The role of entrepreneurs' social networks in the creation and early development of biotechnology companies

Abstract

Abstract:The main research question addressed in this paper concerns the way entrepreneurs' social networks affect the opportunity identification and the access and mobilization of resources in a science-based field -biotechnology -facilitating the founding of new firms. For this purpose we adopted an analytical framework combining contributions from the technological entrepreneurship and the social network literature and, on this basis, we proposed: i) that entrepreneurs social networks, both those associated with their academic and professional trajectories and those intentionally build already having the firm as a goal, are critical to access the wide range of resources necessary to create a new firm in this type of field; ii) that different network configurations are associated with the access and mobilisation of different types of resources. We developed a methodology that combines several methods usually applied separately and that permits to assemble of a vast array of data capturing the nature and contents of a wide range of relationships. This methodology was applied to a sub-set of the Portuguese biotechnology industry -the molecular biology firms. Globally this research provides evidence that contributes to on-going debates in the area of social networks and entrepreneurship, both at the methodological and empirical levels. At this stage the main contribution regards the development of a methodology that was found to offer important insights into the behaviour of science-based entrepreneurs in their search for key resources for firm formation. The results obtained, although still exploratory, already provide some indications concerning the conditions for biotechnology entrepreneurship in countries that are peripheral relative to the major concentrations of biotechnology knowledge and business.

The commercialisation of emerging energy technologies: the strategic alliances of high-technology entrepreneurial firms

“…But it also reflects the limited interest shown by venture capital in the field, as well as a dearth of corporate investment, which is sometimes presented as a mode of intervention of established firms in the new energy fields (Teppo and Wustenhagen, 2009) 11 . This extensive reliance on alternative sources of funding has been identified in other studies of Portuguese research spin-offs (Sousa et al, 2011). But in some other fields VC companies have already turned their attention to new firms with promising technologies.…”

“…actors) and structure (i.e. relationships) varies with the resource that is being accessed (Gilsing and Duysters, 2008;Sousa et al, 2011) and with the sector where firms operate (Plum and Hassink, 2011). It has namely shown that the type of relationships established by new technology-intensive firms will be largely determined by the nature of the knowledge being exploited and by the mode of industrial organisation of the sector/industry where the resulting technologies products are being introduced .…”

Types of proximity in knowledge access by science-based start-ups

“…Information on the networks mobilised by the entrepreneurs for knowledge access was collected using a combination of complementary methods that are usually applied independently (Sousa et al, 2011), and involved both search for documentary information and in-depth face-to-face interviews with the founders. The former included: the Curriculum Vitae of the entrepreneurs, published data about formal collaborative projects, partnerships and patents, and a variety of documentary information about the entrepreneurs' personal trajectories and firm formation histories.…”

Building a bridge: social networks and technological regimes in biotechnology and software

“…Data on networks was obtained using a novel combination of complementary methods, involving both documentary information and in-depth face-to-face interviews with the founders (Sousa et al, 2011). The interviews, conducted in 2008, addressed both the entrepreneur and the firm and had an average length of 1.5 hours.…”

“…Previous exploratory research conducted by the authors (Sousa et al, 2011) has found that different network configurations are associated with the access and mobilization of different types of resources and, particularly, that scientific and technological knowledge is accessed through networks that differ significantly from those mobilized to obtain other (nontechnological) resources (Sousa et al, 2011). In this paper we focus on the networks established to acquire and exploit this particular resource -knowledge -and attempt to characterise these networks and to gain a better understanding of the conditions that may be behind variety in network configurations at this level.…”