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.

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.

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.

nÃo hà / O movimento de incubadoras de empresas no Brasil teve inÃcio na dÃcada de 80 e a literatura aponta sua solidez nos Ãltimos dez anos. As incubadoras de empresas fornecem subsÃdios na preparaÃÃo de novos empreendimentos, favorecem a disseminaÃÃo de uma cultura empreendedora, estimulando o desenvolvimento e crescimento de novos e pequenos negÃcios. Neste sentido, sÃo formadas as redes de incubadoras, que tÃm uma funÃÃo executiva junto ao conjunto de incubadoras. Na rede de incubadoras, ocorre um relacionamento sinÃrgico entre as incubadoras, em prol da eficiÃncia destas, que resulta em empresas incubadas de maior competitividade. EntÃo, pode-se conjecturar que uma rede de incubadoras contribui efetivamente para que o objetivo das incubadoras de empresas seja alcanÃado. Para tanto, à necessÃrio que a rede seja capaz de fazer com que um conjunto de organizaÃÃes ligadas entre si desenvolva aÃÃes cooperativas no longo prazo, voltadas ao alcance de determinados objetivos comuns e/ou complementares. Estudos sinalizam que uma rede de incubadoras pode ser operacionalizada a partir de um modelo de governanÃa, que representa a forma como os objetivos da rede de incubadoras devem ser alcanÃados, sendo inclusive identificados alguns modelos de governanÃa adotados em incubadoras, parques tecnolÃgicos e redes de incubadoras. A adoÃÃo de princÃpios de governanÃa pelas redes de incubadoras pode melhorar o nÃvel de transparÃncia e comunicaÃÃo dos responsÃveis pela gerÃncia com as partes interessadas, alÃm de gerar valor para a instituiÃÃo. Nesse contexto, o objetivo desta pesquisa consiste em verificar a aderÃncia da Rede de Incubadoras de Empresas do Cearà (RIC) a um modelo teÃrico de governanÃa para redes de incubadoras. A RIC tem a finalidade de promover o desenvolvimento integrado entre as empresas inovadoras, atravÃs das incubadoras de empresas, parques tecnolÃgicos e programas de incubaÃÃo. Desta forma, trata-se de uma pesquisa exploratÃria, de natureza qualitativa, realizada atravÃs de um estudo de caso Ãnico, sendo os dados primÃrios obtidos por meio da aplicaÃÃo de questionÃrios e em reuniÃes junto aos sujeitos sociais da pesquisa que sÃo a Presidente da RIC e os gestores de sete das oito incubadoras associadas à rede, entre setembro de 2012 e marÃo de 2013. Com base na investigaÃÃo realizada, constatou-se que o perfil das incubadoras associadas à rede revela consonÃncia com os resultados da pesquisa nacional da ANPROTEC (2012), o que diverge do esperado inicialmente, tendo em vista que o movimento de incubadoras no Estado do Cearà à recente e ainda incipiente. Os resultados demonstram que a RIC adere a alguns princÃpios de governanÃa corporativa, como a equidade e a responsabilidade corporativa, segundo a percepÃÃo dos gestores das incubadoras associadas. Conclui-se, portanto, que apesar da RIC nÃo possuir nenhum modelo estruturado de governanÃa atà o momento, a rede adere parcialmente ao modelo teÃrico de governanÃa para redes de incubadoras. Contudo, a rede, como agente de governanÃa, pode otimizar seu relacionamento com seus stakeholders voluntÃrios e especialmente involuntÃrios â representados no modelo pelas incubadoras associadas, empresas incubadas e empresas graduadas â, com vistas à maior competitividade da rede com o aumento do nÃvel de confianÃa existente entre os atores.

