This paper discusses an emerging heterodoxy in the academic literature on entre- preneurial technology finance that is based on the idea of "bootstrapping." Bootstrap finance is a third approach (emphasizing funding technology ventures through revenue and other non-traditional sources), alongside the orthodoxies of traditional business finance (emphasizing debt) and contemporary venture finance (emphasizing venture capital and public equity). The paper also reports the results of an original empirical study of entrepreneurial technology firms in the bioscience-related industries in the United States. The data from the study show that "unorthodox" bootstrap financing is actually the dominant kind of financing in those high technology industries. The data are analyzed to explore industry effects, regional milieux effects, and entrepreneurial-status effects on the relative mix of bootstrap finance and the three traditional sources of finance: venture capital, public equity and debt finance. The effects on firm behavior and performance of variations in financing strategy are explored, with implications for managers of entrepreneurial technology ventures and educators concerned with technology entrepreneurship.
Center for the Development of Technological Leadership. His interests lay in strategic technology management, intellectual property management, technology-based entrepreneurship, technologybased industry development, and regional economic development planning. Much of his work has focused on life-science related industries. He holds doctoral degrees in both technology studies and strategic management. He also works in the area of technology commercialization education for the
This paper reports the results of an original empirical study of the relationship between intellectual property and the financial performance of technology firms in the bioscience-technology industries. The study found a statistically significant positive relationship between the firms' investments in intellectual property and their performance. The performance measure was based upon revenue-growth data collected from each firm, and the categories of intellectual property analyzed included patents, trade secrets, trademarks, copyright and licenses to externally sourced technology. The study also found that the financial benefits of accumulating a strong intellectual property portfolio were enjoyed by technology firms regardless of whether they were strategically oriented towards R&D or strategically oriented towards the commercial production of products and services. His research and teaching concentrate on the management of intellectual property, technology-based entrepreneurship, and strategic planning for technology-based industry development. He holds doctorates in both strategic management and technology studies, and a master of laws degree in intellectual property law. Professor Willoughby has extensive experience as an educator, researcher, consultant and program leader in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia, including a variety of university-industry collaboration projects, technology commercialization projects and executive education projects. the production of goods or services-makes any difference to the level and character of the impact of intellectual property on its business performance.
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