Business Incubators: A Need-Heed Gap Analysis of Technology-based Enterprises (original) (raw)

Abstract

As technology-based enterprises (TBEs) are more promising than non-technology firms, there is a strong case for their incubation and promotion. However, TBEs use incubators not as support providers for idea incubation but to control costs incurred to develop and implement their ideas, thus defying the objective of incubation. Different types of incubators, such as commercial, social and university business incubators (UBIs), have different types of tangible and intangible resource offerings for their incubatees. Entrepreneurs utilize these resources based on their needs to save costs and reduce risks. Drawing from the conversations with the serial incubatees it was evident that once their access to resources at one incubation centre is exhausted, they move to another incubation centre for further fulfillment of their enterprise's needs. Our analysis based on 20 interviews with the entrepreneurs of TBEs reveals a need-heed gap between the incubatees and incubators, which will have to be reduced for incubators to remain relevant to firms and effective for entrepreneurs.There is a need for a 'hybridized incubation' arrangement for TBEs in which incubators will have to pay heed to their roles as providers of specialized resources from both academia and industry.