Atualmente, o número de incubadoras de empresas brasileiras tem crescido como nunca. Sendo um dos principais mecanismos de auxílio aos empreendedores iniciantes, as ações desenvolvidas junto a estas incubadoras precisam ser muito bem planejadas e posteriormente avaliadas com critérios claros e eficientes. Neste sentido, são propostos, utilizados e analisados: um modelo de plano de negócios para incubadoras de empresas, um método de implantação do plano de negócios em incubadoras de empresas e um sistema de medida de desempenho de curto prazo para se avaliar o impacto que o plano de negócios causa na gestão destas organizações. A experiência desenvolvida junto às incubadoras de empresas paulistas, com a implantação do plano de negócios como ferramenta de gestão, usada pelos gerentes destas organizações no planejamento de suas ações, contribuiu para a melhoria nos seus índices de desempenho e tem servido de base aos seus principais mantenedores - SEBRAE-SP e FIESP - na condução do programa de incubadoras de empresas no Estado de São Paulo. / Nowadays, the number of Brazilian business incubators has been growing as never. Being one of the main mechanisms to aid the beginner entrepreneurs, the actions developed by these incubators need to be very well planned, and evaluated with clear and efficient approaches. In this sense, this work has proposed, used, and analyzed: a business plan model for business incubators, a method to implement the business plan in business incubators, and a short-term performance measure system to evaluate the impact of the business plan in these organizations. The experience that was developed with the business incubators from São Paulo State, with the implementation of the business plan as an administrative tool, used by the managers of these organizations to the planning of their actions, has contributed to the improvement of their performance indexes and it has been used as reference to their main stakeholders - SEBRAE-SP and FIESP - for the conduction of the program of business incubators in the State of São Paulo.

Este trabalho se propõe a realizar uma análise da mudança recente no ecossistema de inovação e seus reflexos no movimento de incubação de empresas no estado de São Paulo. Foi realizado estudo do cenário das incubadoras de empresas no Estado de São Paulo analisando, quantitativamente, dois momentos de comparação intertemporal e os efeitos que essas mudanças representaram no desenvolvimento de empresas que se utilizaram da inovação como estratégia competitiva. As informações quantitativas relativas às incubadoras e suas empresas foram tratadas com a aplicação de métodos estatísticos multivariados tais como a técnica Fatorial em Componentes Principais e a de Agrupamento (cluster). Ao final, busca-se contribuir para a discussão do estado da arte neste campo de conhecimento, frente às mudanças de ambiente negocial que ocasionaram um novo paradigma de funcionamento para as incubadoras e empresas, em função das ameaças e oportunidades experimentadas no passado recente. / The present work aims at analyzing recent changes in the innovation ecosystem and how these changes affected business incubators in the State of São Paulo. Studies were made to analyze, quantitatively, two time periods that were compared to check the effects of these changes in the development of companies that used innovation as a competitive strategy. The quantitative data related to the business incubators were be dealt with applying multivariate statistical methods, like Fatorial and Cluster techniques. Concisely, the goal of this work is contributing to the discussion about the state of the art in this knowledge field, considering changes in the business environment that resulted in a new paradigm of work for the business incubators because of threats and opportunities experienced in the recent past.

