Being flexible through customization − The impact of incubator focus and customization strategies on incubatee survival and growth

Resumo

Given the increased importance of flexibility in company development models, it is not surprising that start-up support structures such as business incubators give more attention to flexible service offerings. In this paper, we argue that an incubator's service customization strategy is ideal in situations with high incubatee need heterogeneity. Moreover, we examine how an incubator's industry segmentation efforts are related to its customization strategy, and examine its subsequent impact on incubatee survival and growth. Based on an empirical study using data from 166 Brazilian incubators, we find that service customization is a significant mediator through which an incubator's industry focus can influence incubatee survival and growth. Moreover, contrary to the common assumption that an industry focus automatically leads to a higher incubatee performance level, we fail to find any evidence for a significant direct relation between an incubator's industry segmentation and incubatee survival and growth. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

Ficha do documento

Tipo

Artigo científico

Ano

2016

Instituição

Elsevier B.V.

Fonte

Repositório da FGV

Idioma

Inglês

Acesso

Acesso restrito

DOI

10.1016/j.jengtecman.2016.06.003

Identificador

oai:repositorio.fgv.br:10438/23656

Palavras-chave

Business incubatorIncubatee growthIncubatee survivalIncubator performanceIndustry segmentationService customizationEngineeringIndustrial managementCompany developmentCustomization strategiesSupport structuresSurvival and growthInformation systemsIncubadoras