CAPES / Os ambientes que propulsionam a inovação têm se apresentado como subsídios importantes no desenvolvimento de novas empresas. As questões sobre a discussão de inovação em incubadoras tecnológicas crescem gradativamente tanto na literatura como nas aplicações práticas das empresas, onde a inovação vem sendo construída ao longo dos tempos, demonstrando modificações em suas demarcações e adicionando novas ferramentas e práticas. Assim, este estudo teve por objetivo identificar os fatores condicionantes no processo de Gestão da Inovação em empresas de base tecnológica, incubadas na cidade de Curitiba, Paraná. Para tanto, aplicou-se uma pesquisa exploratória em nove organizações de quatro incubadoras tecnológicas, buscando detalhar sobre o tema de Gestão de Inovação em micro e pequenas empresas incubadas. A coleta de dados foi efetuada por meio de questionários, com questões estruturadas a partir da utilização da Escala de Likert, realizadas diretamente com os gestores das empresas incubadas que desenvolvem produtos inovadores. Desta forma, com base nos resultados obtidos pela pesquisa, aponta-se que as organizações desenvolvem ações de inovação no desenvolvimento de suas atividades, sendo possível perceber que as micro e pequenas empresas apresentam um formato particular em seu processo de inovação voltado às práticas diárias que exercem juntamente com seus integrantes, mantendo um processo contínuo e dinâmico e ocasionando saídas que auxiliem na melhoria de seus negócios e melhor atuação no mercado. As transformações internas e externas ocorrem gradativamente, exigindo das organizações uma atitude ativa e de constante adaptação quanto às mudanças do mercado, destacando a relação com os recursos humanos de cada empresa, a qual deve ser ressaltada em suas características marcantes e seu acesso a recursos informacionais, observando suas necessidades e viabilidades para atuar de forma efetiva. / Innovation-promoting environments have been shown to contribute significantly to the development of new companies. The discussion of issues surrounding Innovation in technological incubators has grown both in the academic literature and in corporate practice, where Innovation has been developing over time, with shifting boundaries and a growing body of frameworks and techniques. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify conditioning factors in the Innovation Management process in technology companies incubated in the city of Curitiba, in Paraná, Brazil. We carried out an exploratory study of nine organizations in four technology incubators, seeking to understand the details of Innovation Management in small incubated companies. We gathered data by having the managers of these businesses answer questionnaires with Likert-Scale questions. Our findings indicate that these organizations implement innovative actions and techniques in the course of their business, and we find that these small businesses do so in a particular manner that is geared towards the day-to-day activities of their team-members, thereby maintaining a continuous and dynamic process of innovation. This, in turn, results in superior problem-solving, business improvement and market performance. The internal and external transformations occur gradually, requiring that organizations actively and constantly adapt to market changes, with emphasis on their own human resources, specifically in terms of their defining characteristics, access to information, needs and capacity for effective action.