Depuis quelques années, de nombreuses interrogations persistent concernant la mise en œuvre du dispositif de la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) dans les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) et notamment sur le rôle des structures d’accompagnement dans le développement des pratiques de RSE en PME (Allet, 2017). Pour ces raisons et parce que la RSE devient aujourd’hui une pratique importante pour les PME, l’objectif de cette thèse est non seulement de mettre en évidence le rôle des structures d’accompagnement dans l’implication des PME dans les pratiques de RSE, mais également de comprendre le processus de création de sens et d’engagement responsable du dirigeant de PME ayant bénéficié d’une sensibilisation à la RSE. La notion de RSE est abordée sous l’angle du sensemaking, permettant ainsi de comprendre les mécanismes mises en œuvre pour appréhender la vision idiosyncrasique du dirigeant dans le processus de l’engagement responsable. A la suite de trois études réalisées, des données ont été recueillies auprès des incubateurs, entrepreneurs et dirigeants de PME ayant bénéficié d’un accompagnement à la création d’entreprise. Les résultats mettent en évidence que malgré les diversités d’entrées et les différentes façons de l’aborder, il existe une sensibilisation formelle et dissociée de la RSE dans les structures d’incubation. Ainsi, l’entrepreneur (futur dirigeant de PME) sensibilisé pendant cette période d’incubation est susceptible de développer dans ses pratiques futures, un engagement formel et intégré. Ces mêmes résultats laissent à croire que, même si l’incubateur joue un rôle de facilitateur dans l’engagement RSE du dirigeant, les croyances et les valeurs (variable culture) de ce dernier sont déterminant de son comportement responsable. / In recent years, many questions have been raised concerning the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and in particular the role of business incubators in the development of CSR practices. In SMEs (Allet, 2017).For these reasons, and because CSR is now becoming an important practice for SMEs, the objective of this thesis is not only to highlight the role of business incubators in the involvement of SMEs in CSR practices, but also to understand the process of sensemaking and CSR involvement of SME manager who have benefited from CSR awareness. The CSR notion is approached from the angle of Sensemaking, allowing to understand the mechanisms used to understand the idiosyncratic vision of the SME manager in the process of CSR commitment. Following three studies, data were collected from incubators, entrepreneurs and managers of SMEs who benefited from support for business start-ups. The results show that despite the diversity of inputs and the different ways of approaching it, there is a formal and dissociated sensitization of CSR in business incubators structures. As such, an entrepreneur (future SME manager) who is sensitized during the incubation period is likely to develop in his future practices, a formal and integrated commitment of CSR. Furthermore, the results suggest that, even if the business incubator plays a facilitating role in the CSR commitment of SME manager, his beliefs and values (cultural variable) are determinant of his responsible behavior.

This dissertation is about the development of a set of key success factors for business incubation in South Africa and testing them on the Godisa case. It contains background information regarding the historical development and current state of business incubation in the world and in South Africa. A review of published literature provided a list of many different success factors that have been identified by researchers in other countries. These success factors were considered in terms of the current state of the business environment in South Africa and a group of twelve success factors were identified that are key for business incubation in South Africa. These success factors were then tested on the Godisa initiative. Godisa is a Sotho word, which means “nurturing and growing”, which is the main aim of Godisa for technology-intensive start-up businesses. Godisa is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the European Union (EU). Initially there were eight centers under Godisa. The Department of Trade and Industry also decided that four of the incubators that were initiated under DTI should fall under Godisa. Godisa is an independent trust, which does not exercise direct control over the incubator centers, its role is to give them support (financial and non-financial) and advice. Most of these centers are registered either as section 21 companies or as trusts and have their own board of directors. In most cases there are other partners besides the government, which are also giving support (mostly in-kind). The research was conducted in twelve centers located in different provinces and focusing on different technological sectors. Ten of these centers are already incorporated into Godisa. The other two are still in the process of being incorporated. One of the centers is a demonstration center, another an innovation support center. Eight of the centers are pure incubators. The remaining two centers fall into the category of hybrid incubators, which means they do a combination of incubation, technology transfer, demonstration and research and development. Three sets of questionnaires were formulated in accordance with the study model. The first questionnaire was for the Godisa Manager, whose responses were of a qualitative nature to provide information about the overall programme. The second questionnaire was for the incubator managers, which required a combination of qualitative and quantitative responses. The third questionnaire was for the entrepreneurs: a combination of incubatees and graduates from the incubators, which also required both qualitative and quantitative responses. Descriptive statistics was utilized to analyse the results from the questionnaires. Furthermore bivariate statistics was used to test the relationship between success and the success factors. Each of the twelve success factors represented independent variables and success was the dependent variable. Success was measured in by sales per investment in the case of incubator centers and by sales per entrepreneur for entrepreneurs. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to test the significance of the relationships. The final discovery was that seven of the twelve success factors also applied to the Godisa case study. Relevant conclusions and recommendations for policy makers were made. / Dissertation (MSc (Technology Management))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted