New technology-based firms in Germany: a survey of the recent evidence

The importance and contribution of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) to long-term economic development is at the centre of a controversial debate. This paper provides an overview of the current status of research on various issues concerning NTBFs in Germany. The issues covered include the incidence of start-up firms in Germany's technology-intensive sectors and their regional clustering. The review also shows that NTBFs play an important role with regard to the transfer, adoption and diffusion of technology. The public support and policy initiatives for NTBFs in Germany are also discussed.     

Public policy measures to support new technology-based firms in the European Union

This paper provides a review of public policy measures implemented in EU countries to support New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) during the 1980s and early 1990s. It identifies five policy areas and provides a synthesis of the policy developments during this period and an assessment of their effectiveness. The policy areas examined are: Science Parks; the Supply of PhDs in Science and Technology, the relationships between NTBFs and Universities/Research Institutions; Direct Financial Support to NTBFs from National Governments; and the Impact of Technological Advisory Services on NTBFs. Although considered independently, these issues are clearly part of an interdependent `system' of policies and we conclude with an overview of the whole policy area, together with our personal recommendations for its improvement.     

NTBFs—the French case

New technology-based firms (NTBFs) represent only a small proportion of the firms established in France each year; they attract very little specific attention from the national statistical apparatus and are considered to be of marginal significance by both the public authorities and financial institutions. Although the definition of NTBFs is problematic, the available evidence suggests that the survival rate of technology-based firms is higher than that of other start-ups. The most successful in terms of growth belong to dense and convergent networks through which they interact with larger firms and research organisations. There is very little public policy specifically targeted on NTBFs in France. Instead, public financing has been devoted mainly to the development of SMEs in general—in support of their role in the creation of new employment—and to supporting technology-based firms, both large and small, to strengthen the international competitiveness of the French industry.     

New, technology-based firms in small open economies—An analysis based on the Finnish experience

This paper analyses the roles and impacts of new, technology-based firms (NTBFs) in a small open economy, with empirical data from Finland. It is suggested that in small open economies, NTBFs may fall into a resource trap, which might result in their being relatively less growth oriented than NTBFs in countries where the domestic market is larger. Consequently, in small open economies, the systemic impact of NTBFs could be emphasised rather than their organic growth in terms of the employment that they create.     

Novelty-oriented value propositions for new technology-based firms: Impact of business networks and growth orientation

To perform, new technology-based firms (NTBFs) need to develop value for customers that distinguish them from others in the market. Therefore, the development of novelty-oriented value propositions are important, and may be influenced by several factors. We argue that the propensity to become more novelty-oriented can be influenced by an internal drive to grow (growth orientation) and by external contributions (business networks). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse how business networks and growth orientation effects on the novelty orientation of NTBF value propositions. Based on survey data from 401 NTBFs founded between 2013 and 2015, in the nascent start-up phase novelty-oriented value propositions of NTBFs positively relate to informal (management) networks, as well as founders' attitudes towards growth. Thus, such networks and attitudes from founders should be supported in the very early phases of start-up if novelty orientation is to be preferred as a performance determinant.     

Smaller firms and Europe's high technology sectors: a framework for analysis and some statistical evidence

This paper introduces a simple framework through which the evolution of industries can be `mapped'. This framework is used to discuss the role of small firms in the development of Europe's high technology sectors during the 1980s. The framework assesses the development of high technology sectors in two dimensions (1) through the change over time in the number of units (establishments or enterprises) in these sectors and (2) through the changing employment of these sectors. Changes within both manufacturing and service sectors are discussed and differences are found between the sectors examined. Especially among the manufacturing sectors, differences are also found between countries. In some countries the high technology manufacturing sectors are growing both in terms of the number of units active in these activities and their employment, while in other countries, the number of units is increasing but employment is contracting. Within this context, it may well be that the growth in the number of high technology small firms has at least as much to do with `negative' factors, such as the `down-sizing' of large firms, as it has to do with `positive' factors, such as the creation of innovative new enterprises.     

Yes, now we can: Technological change and the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities

The paper investigates how technological change in an industry influence which individuals will identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. We propose that the introduction of new development tools will change knowledge-barriers to entry because they enable the abstraction of specialized knowledge that was previously needed for development. Empirically we test the argument using data from the web design industry in a Nordic country during the period 1992–2003. We compare the education and experience of founders before and after the introduction of web administration tools in 1998 and find a significant difference, which supports the main thesis of our argument.     