Esta dissertação apresenta a abordagem da importância da interação universidade empresa no ambiente acadêmico, com foco na descrição da construção da edificação do Escritório Verde da Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, campus de Curitiba, que foi viabilizado a partir de parcerias com empresas. Analisa as bases históricas das relações universidade-empresa no Brasil, e evidencia as vantagens e necessidades advindas de tal interação do meio acadêmico com o setor produtivo. Discute as motivações que despertaram nas empresas o interesse em investir nesta relação, ofertando produtos e serviços para a viabilização do projeto de construção do Escritório Verde. Demonstra a importância de tal projeto para a universidade, bem como analisa as bases de criação de uma empresa Junior multidisciplinar que terá como sede o Escritório Verde, a qual prestará consultoria verde. Complementando a análise descritiva de como se deu o processo de interação, o estudo verificou por meio de um questionário enviado às principais empresas parceiras quais as expectativas destas quanto a sua participação em um projeto acadêmico e o que elas esperam desta relação após a conclusão da edificação. Traz como resultado as análises destas parcerias, as quais demonstraram que desde que se tenha um ambiente propício com ganhos mútuos, as empresas mostram-se solidárias e agregam-se a projetos acadêmicos. Evidencia o desejo das mesmas em capacitar profissionais em suas tecnologias e serviços ainda na universidade, enxergando a mesma como formadora de mão de obra. Em termos de responsabilidade socioambiental, verificou-se que as empresas desejam vincular seu nome a projetos que remontam a tais iniciativas, tendo em vista que estes trabalham com produtos e serviços que possuem apelo ambiental. O Escritório Verde mostrou-se uma vitrine no ramo da sustentabilidade e conscientização para com o meio ambiente, sendo alvo de inúmeras reportagens em mídias diversas. / This dissertation presents the approach of the importance of university-industry interactions in the academic environment, focusing on the description of the construction of building the Green Office Federal Technological University of Parana, Curitiba campus, which was made possible through partnerships with companies. Analyzes the historical basis of university-business relations in Brazil, and highlights the advantages and requirements arising from this interaction of academia with the productive sector. Discusses the reasons that sparked the interest in the companies to invest in this relationship, offering products and services for the feasibility of the construction of the Green Office. Demonstrates the importance of such a project for the university, as well as examines the foundations of creating a multidisciplinary junior company will be based at the Green Office, which will advise green. To complement the descriptive analysis of how was the process of interaction, the study found through a questionnaire sent to key business partners such as the expectations for their participation in an academic project and they expect this relationship after completion of the building. Bring the analyzes as a result of these partnerships, which demonstrate that since it has an environment conducive to mutual gains, companies appear to be supportive and add to academic projects. It highlights the desire of those in training professionals in their technologies and services still in college, seeing it as a trainer of labor. In terms of social and environmental responsibility, it was found that companies want to link your name to projects that go back to such initiatives, given that they work with products and services that have environmental appeal. The Green Office proved to be a showcase in the field of sustainability and awareness for the environment, the target of numerous articles in various media.

Esta dissertação apresenta a abordagem da importância da interação universidade empresa no ambiente acadêmico, com foco na descrição da construção da edificação do Escritório Verde da Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, campus de Curitiba, que foi viabilizado a partir de parcerias com empresas. Analisa as bases históricas das relações universidade-empresa no Brasil, e evidencia as vantagens e necessidades advindas de tal interação do meio acadêmico com o setor produtivo. Discute as motivações que despertaram nas empresas o interesse em investir nesta relação, ofertando produtos e serviços para a viabilização do projeto de construção do Escritório Verde. Demonstra a importância de tal projeto para a universidade, bem como analisa as bases de criação de uma empresa Junior multidisciplinar que terá como sede o Escritório Verde, a qual prestará consultoria verde. Complementando a análise descritiva de como se deu o processo de interação, o estudo verificou por meio de um questionário enviado às principais empresas parceiras quais as expectativas destas quanto a sua participação em um projeto acadêmico e o que elas esperam desta relação após a conclusão da edificação. Traz como resultado as análises destas parcerias, as quais demonstraram que desde que se tenha um ambiente propício com ganhos mútuos, as empresas mostram-se solidárias e agregam-se a projetos acadêmicos. Evidencia o desejo das mesmas em capacitar profissionais em suas tecnologias e serviços ainda na universidade, enxergando a mesma como formadora de mão de obra. Em termos de responsabilidade socioambiental, verificou-se que as empresas desejam vincular seu nome a projetos que remontam a tais iniciativas, tendo em vista que estes trabalham com produtos e serviços que possuem apelo ambiental. O Escritório Verde mostrou-se uma vitrine no ramo da sustentabilidade e conscientização para com o meio ambiente, sendo alvo de inúmeras reportagens em mídias diversas. / This dissertation presents the approach of the importance of university-industry interactions in the academic environment, focusing on the description of the construction of building the Green Office Federal Technological University of Parana, Curitiba campus, which was made possible through partnerships with companies. Analyzes the historical basis of university-business relations in Brazil, and highlights the advantages and requirements arising from this interaction of academia with the productive sector. Discusses the reasons that sparked the interest in the companies to invest in this relationship, offering products and services for the feasibility of the construction of the Green Office. Demonstrates the importance of such a project for the university, as well as examines the foundations of creating a multidisciplinary junior company will be based at the Green Office, which will advise green. To complement the descriptive analysis of how was the process of interaction, the study found through a questionnaire sent to key business partners such as the expectations for their participation in an academic project and they expect this relationship after completion of the building. Bring the analyzes as a result of these partnerships, which demonstrate that since it has an environment conducive to mutual gains, companies appear to be supportive and add to academic projects. It highlights the desire of those in training professionals in their technologies and services still in college, seeing it as a trainer of labor. In terms of social and environmental responsibility, it was found that companies want to link your name to projects that go back to such initiatives, given that they work with products and services that have environmental appeal. The Green Office proved to be a showcase in the field of sustainability and awareness for the environment, the target of numerous articles in various media.

