Victor Scholten

An improved fuzzy preference programming to evaluate entrepreneurship orientation

This paper describes an approach to measuring the entrepreneurship orientation (EO) of firms. EO is a widely accepted way to measure the degree in which a firm is entrepreneurial. The scale has three dimensions - innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness - each of which is assessed using multiple items. Measuring EO is important for entrepreneurial firms and for organizations like venture capitalists, business angels, investment banks and governments investing in these firms. Both the traditional statistical and the simple approach of assessing the overall level of EO (adding item scores) have their disadvantages. The aim of this article is to discuss these disadvantages and describe how some of them can be removed by using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method that is particularly suited to tackle multi-dimensional, fuzzy, and perception-based constructs such as EO. We first improve a fuzzy AHP and then apply it using the pairwise comparisons of three experts to evaluate the EO of 59 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and rank the firms based on their EO score. The results indicate that proactiveness is by far the most important dimension, followed by innovativeness. Furthermore, there are considerable differences when it comes to the weights of the items.

Measuring entrepreneurship: Expert-based vs. data-based methodologies

The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has become essential in research into the degree of entrepreneurial behavior at firm level. It is relevant to managers to be able to assess explicitly the level of entrepreneurship of a firm. Incubators, venture capitalists, corporate venturing units, angel investors, investment banks and governments need solid measures that go beyond expert intuition to assess the entrepreneurial nature of firms before they invest in them. Researchers have examined EO and consider innovativeness, risk taking, and proactiveness are important dimensions of this concept. Although the concept is seen as a multidimensional construct, there has been a great deal of debate among scholars on how to analyse it. The traditional statistical methodology has a number of drawbacks. In this article, we extend the debate and assess the construct of EO using four different methodologies: the traditional statistical methodology, a fuzzy-logic methodology, a DEA-like methodology and a naive methodology. As an expert-based methodology, fuzzy logic compensates some of the limitations of the statistical methodology. Drawing on a sample of 59 start-ups in a self-administered questionnaire, we measure innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness and subsequently compare the resulting EO scores using the four methodologies. We found several differences, the most prominent of which are discussed in greater detail. The EO score from a naive methodology yields a value that lies between the other results, while the entrepreneurial score from a fuzzy logic methodology is most different from the other results.

University–Industry Collaboration in Turkish SMEs Investigation of a U-Shaped Relationship

University–industry collaboration and innovation are popular topics in emerging countries. Although the main premise is that such collaboration and innovation increase firm performance, the empirical evidence is inconclusive. Drawing on a sample of 79 Turkish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the authors find negative direct effects of innovation-based strategy and university collaboration on the profit growth of firms. However, where there is fierce market competition, they find that an innovation-based strategy increases profit growth and that collaboration with universities needs to exceed a certain level before the benefits are manifested in profit growth. These results contribute to the debate on the role of innovation and university collaboration in the profit growth of SMEs in emerging countries. For managers, the implications are that an innovation-based strategy is important in competitive markets in emerging countries, and that university collaboration needs to be taken more seriously and must involve higher levels of effort and commitment if benefits are to emerge; otherwise, companies may decide against working with universities.

Connecting the dots: A multiple case study of the network relationships of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the non‐traditional agricultural export (NTAE) sector of Ghana

Purpose - Most research on networks of exporting SMEs has been conducted in developed economies. The present paper aims to apply this concept to a developing economy arguing that there is a combination of internal firm factors (human and physical capital, social and management team networks) that will lead to higher (past) performance in terms of firm size given different contextual factors (such as institutions and supply chain complexity). Design/methodology/approach - Ten SME case studies are analysed in the non-traditional agricultural export (NTAE) sector in Ghana. Findings - The findings suggest that performance is highest for those SMEs where the CEO has received tertiary level education and has export experience for over five years, which export directly (no use of traders), make extensive use of Ghanas export institutions, use export contracts and are members of SME associations. Research limitations/implications - Policy makers in Sub Saharan governments in general and Ghanaian government officials in particular can use these findings to focus their policy on these types of SMEs. Originality/value - Whereas most research on networks of exporting SMEs has been conducted in developed economies, this paper seeks to apply this concept to a developing economy. Policy makers and officials in government can use the findings to focus their policy on the types of SMEs where performance is highest.

Building a Radical Innovation Mechanism at Large Firms

Large firms are generally good at managing incremental innovations, yet they often lack the capabilities that are conducive to developing and deploying radical innovations (RI). Even though large firms recognise the importance of RI, most of them have failed to establish a mechanism, that is, a well defined organisational structure, management processes and resource allocation system that facilitates RI. Drawing on extant literature we build a research framework that explains the obstacles that large firms face with respect to developing radical innovations. We collect data among three large firms, namely Shell, Nokia and IBM, and identify the practices these firms have developed and established a radical innovation mechanism that allows them to circumvent the obstacles for tapping into RI. Following these practices we conclude with managerial implications for managers that are building a RI mechanism for their firms.

