A preliminary investigation into networking activities within the university incubator

Maura McAdam · Susan Marlow

114 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences Innovation and Knowledge Management Business Strategy and Innovation

Abstract

Abstract Purpose – Research to date has identified incubator units as an effective mechanism for supporting the growth and development of small entrepreneurial firms. Advantages are gained not only from the provision of appropriate facilities and external managerial expertise on site, but also from the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial networks facilitated by the spatial proximity of incubator firms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of context, in other words the degree to which the networking opportunities provided by the university incubator support the small firm in its pursuit of sustainability and growth. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence is presented from six in‐depth, longitudinal case studies of entrepreneurial firms based within a university incubator located within the United Kingdom. The interviews were tape‐recorded and transcribed and then analysed through the NUD*IST software package. Findings – The current research highlights the specific role of the university context in networking activities, and in particular, the development of particular types of networks, namely, social and business. Having identified the role of the university in facilitating such networks, future research needs to consider how proximity and tacit knowledge establishes the trust which underpins successful networking. However, this paper has also revealed some disadvantages of university incubator placement worthy of further consideration and research, namely, how proximity between firms is seen as a threat to intellectual property rights and also, how the image of the academic might be seen as a disadvantage within the business community. Originality/value – This paper adds to existing literature through an exploration of the manner in which firm proximity within a university incubator impacts upon networking opportunities for new entrepreneurial firms.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 114 citations exist upstream.

References

1984Case Study Research: Design and Methods 1985Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness 2009Building theories from case study research 1997Social Structure and Competition in Interfirm Networks: The Paradox of Embeddedness 1983The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited 1995Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition 2002Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness 1999Interorganizational Endorsements and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Ventures

Cited by

2022Business Incubators, Accelerators, and Performance of Technology-Based Ventures: A Systematic Literature Review 2012Technology business incubators and industrial development: resource‐based view 2017Measuring Nonprofit Incubator Performance: Toward an Adapted Balanced Scorecard Approach 2018Social Capital in University Business Incubators: dimensions, antecedents and outcomes 2014Key resources and actors for the evolution of academic spin-offs

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.