Esta pesquisa estruturou-se a partir de três relevantes fenômenos da economia contemporânea: empreendedorismo, inovação e relações universidade-empresa, elementos convergentes no ambiente das incubadoras de empresas de base tecnológica. Considerando que a justificativa para a criação deste tipo de incubadora é o fomento ao seu próprio contexto, o problema que norteou a pesquisa questionou a efetividade da Incubadora Tecnológica de Caxias do Sul (ITEC) em seu cenário. A ITEC foi selecionada por sua relação com a Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS), uma de suas entidades mantenedoras, bem como por se tratar de uma iniciativa única na região Nordeste, uma das regiões economicamente mais importantes do estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A metodologia utilizada na pesquisa foi o estudo de caso que, tendo por base a pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, valeu-se de entrevistas semiestruturadas como principais fontes de dados. Foram entrevistados, além da gerência da incubadora, representantes de todas as empresas incubadas e de aproximadamente 80% das empresas graduadas em atividade. O estudo procurou delinear o contexto relativo ao empreendedorismo, à inovação e às relações universidade-empresa, no qual se insere a ITEC e paralelamente, procurou-se descrever o desempenho da ITEC na promoção destes elementos. Para tanto, aplicou-se uma perspectiva baseada na ensinagem e na aprendizagem, respectivamente, enquanto condições de desenvolvimento proporcionadas pela incubadora às empresas e às práticas gerenciais adotadas por estas. Os resultados sugerem que, notadamente no passado recente, a incubadora vem se constituindo como importante mecanismo de fomento ao contexto assinalado e paralelamente indica a existência de um amplo potencial a ser explorado, especialmente em termos de inovação e relações universidade-empresa. / This research is structured on three relevant phenomena in the contemporary economy, entrepreneurship, innovation and university-industry relationships, converging elements in the environment of technology-based business incubators. Considering that the justify to the creation of this type of incubator is the endorsement to its own context, the problem which guided the research questions was the effectiveness of the Technology Incubator of Caxias do Sul (ITEC) in the promotion of these three factors of economical development. ITEC was selected due to its relationship with the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS), one of its supporting entities, and also due to the fact that it is a unique initiative in the northeastern region of Rio Grande do Sul, one of the economically most important regions of the state. The methodology applied in the research was the case study, based on the bibliographic and documental investigation, making use of semi-structured interviews as main sources of information. Besides the incubator s management staff, representatives of all companies currently incubated, and representatives of approximately 80% of the graduated companies in activity were interviewed. The study sought to delineate the context related to entrepreneurship, innovation and university-industry relationships, which insert ITEC and, at the same time, it sought to describe the performance of ITEC in the promotion of these elements. For this, it was made use of the teaching-learning perspective respectively, while the development conditions offered by the incubator to the companies and the management practices adopted by them. The results suggest that, particularly in the recent past, the incubator has become an important mechanism for the endorsement of the mentioned context, and at the same time, it indicates the existence of a great potential to be explored, mainly in terms of innovation and university-industry relationships.

