New Ventures projects emerge in response to the growing need of countries to develop and grow economically in an environment characterized by rapid changes. The importance of these projects is such that during the last decades they have played a role not only as drivers of the economy but also as sources of new jobs and innovation (Chen, 2009). Due to this importance, there have been multiple studies related to the efficient management of such projects. However, it is not sufficient for these projects to be managed properly, but the presence of limited resources makes necessary to select, prioritize and control these projects strategically within a portfolio.   This strategic management can be carried out by using the theory developed in Project Portfolio Management (PPM). The importance of PPM is the ability to integrate the world of projects with the operation of organizations, helping to minimize failures such as making unnecessary effort to undertake these projects in an appropriate manner when in fact these are not the right projects.  However, there is a lack of knowledge in the application of PPM theory for New Ventures projects, because their characteristics differ from those of any other type of projects in terms of high level of risk and, in many cases, high technical uncertainty (Mac Millan & Gunther, 2000).  This knowledge gap can be minimized using two different approaches. The first one consists in employing the theory developed by PPM in R&D projects, applying it for New Venture projects, as suggested by Mac Millan & Gunther (2000). The second approach corresponds to using the theory developed around the management of projects within Business Incubators (BIs) and Venture Capital firms (VC) in every stage of the PPM process.   This study describes how BIs and VCs in Sweden manage their New Venture projects portfolios in issues such as selection, prioritization and monitoring and control. To achieve an adequate depiction of this process, the study seeks primarily to identify the role of BIs and VCs in the PPM and the proper relationship that should exist between both organizations to ensure an ideal flow of projects at each stage of their development. In addition, it also seeks to find whether tools outlined in the literature are often used in practice.   Among the main findings of the study, the major contribution of the BIs is mainly in the feasibility analysis of projects and the support they give in their development, while VC firms are usually more focused on the selection, prioritization and monitoring and control of their portfolios. In practice there have been shortcomings in the transition of New Venture projects between BIs and VCs. These can be solved by creating a single organization that integrates the entire process of PPM between BIs and VCs, or other alternative is for VCs to start investing mainly in early stage projects.  Another important finding corresponds to the use of the expertise of BIs and VCs members as the most important tool when making strategic decisions. And although there is general satisfaction with the success of these projects in Sweden, some authors have argued that this industry is not totally mature. Therefore, this study suggests using some tools, proposed in a conceptual model, developed to achieve the maturity that New Venture projects industry requires.

<p><strong>Purpose</strong> - This paper aims to analyze different groups, such as venture capitalists’, banks’, governmental support agencies’ and incubator managers’ attitudes toward business plans.</p><p><strong>Approach</strong> – The interviews have been conducted within the following institutions: Jönköping Business Development (JBD, Handelsbanken and Swedbank, Jönköping, ALMI and NyföretagarCentrum (Government Support Agencies (GSAs) and Business Incubator Science Park Jönköping (BISPJ). The author has chosen to conduct the study within this the previous mentioned institutions because those are the ones who mostly demand a formal written BP from firms or potential businesses.</p><p><strong>Findings</strong> – it was found that all the institutions interviewed thinks that a formal written business plan is very important for the entrepreneurs to clarify goals and raise funds. They don’t see any direct negative sides with a business plan.  It was also found that the majority were of the opinion that a business plan does not need to be long. The funding decision is mostly based on the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur; it can be very hard for start-ups manager to convince the funds providers that they are the right people. The type of resources provided to the venture determines the need of follow-ups. It is done mainly based on the financial aspects while those who provide advice or assistance tend to not engage in follow-ups.</p><p><strong>Limitations </strong>- the study was conducted in the period when the many of the potential people to be interviewed were on holiday. The language was sometimes a limitation since English is not the first language neither for the interviewer nor the interviewees.</p>

The study examines the challenges and critical success factors for effective incubation of ICT start-up firms. Information and communication technology (ICT) start-up firms are internationally acknowledged for their contribution to economic growth, improving the quality of life and job creation. The selected case site is the Innovation Hub which hosts a hi-tech incubator called Maxum. The Innovation Hub is an internationally accredited science park located in Tshwane, Pretoria which was launched by the Gauteng Provincial Government in year 2002. The Innovation Hub’s challenge is that its incubation programme is similar to those employed in the developed world. The off-the-shelve programme has not been customised for use within the South African socio-economic context. However, the Innovation Hub is a relatively high performing incubator which has met the prescribed precursors for success. The critical success factors include the hands-on professional services provided to entrepreneurs, value networks and government support. In order to improve the success rate of the incubation of ICT start-up firms, there is a need to adopt a long-term approach towards innovation support and to establish an incentive funding mechanism that fosters job creation by entrepreneurs. The objectives of the study were achieved. The researcher has extended Kumar & Kumar framework and added three critical success factors. The findings of the study cannot be generalised but can be replicated. These findings are of value to the incubator managers and also to the policy-makers when developing and enacting policies that promote incubation of ICT start-up firms. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

Univ., Diss.--Klagenfurt, 2005.

