Cómo las aceleradoras de empresas fomentan las capacidades dinámicas de las start-ups: un estudio de caso

Abstract

<jats:p>Objective: This study explores how business accelerators programs can impact on the successful growth of their accelerated start-ups based on the dynamic capabilities’ perspective. The author investigates business accelerators practices and tools in supporting new ventures development with the aim of addressing the following research question: To what extend can start-ups benefit from participating in an accelerator program from the dynamic capabilities’ perspective? Methodology: Given the lack of literature on business acceleration practices and on how them influences a start-up’s dynamic capabilities generation, the authors conducted an exploratory case study in a Spanish business accelerator. Results: The business accelerator provide startups with a mix of services embedded in specific practices and tools resulting in the generation of the dynamic capabilities of sensing the market, absorption, integration, and innovation in its startups. Limitations: This study focuses on a single case study resulting in a limited generalization of its findings. Practical implications: This paper open new paths for business accelerators and other institution decision makers by giving guidelines to design business acceleration programs allowing them to allocate resources in a more rational way. It also offers a valuable perspective for founders on the ways of satisfying their needs to complete their business potential. It also offers them an initial checklist of practices to be aware of when deciding to apply to a business accelerator. Also, we add a new perspective to study business accelerator contributions and shed some light on what specific accelerators’ tools and practices may facilitate positive effects in startups.</jats:p>

How business accelerators impact startup’s performance: Empirical insights from the dynamic capabilities approach

“…Our findings indicate that intensive mentorship facilitates and promotes startups' performance. This result corroborates prior research indicating the key role of mentors in acceleration programs (Cohen et al, 2019;Qian, Mulas & Lerner, 2018) and their positive impact in terms of new knowledge acquisition (Battistella et al, 2017;Gonzalez-Uribe & Leatherbee, 2016;Hallen, Cohen & Bingham, 2016;Polo-García-Ochoa, 2020;Qian et al, 2018;Seet, Jones, Oppelaar & Corral de Zubielqui, 2018;Wise & Valliere, 2014). In line with other studies, our results show how learning from mentors enables dynamic capabilities generation resulting in better performance in terms of probability of getting funded (Ambrosini & Bowman, 2009;Hernández-Linares et al, 2018;Li & Liu, 2014;Tsai, 2001;Qian et al, 2018).…”

“…Beyond mentors, accelerators' teams also routinely monitor startups progress through dedicated follow-ups sessions or evaluation times (Cohen, 2013;Polo-García-Ochoa, 2020). In these events, startups report their progress and challenges forcing them to show progress and evolve in each session due to what some authors call the "the power of shame avoidance" (Stross, 2012).…”

New perspectives for dynamic capabilities in meeting needs of startups’ survival

“…From a research standpoint about dynamic capabilities of startups (Thiele and Fellnhofer, 2015;Chin et al, 2016;Datta et al, 2018;Caseiro and Coelho, 2019;Dong, 2019;Feng et al, 2019;Ma et al, 2020;Polo García-Ochoa et al, 2020;Steiber and Alänge, 2020;Guo et al, 2021;Teixeira et al, 2021), internal and external forces affect business in general (Cavalcante et al, 2011;Chesbrough, 2010;de Reuver et al, 2009;Johnson et al, 2008;Pucihar et al, 2019;Rub et al, 2017;Saebi, 2015;Seo and Lee, 2019;Teece, 2007;Thiele and Fellnhofer, 2015;Van Den Heuvel et al, 2020), and considering the differences in capabilities from startups to handle environmental changes, our framework combines dynamic capabilities of startups within their effects on tangible and intangible resources exchange to overcome challenges imposed from internal and external forces.…”

“…Market sensing is a prominent dynamic capability according to many researchers (Teece, 2007;Feng et al, 2019;Polo García-Ochoa et al, 2020;Teixeira et al, 2021) because of its characteristic to be a bridge in understanding intangible resources aspects to be managed, created and reconfigured. Hence, understanding stakeholders demand, dynamic capabilities, markets, communities and governments can enable startups to accurately grasp opportunities to change their business models when necessary for survival.…”

“…Competencies perspective is highly associated with dynamic capabilities theory, and for startups contexts, they are mainly associated with entrepreneurs' role in the decisionmaking process (Teece, 2007). In the entrepreneurship context, the ability to generate dynamic capabilities at an early stage will mostly likely improve startups' sustained growth (Polo García-Ochoa et al, 2020), provided they help to face liabilities and challenges (Jones et al, 2013).…”