Esta dissertação se dedica à análise estratégica da contribuição das Incubadoras de Empresas de Base Tecnológica (IEBTs) localizadas no Estado de São Paulo para as suas empresas incubadas. Para isso foi realizada um revisão teórica sobre tipos de incubadoras de empresas no Brasil e no exterior. Esta revisão teórica foi complementada com a abordagem da VBR - Visão Baseada em Recursos, que entende que organizações são conjuntos de ativos que podem ser tangíveis e intangíveis e que é fundamental entender quais ativos são mais relevantes para a consecução dos objetivos estratégicos das organizações, no caso desta dissertação, das IEBTs localizadas no Estado de São Paulo, sendo os recursos estratégicos estudados conhecimento científico das universidades e centros de pesquisa e recursos financeiros. As hipóteses elaboradas a partir da revisão teórica partiram da premissa que ativos intangíveis como o conhecimento científico e a rede de relacionamentos estabelecida com universidades e centros de pesquisa constituem ativos estratégicos mais relevantes para fomentar a inovação em empresas incubadas em IEBTs do que os ativos tangíveis. Foram testadas as seguintes hipóteses: H1a- Empresas incubadas em IEBTs que possuem relacionamento com universidades e centros de pesquisa realizam um maior número de lançamento de novos produtos que empresas incubadas em IEBTs que não possuem relacionamento com universidades e centros de pesquisa. H1b - Quanto maior o número de acordos formais das IEBTs com universidades e centros de pesquisa, maior o número de lançamento de novos produtos pelas empresas incubadas; H2 - Quanto maior o financiamento de agências de fomento e órgãos externos a empresas incubadas em IEBTs, maior o número de lançamento de novos produtos. A metodologia envolveu um questionário estruturado enviado para 44 incubadoras, que, depois de classificadas com IEBTs ou não, foram reduzidas para 34 IEBTs, das quais 31 IEBTs participaram das etapas seguintes da pesquisa, que incluiu entrevistas pessoais com gestores e visitas a todas as 31 IEBTs. Foi aplicado também um survey ao universo de 461 empresas incubadas em IEBTs no Estado de São Paulo, que gerou uma amostra de 108 respondentes, que após a análise de missing data e outros foi reduzida para uma amostra de 100 empresas respondentes. Os testes estatísticos realizados apresentaram como principais resultados: IEBTs no Estado de São Paulo possuem maior relacionamento com universidades que com centros de pesquisa; o número de acordos formais em IEBTs é maior com centros de pesquisa que com universidades; empresas em IEBTs que se relacionam com centros de pesquisa lançam mais produtos que empresas em IEBTs que se relacionam com universidades; empresas incubadas financiadas pelo BNDES lançam mais produtos que empresas financiadas pelo CNPq e outras agências de fomento à pesquisa. Estes resultados são analisados à luz da teoria. / This dissertation is dedicated to the strategic analysis of the contribution of Technology Based Incubators (TBIs) in the State of São Paulo for their incubated companies. For this was held a theoretical review of types of business incubators in Brazil and abroad. This literature review was complemented with the approach of RBV - Resource-Based View, which proposes that organizations are sets of resources that can be tangible and intangible and it is essential to understand which resources are most relevant to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the organizations, in the case of this dissertation, the TBIs in the State of São Paulo, and strategic resources studied scientific knowledge from universities and research centers and financial resources. The hypotheses drawn from the literature review from the premise that intangible assets such as scientific knowledge and the network of relationships established with universities and research centers are the most important strategic assets to foster innovation in incubated companies in TBIs, in comparison with tangible assets. The following hypotheses were tested: H1 - In TBIs that have a relationship with universities and research centers incubated companies are launching more new products that incubated companies in TBIs that do not have a relationship with universities and research centers; H1b - The greater the number of formal agreements of TBIs with universities and research centers, the greater the number of new products released by the incubated companies; H2 - The higher the financing from funding agencies and others to the incubated companies in TBIs, the greater the number of new product launches. The methodology involved a structured questionnaire sent to 44 incubators, that after a first analysis were reduced to 34 TBIs, of which 31 TBIs participated in the following stages of the research, which included personal interviews with managers and visits to all 31 TBIs. It was also applied a survey to the universe of 461 companies incubated in TBIs in São Paulo, which generated a sample of 108 respondents, that after the missing data analysis was reduced to a sample of 100 respondents companies. Statistical tests showed as main results that: TBIs in São Paulo have more relationships with universities than with research centers; on the other side the number of formal agreements of TBIs is greater with research centers than with universities; incubated firms in TBIs relating with research centers launch more products that incubated firms in TBIs relating with universities; incubated companies financed by BNDES launch more products that incubated companies financed by CNPq and other agencies that support research. These results are analyzed in the light of the theory.