How university incubators may be overprotective and hindering the success of the young firm: Findings from a preliminary study

This paper investigates to what extent university spin-offs benefit from their parent organization. Drawing from the resource based view and social capital theory we identify the support factors that may turn to interference with the spin-offs business goals. This study has a case study approach and data is collected among high-tech university spin-offs in the Netherlands. Preliminary findings provide insight in the extent to which support is valuable and when it can hamper the progress of the spin-off creation. Understanding the dynamics of the support can help improve the spin-off incubation programs.

The importance of innovation adoption and generation in linking entrepreneurial orientation with product innovation and farm revenues: the case of vegetable farmers in West Java, Indonesia

The growth of modern agrifood markets, especially in Indonesia, has stimulated entrepreneurially oriented farmers to seize business opportunities through innovation. This paper aims to investigate in a dynamic agrifood market if entrepreneurial orientation enhances innovation adoption and generation and if both of these actions enhance product innovation and, eventually, farm revenues of vegetable farmers in West Java, Indonesia. The findings demonstrate that entrepreneurial orientation enhances innovation adoption and generation, which in turn enhance product innovation. Finally, product innovation enhances farm revenues. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of innovation in facilitating entrepreneurially oriented farmers to perform better when facing a dynamic market. Entrepreneurial orientation enables farmers to innovate by taking risks to anticipate future demand, through either adoption of available innovations or generation of their own innovations, and both options result in new or improved products and eventually enhanced farm revenues.

Dedicated funding for leasing and sharing research and test facilities and its impact on innovation, follow-on financing and growth of biotech start-ups: the Mibiton case

Abstract There is a wide gap between the need for science-based start-ups to purchase or gain access to test equipment and the willingness of investors to provide the necessary funding for that. Most science-based start-ups, and in particular young biotech firms, do not have the resources needed to buy or lease the expensive facilities they need to validate their research results. Investors are reluctant to provide additional capital to these high-tech start-ups in order to acquire state-of-the-art testing equipment. Without owning or having access to the research equipment, these start-ups cannot demonstrate their scientific results effectively and are unable to seize the claims and opportunities flowing from their disclosures. Because they often lack collateral, a track record, stable cash flow and/or operational profits, science-based start-ups have to find alternative sources and channels of finance. A new government-backed funding scheme to hire and purchase and/or share research equipment, called Mibiton, was developed for the Dutch biotechnology sector to address this problem. We examine the motivation to join and participate in the Mibiton scheme, look into its (dis)advantages and evaluate its additionalities through an exploratory study among its investees. The main findings are that an active investment fund providing relatively small investments, with competitive interest rates, makes start-ups more proactive, allowing them to accelerate product development and market testing in their time-to-market race. Mibiton’s investments make the start-up firms more professional, better prepared financially and, with their claims tested and validated, more future-proof. The affiliation with the Mibiton scheme also sends out a strong quality signal to the venture capital community, hereby increasing the likelihood that the start-ups will succeed in obtaining additional funding in the future.

Entrepreneurship and prior experience as antecedents of absorptive capacity of high-tech academic spin-offs

We investigate the influence of entrepreneurial orientation and team efficacy, in addition to the impact of domain-specific industry and research experience of spin-off management teams, on absorptive capacity, both potential and realised. A multiple regression analysis in 95 Dutch high-tech academic spin-offs indicates that entrepreneurial orientation and domain-specific research experience are positively related to potential absorptive capacity while entrepreneurial orientation, team efficacy and domain-specific industry experience are positively related to realised absorptive capacity. Analyses of the explained variance show that entrepreneurial orientation and team efficacy provide a higher contribution to absorptive capacity than domain-specific experience, which contributes to recent debates on antecedents of absorptive capacity for academic spin-offs.

The Search Behaviour of Academic Start-Ups: Experiential Learning and the Role of Consultancy and Manufacturing Activities

In this chapter we show how consultancy activities are essential in the learning processes of academic start-ups. Drawing on opportunity identification literature, prior experience and experiential learning, we develop a better understanding of the contribution of consultancy activities to manufacturing-oriented academic spin-offs. Two cases are investigated which show that, often undervalued, consultancy activities were central to the learning process of academic spin-offs and directly contributed to the identification of the entrepreneurial opportunity. We conclude with a consideration of the theoretical and managerial implications.