhance the development of business incubation in Thailand.

The paper presents an approach to determine enabling factors influencing the successful TBIs, coming from the RBV perspective.

The ability of tenant firms to survive after incubation is dependent on the relevant capabilities they acquired during the incubation process. Several studies have established the critical roles of incubation in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation at local, national and regional levels but the processes and mechanisms of technological learning and the capability building of the tenants has received much less attention. In response to the situation, the purpose of this paper is to assess various technological learning mechanisms through which tenant firms in the incubation system in Nigeria acquired the relevant capabilities (both technological and non-technological) that will sustain them after graduation.

The information was gathered through a preliminary survey and questionnaires were administered to elicit information from the tenant firms and the incubator managers. Data collected were analysed and presented using descriptive statistics.

The internal learning mechanisms of the tenant firms were found to be fair as firms possessed good internal capabilities that helped to absorb and adapt foreign technologies to suit their individual production needs and this was demonstrated by the quality of personnel employed by the tenant firms. The study revealed poor interaction between the tenants and knowledge institutions and training programmes and facilities also played significant roles in technological capability acquisition of tenants firms. The main factors that ranked highly and influenced technological learning among the firms included the need for product improvement, the need to increase production, turnover and profit, the need to reduce production costs and compete well after graduation, while the need to enter foreign market and commercialise technology ranked average with regards to success in technological learning.

The results of the study may not be generalised because of limited sample.

The study concluded that the technological learning capabilities of the firms could be better enhanced with adequate training and training facilities, robust linkages with knowledge centres and compliance with incubation regulations.

This study provided information on various technological learning mechanisms through which tenant firms in the incubation system in Nigeria acquire relevant capabilities (technological and non-technological) that sustain them after graduation. The study also contributed to the growing literature on incubation system and entrepreneurship.