Si l’explosion du système Est-Ouest marque la fin de l’idée de confrontation globale en tant que modèle de la guerre depuis la fin du second conflit mondial, on doit plus fondamentalement s’interroger sur les changements intervenus depuis les années 90 en ce qui concerne le statut de la guerre elle-même et sur le rôle des opérations de paix dans les relations internationales. Les crises politiques découlant de conflits internes sont des sources de déstabilisation et de fragilisation des institutions locales qui subissent le tumulte et affaiblissent la capacité des acteurs à sortir d’une telle situation politique. La nécessité de renforcer les capacités locales pendant cette période charnière afin d’éviter les crises récurrentes se traduit par la présence de la Communauté internationale qui déploie une multitude de stratégies. Il existe en effet, dans la grammaire des Nations Unies, un continuum de modes de gestion des crises qui va des formes les plus réservées de la persuasion à certaines modalités de diplomatie coercitive, impliquant un usage limité de la violence. Lorsqu’on examine les opérations de paix en RDC, un ensemble dynamique de tensions et de liaisons, oscillant entre ordre et désordre dans ses expressions institutionnelles, le constat qui se dégage est que la question de la paix exige une analyse qui prenne en compte plusieurs facteurs. D’où le recours à une approche interdisciplinaire, mobilisant des courants critiques au sein des relations internationales tout en alliant la sociologie des relations internationales. Notre approche interdisciplinaire qui est au centre de cette thèse peut aussi être d’un grand intérêt dans le renforcement de l’approche polémologique, elle-même fort utile pour appréhender les modalités de gouvernance par les groupes politico-militaires. Notre étude s’attache à évaluer la pertinence et la cohérence des pratiques et conduites des acteurs internationaux pour mieux dégager les contours axiologiques et idéologiques de la gestion des crises itératives. / If the explosion of the East/West system marks the end of the idea of global confrontation as model of the war since the end of the second world conflict, we more fundamentally have to wonder about the changes which took place since the 90s as regards the status of the very war and about the role of the peace operations in the international relations. The political crises ensuing from internal conflicts are sources of destabilization and weakening of the local institutions which undergo the tumult and weaken the capacity of the actors to go out of such a political situation. The necessity of strengthening the local capacities during this pivotal period to avoid the recurring crises is translated by the presence of the international community which spreads a multitude of strategies. There is indeed in the grammar of United Nations a continuum in the modes of crises’ management which goes the most reserved forms of the persuasion to certain modalities of coercive diplomacy, implying a use limited by the violence. When we examine the peace operations in RDC, dynamic set tensions and connections, oscillating between order and disorder in its institutional expressions, the report which gets free is that the question of the peace requires an analysis which takes into account several factors. Hence the use of an interdisciplinary approach, involving both critical currents in international relations (critical constructivism) while combining the sociology of international relations. Our study attempts to estimate the relevance and the coherence of the practices and the conducts of the international actors in a better way axiological and ideological outlines of the management of the iterative crises.

