Success of University Spin-Offs

University spin-offs encourage economic development and support universities. Identifying factors that influence the success of university spin-offs is therefore beneficial to enhance economic development and to sustain the importance of universities. However, few factors internal to the company have been identified until now.

Drawing on a database of 107 university spin-offs whose founders participated in structured face-to-face interviews, Manoj A. Gupte analyzes how the management of university spin-offs can overcome the dilemma of resource poverty. He shows that the success of spin-offs can be actively influenced through network activities by accessing critical resources external to the company. In addition, internal communication and an adhocracy culture create an environment in which the growth of a spin-off through external resources is enhanced. The hypotheses of the study were tested by moderated multiple regression analyses (OLS). Interaction effects were, furthermore, analyzed by simple slope analyses.