Empirical Analysis of Technology Diffusion in the Biotechnology Sector in San Diego - Stage of Development and Licensing University Inventions by Start-Up and Established Firms

Using a nested multiple-case study of participating ventures, directors, and mentors of eight of the original U.S. accelerators, we explore how accelerators’ program designs influence new ventures’ ability to access, interpret, and process the external information needed to survive and grow. Through our inductive process, we illuminate the bounded-rationality challenges that may plague all ventures and entrepreneurs—not just those in accelerators—and identify the particular organizational designs that accelerators use to help address these challenges, which left unabated can result in suboptimal performance or even venture failure. Our analysis revealed three key design choices made by accelerators—(1) whether to space out or concentrate consultations with mentors and customers, (2) whether to foster privacy or transparency between peer ventures participating in the same program, and (3) whether to tailor or standardize the program for each venture—and suggests a particular set of choices is associated with improved venture development. Collectively, our findings provide evidence that bounded rationality challenges new ventures differently than it does established firms. We find that entrepreneurs appear to systematically satisfice prematurely across many decisions and thus broadly benefit from increasing the amount of external information searched, often by reigniting search for problems that they already view as solved. Our study also contributes to research on organizational sponsors by revealing practices that help or hinder new venture development and to emerging research on the lean start-up methodology by suggesting that startups benefit from engaging in deep consultative learning prior to experimentation.

Download Full-text

Start-Ups Are Everywhere! (but the Growth Statistics)

Innovation in Real Places ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197508114.003.0004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 43-50

Author(s):

Dan Breznitz

Keyword(s):

Venture Capital ◽

San Diego ◽

Gilded Age ◽

Silicon Valley ◽

Successful Solution ◽

Start Up ◽

Ways Of Thinking ◽

Finance Innovation ◽

The Mind ◽

Start Ups

“But,” some readers might say, “look at Israel, look at San Diego—it is still feasible to become a Silicon-Hyphen.” To which this chapter answers: “And would it be a good idea if it is?” The chapter opens the mind of the reader to new ways of thinking about innovation and growth. Providing a frontal attack on the start-up religion and its most important commandment: using venture capital (VC) as a basis for growth. VCs have attained the paradigmatic status of a “must-have,” institution, when in fact they are just one, not very successful, solution to solving the question of how to finance innovation. The chapter does it by explaining how VCs really work and make money (and for whom), where and when they are successful (rarely and only in ICT and biotech), what does that means to the companies they finance, who is allowed to be part of this party, and what are the impacts on communities in places where the VCs are successful (inequality levels last seen in the Gilded Age). It utilizes research on Israel and Silicon Valley to drive those points home. At the end of the chapter the reader should realize that, YES, they want innovation-based growth, but NO, even if they could make it happen, the last thing they want for their community is to become a Silicon-Valley/Israel look-alike.

Download Full-text

Collaborative production networks among unequal actors

Network Science ◽

10.1017/nws.2020.23 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Manuel Muñoz-Herrera ◽

Jacob Dijkstra ◽

Andreas Flache ◽

Rafael Wittek

Keyword(s):

Network Formation ◽

Increasing Returns ◽

Production Networks ◽

Resource Heterogeneity ◽

Dominant Group ◽

Collaborative Project ◽

Start Up ◽

Established Firms ◽

Start Ups ◽

The Impact

Abstract We develop a model of strategic network formation of collaborations to analyze the consequences of an understudied but consequential form of heterogeneity: differences between actors in the form of their production functions. We also address how this interacts with resource heterogeneity, as a way to measure the impact actors have as potential partners on a collaborative project. Some actors (e.g., start-up firms) may exhibit increasing returns to their investment into collaboration projects, while others (e.g., established firms) may face decreasing returns. Our model provides insights into how actor heterogeneity can help explain well-observed collaboration patterns. We show that if there is a direct relation between increasing returns and resources, start-ups exclude mature firms and networks become segregated by types of production function, portraying dominant group architectures. On the other hand, if there is an inverse relation between increasing returns and resources, networks portray core-periphery architectures, where the mature firms form a core and start-ups with low-resources link to them.

Download Full-text