Business incubation is a concept that describes a business development process that is used to grow successful, sustainable entrepreneurial ventures that will contribute to the health and wealth of local, regional and national economies. Incubators provide a place for businesses to build their foundations. Business incubators use a combination of physical space, resources and services to facilitate and develop businesses, enhance their progress, break down barriers to success, reduce risks and increase the potential for successful survival of early stage ventures., their progress, break down barriers to success, reduce risks and increase the potential for successful survival of early stage ventures. Business incubators are part of a larger value chain that connects enterprises to a vital support system. Most incubators connect their clients to local service providers (such as lawyers, corporate service providers or accountants) and establish relationships that will last after the firm leaves the incubator. Once an enterprise is ready to leave the incubator environment, it will need space to move into, which in turn, boosts property development and leasing. Because of the enhanced credibility of the business incubation process, landlords would be more confident as a stable, growing business can be a reliable tenant. The empirical object of the study is the Seda NMB ICT Incubator in Port Elizabeth. Eastern Cape. Like any other business an incubator is created to deliver a service or product for as long as possible and in this process must create value because the ultimate objective of any profit seeking business is to create wealth for its owners with due consideration of all its stakeholders (Brigham & Ehrhardt 2005:7-12). A preliminary investigation of the Seda NMB ICT Incubator raised the question whether the operation of this incubator meets the performance standards as identified in the international literature. The purpose of this study is therefore to establish whether the performance of the Seda NMB ICT Incubator is in line with generally accepted performance standards. At this stage the standards can be identified as a strategic alliance of the business (vision, mission and strategy), financing principles, management principles and human resource development and growth opportunities. The SEDA NMB ICT Incubator is financed as follows: Partly by the Department of Trade and Industry (the SEDA technology programme) and partly by the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. It is recommended that public/private partnerships should be formed to ensure the continuity of the Port Elizabeth incubator. A second recommendation is that the SEDA NMB Incubator becomes more focussed in terms of its clients it is serving. At present it is serving a wide variety of ICT clients ranging from website design, graphic art to preparing business plans for ICT businesses. The period of incubation may be too extended as some incubatees have been on the premises for more than five years. It is recommended that the SEDA NMB Incubator pays attention to the length of stay of an incubatee. The vast majority of the incubatees on the SEDA NMB Incubator premises are not compliant with business acts and regulations. Seven incubatees reported during the personal interview that they were not compliant with all the acts and regulations.

Esta dissertação se dedica à análise estratégica da contribuição das Incubadoras de Empresas de Base Tecnológica (IEBTs) localizadas no Estado de São Paulo para as suas empresas incubadas. Para isso foi realizada um revisão teórica sobre tipos de incubadoras de empresas no Brasil e no exterior. Esta revisão teórica foi complementada com a abordagem da VBR - Visão Baseada em Recursos, que entende que organizações são conjuntos de ativos que podem ser tangíveis e intangíveis e que é fundamental entender quais ativos são mais relevantes para a consecução dos objetivos estratégicos das organizações, no caso desta dissertação, das IEBTs localizadas no Estado de São Paulo, sendo os recursos estratégicos estudados conhecimento científico das universidades e centros de pesquisa e recursos financeiros. As hipóteses elaboradas a partir da revisão teórica partiram da premissa que ativos intangíveis como o conhecimento científico e a rede de relacionamentos estabelecida com universidades e centros de pesquisa constituem ativos estratégicos mais relevantes para fomentar a inovação em empresas incubadas em IEBTs do que os ativos tangíveis. Foram testadas as seguintes hipóteses: H1a- Empresas incubadas em IEBTs que possuem relacionamento com universidades e centros de pesquisa realizam um maior número de lançamento de novos produtos que empresas incubadas em IEBTs que não possuem relacionamento com universidades e centros de pesquisa. H1b - Quanto maior o número de acordos formais das IEBTs com universidades e centros de pesquisa, maior o número de lançamento de novos produtos pelas empresas incubadas; H2 - Quanto maior o financiamento de agências de fomento e órgãos externos a empresas incubadas em IEBTs, maior o número de lançamento de novos produtos. A metodologia envolveu um questionário estruturado enviado para 44 incubadoras, que, depois de classificadas com IEBTs ou não, foram reduzidas para 34 IEBTs, das quais 31 IEBTs participaram das etapas seguintes da pesquisa, que incluiu entrevistas pessoais com gestores e visitas a todas as 31 IEBTs. Foi aplicado também um survey ao universo de 461 empresas incubadas em IEBTs no Estado de São Paulo, que gerou uma amostra de 108 respondentes, que após a análise de