Innovation hub organizations - or 'hubs' - have become a prevalent form of support for technology entrepreneurship in Africa. About 170 African hubs have been established, most since 2010. Practitioners have argued either that hubs are transformative network infra-structures for Africa's fledgling digital economy or that they are ineffective business incubators. This thesis steps back from this debate about whether hubs work. Instead, it asks how African hubs work, specifically how they shape relationships of technology entrepreneurs. Literature on intermediation and incubation is reviewed to establish a theoretical framework. The thesis then tests and extends the framework based on an extensive, grounded empirical inquiry. In-depth case study data (including 119 interviews with 133 participants) on six hubs were collected during field studies in Kigali, Harare, and Accra from September-December 2014. The thesis finds that the analyzed hub organizations were defined by nested, fluidly bounded entrepreneurial communities. Communities varied by their level of activation: mem-bers of active communities had concern for each other and recognized communities as social entities, while inactive community members only shared a loose purpose. The six hubs followed two distinct organizational patterns: the technology hub (depending on active core communities) and the entrepreneurship hub (relying on active peripheral communities). Based on these results, the thesis theorizes hubs as assemblers of technology entrepreneurs: hubs assemble previously distant and different actors into entrepreneurial communities. Assembly is unique to hubs: it is related to but different from incubation and most forms of intermediation. Assembly theory addresses important meso-level analytical gaps in prior research on the coordination and organization of entrepreneurship. The thesis underscores limitations in African technology entrepreneurship environments, advising hub practitioners to acknowledge that 'only what is there can be assembled.' Ultimately, it highlights that hubs have been critically misunderstood, and clarifies what hubs can and cannot do for technology entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this thesis was exploring stakeholder influence on brand identity co-creation in startups, by answering the research question: "How do stakeholders influence brand identity co-creation in startups?". To answer this question, a multiple case study was conducted, consisting of interviews with six B2C (business-to-customer) startups. Furthermore, the startups studied are all tenants of incubators. This context is of interest, since incubators have been suggested to provide extensive resources and knowledge for startups struggling with their businesses' establishment. To analyze the data from the case studies, mainly the Corporate Brand Identity Matrix (Urde, 2013) was used, which helps to provide an overview of how different elements of brand identity are co-created with stakeholders in startups. In addition, to study this subject requires an overview and discussion of brand management research, stakeholder theory and co-creation litertature.  The findings show that several of the brand identity elements are co-created with stakeholders in startups. The stakeholders identified in co-creation are several, mainly cusomers, financiers, producers, designers and programmers. Furthermore, an interesting correlation between startups' orientations and co-creation, was discovered. The startups with a mainly market-oriented approach to branding are co-creating the brand identity elements to a much further extent, than brand-oriented startups. Finally, incubators are revealed as co-creators of several of the brand identity elements in startups, but the study also provides further insightsd into their important role in supporting the startups and facilitating networking opportunities.

abstract: With various gaps remaining in business incubation literature, developing scales that capture the multi-dimensional constructs of the incubation process remains a necessity. While living and traveling within Brazil, this author journeyed within Brazil's well-developed incubation ecosystem in order to investigate the reproducibility and validity of scales whose authors propose measure the constructs that capture the process of business incubation which were defined in their options-driven theory of business incubation as "selection performance", "monitoring and business assistance intensity", and "resource munificence". Regression analysis resulted in the data suggesting that there is no statistically significant predictive ability of the Hackett and Dilts scales when used to predict incubatee outcomes from this study's sample of incubators. The results of the analysis between total score in each of the three constructs and incubatee outcomes suggested that when the total score within the construct of selection performance increases, there tends to be a decrease in incubatee outcomes where the incubatee was surviving and growing profitably at the time of its exit from the incubator. Also, there tends to be a decrease in incubatee outcomes where the incubatee was surviving and growing on a path toward profitability at the time of the incubator exit. The results show no predictive ability of the remaining two constructs of "monitoring and business assistance intensity" and "resource munificence" to capture business incubation performance. The item specific analysis of all correlating and inter-correlating variables for each of the dependent variables, resulting in several significant relationships, however, many demonstrate negative relationships which also run contrary to the relationships proposed by Hackett and Dilts. These results have challenged both the validity of the Hackett and Dilts scale as a tool for investigating the constructs of the incubation process, and the ability of the options-driven theory to explain and predict business incubation outcomes. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2012

Submitted by Raniere Barreto (raniere.barros@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2018-05-04T19:18:26Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) keilla_dayane_silva_oliveira.pdf: 2387961 bytes, checksum: 0dfa7c33888cb64e6956fe93ebe9009a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2018-05-14T13:50:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) keilla_dayane_silva_oliveira.pdf: 2387961 bytes, checksum: 0dfa7c33888cb64e6956fe93ebe9009a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-14T13:50:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) keilla_dayane_silva_oliveira.pdf: 2387961 bytes, checksum: 0dfa7c33888cb64e6956fe93ebe9009a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017 / Esta disserta??o, parte da an?lise dos perfis de gest?o adotada pelas incubadoras tecnol?gicas de cooperativas populares (ITCPs) vinculadas ?s universidades federais no Estado de Minas Gerais, durante os anos de 2015 a 2016. Trata-se de um estudo explorat?rio descritivo, de abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa, seu objeto de estudo ? an?lise de multicasos. A proposta de quatro ITCPs resulta da localiza??o das incubadoras no Estado de Minas Gerais, assim como seu hist?rico de funcionamento, al?m das quais ferramentas e processos gerenciais, elementos comuns e divergentes do processo de gest?o das ITCPs, infraestrutura das incubadoras, organiza??o gerencial, identifica??o e an?lise dos principais pontos fortes e fracos, oportunidades e amea?as das Incubadoras Tecnol?gicas de Cooperativas Populares. A coleta dos dados foi realizada por meio de question?rio estruturado, pesquisa bibliogr?fica e documental. Com base na an?lise dos dados, pode-se afirmar que os tipos de gest?o analisadas foram a autogest?o e a gest?o social, ambos os modelos desenvolvem suas atividades e processos similares, as diferen?as encontra-se de acordo com a realidade vivenciada por cada incubadora e a universidade em que est? inserida. Nota-se tamb?m que a atividade mais importante e que influencia na gest?o ? o processo de incuba??o. / Disserta??o (Mestrado Profissional) ? Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Tecnologia, Sa?de e Sociedade, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, 2017. / This dissertation, part of the analysis of the management profiles adopted by technological incubators of popular cooperatives (ITCPs) linked to universities in the State of Minas Gerais, during the years 2015 to 2016. This is an exploratory, descriptive, qualitative and quantitative approach, its object of study is multisite analysis. The proposal of four ITCPs results from the location of the incubators in the State of Minas Gerais, as well as their operating history, in addition to which management tools and processes, common and divergent elements of ITCP management process, incubator infrastructure, management organization, identification and analysis of the main strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Technological Incubators of Popular Cooperatives. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire, bibliographical and documentary research. Based on the analysis of the data, it can be affirmed that the types of management analyzed were self-management and social management, both models develop their activities and similar processes, the differences are in accordance with the reality experienced by each incubator and the university in which it is inserted. It is also noted that the most important activity and that influences the management is the incubation process.

Esta pesquisa promove uma discussão sobre os critérios de desempenho na internacionalização de serviços de design, a partir de um estudo exploratório sobre o desempenho de escritório de design, chamados na literatura de KIBS, knowledge intensive business services (MILES et al., 1995; DEN HERTOG, 2000; TOIVONEN, 2004, 2006; MULLER; DOLOREUX, 2007), que tem tido notável relevância como players no cenário internacional (ABECASSIS- MOEDAS, 2012; TOIVONEN, 2004, 2006; HALLDIN, 2010). A literatura tradicional sobre internacionalização, com suas diversas teorias, não contempla especificamente desempenho na internacionalização de empresas de serviços, e neste sentido, foi necessária a validação dos critérios de avaliação de desempenho em internacionalização de serviços com especialistas. Determina-se como objetivo geral avaliar o desempenho de escritórios de design em seu processo de internacionalização e assim realizou-se um estudo qualitativo com seis especialistas de mercado e nove incubados da incubadora Start Line no segundo semestre de 2016. Verifica-se que indicadores comportamentais são determinantes na avaliação do processo de internacionalização de escritórios de design, e que empresas born global tem mais rapidez na sua expansão internacional, bem como uma rentabilidade superior em pouco tempo de atividade. Recomenda-se a validação destes indicadores com KIBS de outros ramos de atividade, pois é um setor carente de literatura sobre internacionalização. / This research promotes a discussion about performance criteria in the internationalization of design services, based on an exploratory study about incubated design offices, a service that in the literature is known as, knowledge intensive business services or KIBS (MILES et al, 1995), which have had relevance in the international scenario (ABECASSIS-MOEDAS, 2012; TOIVONEN, 2004, 2006, HALLDIN, 2010). Traditional internationalization literature, with its various theories, does not specifically study performance in the internationalization of service companies, and in this sense, it was necessary to validate the performance evaluation criteria in internationalization of services with specialists. The main objective of this research is to evaluate performance of design offices in its internationalization process,and thus a qualitative study was carried out with six market specialists and nine incubators from the Start Line incubator in the second half of 2016. It has been found that behavioral indicators are decisive in the evaluation of the internationalization process of design offices, and that born global companies are faster in its international expansion, as well as having superior profitability in a short time of activity. It is recommended to validate these indicators with KIBS from other branches of activity, since it is a sector lacking literature on internationalization.