In search of complementary assets: The determinants of alliance formation of high-tech start-ups

Why do new technology-based firms (NTBFs) cooperate? Starting from Teece's [Teece, D.J., 1986. Profiting from technological innovation: implications for integration, collaboration, licensing, and public policy. Research Policy 15, 285-305] conceptual framework and taking advantage of subsequent literature on alliance formation in the resource and competence-based tradition and in the social structure perspective, we derive an empirical model that aims at highlighting the inducements and obstacles that these firms face in alliance formation according to firm-specific characteristics and the nature of the alliance. In particular, a distinction is made between exploitative commercial alliances and explorative technological alliances. The econometric estimates, based on a large sample of Italian young high-tech firms that are observed from 1994 to 2003, provide strong evidence supporting two key intuitions of Teece's work. First, the “combination of specialized complementary assets” appears to be a key driver of the formation of exploitative commercial alliances by NTBFs. More specifically, patent holding affects positively the likelihood to establish commercial alliances, but this propensity is found to rapidly decrease with firm size, suggesting that as long as NTBFs become larger and possess specialized commercial assets their urge for commercial alliances diminishes. Second, following the parallelism set forth by Teece between search for alliance partners and access to external financing, the analysis indicates that potentially beneficial alliances may not take place because of the high transaction costs faced by smaller NTBFs. In this respect, our results clearly support the view that sponsor institutions as public research organizations, venture and corporate venture capitalists may sensibly reduce these costs and that their role crucially depends on both the identity of the sponsor and the type of alliance.     

Innovation in project-based firms: The context dependency of success factors

Innovation management literature typically concerns functionally organized firms. In this paper we investigate innovation management in a different type of firm, the project-based firm. Project-based firms, such as engineering and construction companies, consultancies and system integrators, are service firms that solely execute projects for clients. We focus on new service development projects in these firms. Based on an in-depth study of six projects in four different firms, we develop hypotheses on differences between success factors for development projects in project-based firms and in functionally organized firms. Some of the success factors for functionally organized firms, as described in the literature, appear to be more important in project-based firms, others seem redundant. Our findings suggest that the specific structure and capabilities of project-based firms provide an explanation for these differences.     

Creative adaptation: the role of new technology based firms in Portugal

This paper reviews two recent research studies on Portuguese New Technology Based Firms (NTBFs). Attention is given to the role and contribution of NTBFs to innovation. The main argument is that, by and large, NTBFs are less concerned with the introduction of major innovations and more with creative adaptive improvements to products and services based upon new technologies first introduced elsewhere. The empirical research found that Portuguese NTBFs are a recent phenomenon associated with diffusion of Electronics and Information Technologies (EIT) during the late 1980s. They perform a wide variety of knowledge-intensive activities, which enhance local users' adoption processes and they are associated with different forms of technology transfer through external linkages. Overall, NTBFs undertake a frequently unobserved role as technology searchers and acquirers that, pushed by idiosyncratic local niche market opportunities, selectively choose among and enhance technologies developed elsewhere, introducing them into the local market.     

创业网络关系嵌入对新创企业成长关系研究 ——创业学习的中介作用

社会网络关系为创业者习得储备知识和创业经验提供了大量资料来源,对新创企业的发展有着直接或间接影响,而知识获取来源、方式的各异也对企业成长绩效存在一定影响,故本研究沿袭社会网络中的逻辑思路,从向谁学、怎么学、学习结果如何层层递进关系中构建创业网络关系强度和信任、创业学习与新企业成长的关系模型,并分别就创业认知学习、创业体验学习和创业实践学习的中介效应做出探讨。据此,本文收集656份新创企业问卷数据,对理论假设采用结构方程模型进行实证检验。研究结果表明：（1）创业网络关系强度正向影响新创企业绩效;（2）网路关系的强度和网络信任影响着创业者对获取知识不同途径的选择;（3）创业认知学习、经验学习、实践学习三种学习方式,在创业网络关系嵌入与创业成长的关系中发挥部分中介作用,尤其创业经验对新创企业成长绩效有显著影响。     

Growing where you are planted: Exogenous firms and the seeding of Silicon Valley

What are the respective roles of indigenous and exogenous factors in the development of high-tech regions? Entrepreneurs and their start-ups have dominated Silicon Valley's economy in recent decades, but a different dynamic was at work from 1940 to 1965, when the Valley emerged as a formidable high-tech region. In key industries (electronics, semiconductors, computers, and aerospace) that defined Silicon Valley as a high-tech cluster during that period, companies based elsewhere played critical roles in planting the organizations that would - through the innovations they made, the technical talent they attracted, and the start-ups they spun off - help make the Valley the world's most admired and emulated high-tech region.     

Identification of innovating firms through technological innovation indicators: an application to the Spanish ceramic tile industry

The identification of technologically innovating firms is related to the development of indicators of their innovation activity. In this study, we carry out a review of indicators of firms’ technological innovation activity and then classify them according to whether they are based on inputs or outputs of the innovation process, and to the sources of the information they consider, whether primary or secondary. Their applicability as indicators of firm innovation is analyzed in the Spanish ceramic tile industry for the period from 1994 to 1996. From the results obtained we are able to conclude that the method based on direct information—self-assessment by managers—is more effective in identifying both product and process innovators. Within the set of methods based on secondary information, the literature-based innovation output (LBIO) method is the one which provides the best results when identifying product innovators alone.     