missing data e outros foi reduzida para uma amostra de 100 empresas respondentes. Os testes estatísticos realizados apresentaram como principais resultados: IEBTs no Estado de São Paulo possuem maior relacionamento com universidades que com centros de pesquisa; o número de acordos formais em IEBTs é maior com centros de pesquisa que com universidades; empresas em IEBTs que se relacionam com centros de pesquisa lançam mais produtos que empresas em IEBTs que se relacionam com universidades; empresas incubadas financiadas pelo BNDES lançam mais produtos que empresas financiadas pelo CNPq e outras agências de fomento à pesquisa. Estes resultados são analisados à luz da teoria. / This dissertation is dedicated to the strategic analysis of the contribution of Technology Based Incubators (TBIs) in the State of São Paulo for their incubated companies. For this was held a theoretical review of types of business incubators in Brazil and abroad. This literature review was complemented with the approach of RBV - Resource-Based View, which proposes that organizations are sets of resources that can be tangible and intangible and it is essential to understand which resources are most relevant to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the organizations, in the case of this dissertation, the TBIs in the State of São Paulo, and strategic resources studied scientific knowledge from universities and research centers and financial resources. The hypotheses drawn from the literature review from the premise that intangible assets such as scientific knowledge and the network of relationships established with universities and research centers are the most important strategic assets to foster innovation in incubated companies in TBIs, in comparison with tangible assets. The following hypotheses were tested: H1 - In TBIs that have a relationship with universities and research centers incubated companies are launching more new products that incubated companies in TBIs that do not have a relationship with universities and research centers; H1b - The greater the number of formal agreements of TBIs with universities and research centers, the greater the number of new products released by the incubated companies; H2 - The higher the financing from funding agencies and others to the incubated companies in TBIs, the greater the number of new product launches. The methodology involved a structured questionnaire sent to 44 incubators, that after a first analysis were reduced to 34 TBIs, of which 31 TBIs participated in the following stages of the research, which included personal interviews with managers and visits to all 31 TBIs. It was also applied a survey to the universe of 461 companies incubated in TBIs in São Paulo, which generated a sample of 108 respondents, that after the missing data analysis was reduced to a sample of 100 respondents companies. Statistical tests showed as main results that: TBIs in São Paulo have more relationships with universities than with research centers; on the other side the number of formal agreements of TBIs is greater with research centers than with universities; incubated firms in TBIs relating with research centers launch more products that incubated firms in TBIs relating with universities; incubated companies financed by BNDES launch more products that incubated companies financed by CNPq and other agencies that support research. These results are analyzed in the light of the theory.

PhD (Business Management) / Department of Business Management / The questions of what constitutes entrepreneurship and, in turn, who an entrepreneur is, have dominated entrepreneurship discourse in recent times. Over the years, a multiplicity of definitions of entrepreneurship has been proffered. However, most of these definitions to be either Eurocentric or Western-oriented and largely devoid of (South) African socio-economic imperatives. Naturally, the manner in which entrepreneurship in South Africa is conceptualised derives from the former definitions. Furthermore, the classification of entrepreneurship ventures in the country is also problematic. A Eurocentric classification regime is, on the one hand, too simplistic; and, on the other hand, it fails to fully capture the true essence of entrepreneurial activity within the South African economy. It is, therefore, not surprising that entrepreneurship development policies and interventions are not successful in stimulating entrepreneurship. This problem, this study argues, is a result of the lack of localised research aimed at understanding entrepreneurship classification dynamics in South Africa. This constitutes a research gap, which this study seeks to address. It is against this background that the aim of this study is to develop a taxonomy of entrepreneurial ventures in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. To achieve this purpose, which is pre-paradigmatic, the proposed study was designed along the dictates of a qualitatively grounded theory research. This facilitated the application of multiple methods of data collection. The study sampled 5 entrepreneurs in the Limpopo Province who were interviewed using an in-depth format. The value of this work is among the first in seeking to propose a framework (i.e. taxonomy) for classifying entrepreneurship ventures within the South African context. The implication of the study is that it potentially provides policymakers with valuable tools to understand South African entrepreneurship and the channels of intervention for small business ventures. / NRF

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