Have you been served? The impact of university entrepreneurial support on start-ups’ network formation

Abstract

University-based entrepreneurial support organizations devote increasing efforts to create a context and opportunities for interaction among start-up firms. The basic assumption behind these efforts is that networks facilitate access to knowledge and resources and increase the chances of success for start-ups.However, the mechanisms that facilitate the creation of business ties with other members of the same community are yet to be identified and empirically tested. This paper leverages the social network and firm incubator literatures to hypothesize and test mechanisms that create the context and opportunity for business interaction among member firms within one university-based entrepreneurial support organization. The study uses the empirical setting of a large, university based support organization and the sample includes firms with different levels of membership-support. This empirical context allows us to compare different levels of membership-support and identify the dimensions that have greater impacts on a firm's opportunity to establish ties with other members. The results reveal that geographical proximity, ad-hoc service support including shared space, and a larger community of member and graduate firms to which network ties may be formed increases the chance of connecting with other past or current member firms. Acknowledgements:We would like to acknowledge....

The Role of Social and Institutional Contexts in Social Innovations of Spanish Academic Spinoffs

“…Fichter and Tiemman [7] and Paniccia and Biaocco [6] found that TTOs constitute appropriate mechanisms for the transmission and materialization of a culture oriented towards the commercialization of social innovation. On the other hand, several authors state that TTOs develop additional support functions for ASOs that may contribute towards the development of innovations, in general, and social innovations in particular [7,86]. First, prior research has shown that TTOs are sources of supportive activities such as consultancy services, management training, administrative and legal tasks, and human resource services that facilitate the development of ASOs [95,[112][113][114].…”

“…This increasing awareness towards sustainability is reflected in their strategic plans that include new goals, visions, and priority areas related to corporate social responsibility [7]. By taking these strategic plans as a reference, universities integrate this social and sustainable culture within the university community through their teaching, research, and entrepreneurship activities and nurture ASOs with this culture [85,86]. In this respect, Fitcher and Tiemann [7] found that universities include specific aspects related to sustainability and solutions to social problems within their teaching programs and are interested in designing funding programs to support research projects linked to corporate social responsibility.…”

“…On the other hand, university support units may positively affect the development of social innovation in ASOs, since one of their main functions involves the supply of a network of relationships with actors from the social context [19,86]. ASOs face external and internal liabilities of newness and smallness [88], which makes it difficult to attract social agents.…”

“…ASOs face external and internal liabilities of newness and smallness [88], which makes it difficult to attract social agents. University support units help ASOs to overcome this challenge [86]. Thus, TTOs develop and maintain networks with industry agents, such as suppliers, customers, and competitors, which are highly relevant because they constitute the direct source of knowledge regarding the demands and the problems of society [12,13].…”

In the making: Open Creative Labs as an emerging topic in economic geography?

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