Improvising firms: bricolage, account giving and improvisational competencies in the founding process

Improvisation occurs when the design and execution of novel activities converge. Drawing on three samples of young firms, this inductive study investigates the existence, channels and implications of strategic improvisation in knowledge-intensive new businesses. Our study suggests that not only may founding itself be improvisational in some cases, but improvisational processes and issues permeate entrepreneurial activity and have non-obvious implications for emergent firm strategies and competencies. We develop propositions in four domains: (1) the occurrence of strategic improvisation; (2) tactical improvisation rising to the level of strategy; (3) network bricolage; and (4) improvisational competencies. This study contributes to research on organizational improvisation, bricolage and entrepreneurship. Theoretically and in practice, both improvisation and bricolage represent potentially rich additions to the vocabulary of entrepreneurial action.     

The role of academic inventors in entrepreneurial firms: sharing the laboratory life

While science-based entrepreneurial firms are a key feature of the modern economy, our insights into their organization and productivity remain limited. In particular, our understanding of the mechanisms through which academic inventors shape entrepreneurial firms established to commercialize their scientific ideas is based upon a traditional perspective that highlights the importance of human capital. Based on a study of biotechnology firms and their academic inventors, this paper examines the extent and mechanisms through which academic scientists contribute not only human capital but also social capital to entrepreneurial firms. The paper makes two contributions to our understanding of the academic-firm interface: First, it establishes that the social capital of academic scientists is critical to firms because it can be transformed into scientific networks that embed the firm in the scientific community through a variety of mechanisms. Second, the paper argues that an academic inventor’s career plays a critical role in shaping his social capital, thus scientific careers mediate the networks and potential for embeddedness that an academic inventor brings to a firm. Specifically, the foundations of an academic’s social capital can be traced to two sources: The first element that the firm may leverage is the academic’s local laboratory network—a network to current and former students and advisors established by the inventor through his laboratory life. The second form of social capital is a wider, cosmopolitan network of colleagues and co-authors established through the social patterns of collaboration, collegiality and competition that exemplify scientific careers. These findings suggest that scientific careers are central in shaping an academic’s social capital which can be translated into critical scientific networks in which entrepreneurial firms become embedded.     

信息技术环境下组织创新的系统行为及其复杂性

 定义了信息技术环境下企业组织创新的概念内涵;利用不连续生长曲线、吸引子、吸子盆、匹配图景、分形和非线性发展模式等复杂系统理论与方法探讨了企业组织创新的系统行为及其复杂性。结果表明：（1）信息技术环境下企业组织创新是一项协同性的系统创新,决定系统行为的四个基本变量是组织文化创新、业务流程创新、组织结构创新和信息技术创新;（2）组织文化既是稳定的吸引子,又是不稳定的混沌吸引子;组织文化创新是整个组织创新的先导和保障;（3）通过高绩效的组织创新,处于混沌边缘的组织能够跃迁到一个新的、具有更高复杂性和一致性的动态稳定阶段;（4）在组织系统不连续生长周期的相对稳定阶段和相对不稳定阶段,企业通常分别实施渐进性组织创新和根本性组织创新。     

我国企业的技术战略

我国企业的成败有赖于其技术战略的选择。用翔实的例子和数据描述、分析和解释了我国企业20年来走过的技术发展轨道,证明了选择适当的技术战略、并且坚持不懈地培育自己的技术能力,是持续发展的基本保证。     

The geography of opportunity: spatial heterogeneity in founding rates and the performance of biotechnology firms

One of the most commonly observed features of the organization of markets is that similar business enterprises cluster in physical space. In this paper, we develop an explanation for firm co-location in high-technology industries that draws upon a relational account of new venture creation. We argue that industries cluster because entrepreneurs find it difficult to leverage the social ties necessary to mobilize essential resources when they reside far from those resources. Therefore, opportunities for high tech entrepreneurship mirror the distribution of critical resources. The same factors that enable high tech entrepreneurship, however, do not necessary promote firm performance. In the empirical analyses, we investigate the effects of geographic proximity to established biotechnology firms, sources of biotechnology expertise (highly-skilled labor), and venture capitalists on the location-specific founding rates and performance of biotechnology firms. The paper finds that the local conditions that promote new venture creation differ from those that maximize the performance of recently established companies.     

Founders’ human capital and the growth of new technology-based firms: A competence-based view

In this paper, we analyze empirically the relation between the growth of new technology-based firms and the human capital of founders, with the aim of teasing out the “wealth” and “capability” effects of human capital. For this purpose, we take advantage of a new data set relating to a sample composed of 506 Italian young firms that operate in high-tech industries in both manufacturing and services. In accordance with competence-based theories, the econometric estimates show that the nature of the education and of the prior work experience of founders exerts a key influence on growth. In fact, founders’ years of university education in economic and managerial fields and to a lesser extent in scientific and technical fields positively affect growth while education in other fields does not. Similarly prior work experience in the same industry of the new firm is positively associated with growth while prior work experience in other industries is not. Furthermore, it is the technical work experience of founders as opposed to their commercial work experience that determines growth. The fact that within the founding team there are individuals with prior entrepreneurial experiences also results in superior growth. Lastly, we provide evidence that there are synergistic gains from the combination of the complementary capabilities of founders relating to (i) economic-managerial and scientific-technical education and (ii) technical and commercial industry-specific work experiences. We conclude that the human capital of founders of new technology-based firms is not just a proxy for personal wealth.