Ferran Giones

Do all paths lead to Rome? Technology and market orientation influence on the growth of new technology-based firms

Technology commercialization is described as the most dreadful challenge for technology-based entrepreneurs. The scarcity of resources and limited managerial experience make it a daunting task, putting in danger the whole firm emergence. Prior research has often build upon the resource-based view to propose that the new firms performance is dependent on their initial resource endowments and configurations. Nevertheless, little is known on how the early-stage decisions of the entrepreneur might influence on the growth of the firm. Scholars have suggested that both technology and market orientation actions could influence the performance and growth of firms in this context; nevertheless, there is limited empirical evidence of the influence of these different orientations in the context of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). In this study we propose to explore the influence of technology and demand creation actions adopting a demand-side view. We use a longitudinal study on a panel dataset (2004-2007) with 249 U.S. new high-technology firms to test our hypothesis. The results point towards a rather limited influence of initial resource configurations, as well as an unexpected influence of market and technology orientation in the growth dimensions of an NTBF. The research holds implications for the management of new technology-based firms and for those interested in supporting the development of technology entrepreneurship.

How Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding Are Redefining Innovation Management

Breaking down a large and complex task into smaller and simpler tasks has been associated with much of the last century’s progress in industrial productivity (Maier 1970). This breaking down of tasks enabled adjustments in resource allocation to each of the new subtasks, as well as the capability to manage the new simpler tasks more closely, measuring productivity, and eventually paving the road for the development of “scientific management” in the daily operations of organizations (Kelly 1982). This approximation to organizing work successfully resonated not just with industrial organizations but also with other process-intensive organizations which gained in simplicity, effectiveness, and efficiency by adopting it. At some point, when internal resources were observed to be less efficient than external alternatives, the distribution of tasks and work crossed the boundaries of the organization, giving shape to the idea of outsourcing noncore activities to other organizations.

Building technology entrepreneurship capabilities: an engineering education perspective

Although technology entrepreneurship has received increased attention in the near past, the link between entrepreneurship education and the transfer and commercialization of technology has not equally explored. In this study, we apply an inductive approach to investigate two cases of science and technology entrepreneurship education (STEE), we use documents and interviews to build each of the cases. Our findings suggest that open and problem-based pedagogical approaches are more applied in STEE related courses compared to regular engineering courses. Additionally, STEE benefits greatly from taking place in a practical context with access to support structures that assist in developing technical and business aspects of start-ups. The findings hold implications for research, educational programs, policy makers and entrepreneurs.

Social Media engagement as an e-commerce driver, a consumer behavior perspective

This study explores the relationship between Social Media engagement and the activation of the consumers purchase process. Following a consumer behavior perspective we study how the new communication paradigm of the Web 2.0 has change the first stage of the e-commerce purchase process, the problem recognition. We use the case of a smartphone purchase, to explore how differences in Social Media (Facebook) engagement would help describe existent differences between the consumers triggers for problem recognition. The results suggest that theres a relationship between the level of engagement and the consumers state that influences the activation of the problem recognition. Implications for e-commerce and Social Media managers are discussed.

Exploring the use of signals in the venture emergence of new technology-based firms

New technology-based firms have to deal with the technology development and market search challenges at the same time. The venture emergence in technology entrepreneurship symbolizes that the new venture has been able to find the right fit for its technology and becomes an operating business. The complex nature and dynamism of technology markets suggest the need to look beyond the venture resources in order to explain how new ventures overcomes the market uncertainty towards their technological products, and become operational businesses. We use a multiple case study of three new technology-based firms to explore the use of signals as market creation strategies in the context of venture emergence. The results suggest that entrepreneurs rely on market, technology and social capital signaling to reduce the uncertainty and advance towards venture emergence. This research holds implications for researchers interested in further exploring the integration of marketing, signaling and entrepreneurship theories and for entrepreneurs interested in overcoming the market uncertainty towards their technology, products and venture performance.

Do great technological ideas make great business opportunities? Entrepreneur's self-regulatory focus in opportunity building

How do technology-based entrepreneurs transform technological ideas into business opportunities? We explore how individuals self-regulatory focus and institutional forces influence in the opportunity construction process. This research addresses the apparent paradox between the exploration efforts of the entrepreneur to find a use for the technological idea, with the institutional pressure advance to opportunity exploitation. We use an inductive multiple-case study with a sample of three technology-based entrepreneurs to shed some light on the phenomena. The results suggest that there is a two-stage process in the transformation of an idea into an opportunity; entrepreneurs ability to moderate their self-regulatory focus is seen to play an important role in this process. These findings hold several implications for entrepreneurs and stakeholders interested in promoting technology-based entrepreneurship.