Trata-se de uma análise, com base no contexto atual, sobre como a ênfase na cultura do empreendedorismo pode influenciar as decisões na produção tecnológica em duas incubadoras de empresas de uma universidade pública do Rio Grande do Sul. Como etapa preliminar, também se avalia de que forma gestores e cientistas-empreendedores envolvidos com essa produção se posicionam perante a relação entre tecnologia e sociedade e se identifica quais questões pautam as escolhas e os direcionamentos da prática tecnológica utilizada pelas empresas incubadas e de que forma tal processo interfere na formatação final do que é produzido. O estudo é de natureza qualitativa, sendo o campo amostral composto por 10 agentes (4 gestores e 6 cientistasempreendedores) escolhidos por serem considerados responsáveis pelo desenvolvimento tecnológico nas incubadoras e nas empresas. Para examinar essas questões, discute-se: uma noção teórica da tecnologia como produção social; os modelos teóricos sobre a relação tecnologia e sociedade propostos por Andrew Feenberg (1991, 2002, 2003); além das aproximações entre a cultura empresarial e a produção científica, formando o que Javier Echeverría (2003a, 2003b) chama de tecnociência. Faz-se, também, um apanhado bibliográfico sobre os temas conectados ao empreendedorismo e às incubadoras de empresas. A análise dos dados mostra que nos estabelecimentos pesquisados existem especificidades em cada uma das incubadoras no que diz respeito à produção tecnológica; há maior número de percepções instrumentalistas, seguidas de deterministas, quando o assunto é a relação entre tecnologia e sociedade (tal fato indicou uma falta de compreensão reflexiva sobre como os âmbitos socioeconômicos, políticos e culturais interferem na formatação da produção tecnológica); ao mesmo tempo, nota-se, nas questões que pautam as escolhas e os direcionamentos da produção tecnológica, maior ênfase em decisões vinculadas a aspectos econômicos e políticos, respectivamente; a cultura do empreendedorismo influência significativamente as práticas tecnológicas e transforma a visão de mundo dos cientistas-empreendedores, incidindo nos interesses e decisões sobre a formatação final dos produtos e/ou serviços. / This is an analysis of how the emphasis on the culture of entrepreneurship can influence decisions in the technological production in two incubators at a public university in the brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. As a preliminary step, in this dissertation I also evaluate how managers and entrepreneurs-scientists involved in this production assume a position on behalf of the relationship between technology and society. In this work I also identify issues which guided the choices and the direction of technological practice used by incubated companies and how this process formats the production. This is a qualitative research, and the field sample consists of 10 agents (4 managers and 6 entrepreneurs-scientist) chosen because they are considered responsible for technological development in incubators and firms. To examine these issues I discuss the following topics: a theoretical notion of technology as social production; the theoretical models on the relationship technology and society proposed by Andrew Feenberg (1991, 2002, 2003); and the approach between entrepreneurial and scientific culture, resulting in what Javier Echeverría (2003a, 2003b) calls technoscience. This dissertation is also an overview of the literature on the issues connected to entrepreneurship and business incubators. Data analysis shows that in the surveyed establishments there are peculiarities in each of the incubators in relation to technological production; the majority of the perceptions about the relationship between technology and society are instrumentalist and deterministic (which indicated a lack of reflexive understanding about how the social, economic, political and cultural spheres interfere in the formatting of the technological production); at the same time, there is, in the issues that govern the choices and direction of technological production, greater emphasis on decisions related to economic and political aspects, respectively; the entrepreneurial culture influences significantly the technological practices and transforms the world view of entrepreneurs-scientist, taking part on the interests and decisions on the final format of the products or services.