Business incubation and the network resources of start-ups

Abstract

The focus in this paper is to study whether business incubation can provide entrepreneurial start-ups with critical network resources. We make a distinction between incubator-provided network resources and start-ups' "own" external network resources that are unrelated to the incubator context. Although there has been an increasing number of studies examining incubated entrepreneurs' network resources, to our knowledge, this is the first study that explicitly compares incubator-provided network resources and start-ups' own external network resources. Analyzing the results from qualitative interviews with start-up tenants at a technology incubator in Bergen, Norway, we find that network resources acquired by the start-ups' own efforts (rather than network resources facilitated by an incubator) were most critical in all phases of enterprise development. They played a crucial role in terms of idiosyncratic (non-generic) knowledge generation as drivers of innovation, catalysts for financial contributors, and as a means to organizational reputation and market access. Nevertheless, internal networking with other incubator firms and external network resources facilitated by the incubator were also helpful and complementary, but they were more generic in nature and provided limited idiosyncratic resources. We also found that incubator network resources tend to have traits similar to those of identity-based network resources because they are not mainly governed by economic interests, but at the same time, they are not path-dependent. Inter-tenant network resources, therefore, can have nonbinding weak-ties properties and provide non-redundant information.

Design and design management in the incubation phase of high-tech start-ups

“…The design team engaged in an action research project (Andelman, 1993;O'Brien, 1998) with the aim to identify the contribution of design and design management to the incubation phase. The primary source of data collection was the collaboration between the design research team and six high-tech start-ups, which were nominated for the collaboration by the ieLab.…”

“…With a view on these preconditions, an action-research-based project (Andelman, 1993;O'Brien, 1998) named "DesignSeed" was conducted, aimed at answering the following questions: What can design and design management add to the incubation phase of high-tech start-ups? What are the effects of a collaboration of designers and engineers during this phase?…”

Competition and Cooperation in Economics and Business

“…Todorovic and Moenter (2010) emphasizes the significance of building network as well as increasing the number of stakeholder contacts, which the tenants might need in the future. Beate Pettersen et al (2016) explains that potential networks to build are, among others, R&D divisions, public bodies, law firms, regional network organizations, investor groups, technology transfer office and diverse industry contacts and networks. The next follow-up step is how to build a network with the above stakeholders.…”

Relationship between Past Experience, Social Network Participation and Creative Capacity: Vietnamese Entrepreneurship Survey

“…In an increasingly connected world, entrepreneurs naturally require social and professional networks to combine creativity performance, experiences and skills to support their performance (Basadur, Gelade & Basadur 2014;Pettersen, Aarstad, Høvig & Tobiassen 2016). Moreover, communications of ideas and information are more likely to help improve creativity (Perry-Smith & Shalley 2003;Runco 2014;Vuong & Napier 2014b).…”

“…The concepts of "strategic innovation" through the use of so-called transformation networks and "networked innovation" have also been introduced by Harryson (2008), further emphasizing the role of entrepreneur communities to entrepreneurial processes. Therefore, social networks will enter our analytical models as a possible element influencing entrepreneurs' selfassessment of their creativity (Basadur & Basadur 2013;Malmström & Johansson 2016;Pettersen, Aarstad, Høvig & Tobiassen 2016).…”