Exploring board formation and evolution of board composition in academic spin-offs

An in-depth analysis of 11 cases is used to provide insight into the neglected area of the dynamics of boards in academic spin-offs. Drawing on stage-based, resource dependence, and social network theories, we explore board formation and changes in board composition occurring in Norwegian and US spin-offs. We find that these theories are important complements to earlier research on boards in technology-based new ventures. The process of board formation is mainly driven by social networks of the founders. Although we find differences in the initial board compositions in Norwegian and US spin-offs, there is convergence over time in subsequent board changes, which are mainly driven by the social networks of the board chair. Additions of key board members are associated with the progress of a spin-off developing from one stage to another. Several avenues for future research and implications are discussed.     

Impact of public seed-funding on academic spin-offs

In the entrepreneurial economy of today, it is not the multinational firms which are the predominant driver in the creation of new knowledge, but the individual entrepreneur. Correspondingly, new ventures of small size are leading in commercializing new knowledge and transferring it to the market. This economic shift has been reflected by broad entrepreneurship policies, which aim at supporting the individual on the challenge of a high-growth start-up. However, prior experience shows that uniform entrepreneurship policies do not address the individual needs in different countries and ecosystems adequately. In this paper, we study the performance of academic spin-offs that received public funding from the German EXIST Business Start-Up Grant, a support program which aims at increasing the number of innovative start-ups from academia. Using a control group matching approach, we provide evidence that these start-ups are smaller by two full time equivalent employees, generate 1.7 times higher losses and have a nearly three times lower return on capital than science-based entrepreneurial firms with comparable characteristics in the first 5 years after foundation. We interpret these results to be primarily caused by the inferior financial contracting structure of the program compared to private venture capital funding and by the resulting adverse selection and incentive effects on the entrepreneurs. The evidence calls for rethinking public interventions in a national system of entrepreneurship.     

Skilled unemployment and the creation of academic spin-offs: a recession-push hypothesis

Push factors associated with necessity entrepreneurship are largely neglected in the academic entrepreneurship literature. We link research on technology transfer to the literature on opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship, showing that the rate of academic spin-off creation is positively associated with the skilled unemployment rate. This longitudinal study of 559 spin-offs launched between 1999 and 2013, which controlled for several university- and context-level factors, showed that a higher level of unemployment reduced the probability of academic spin-off creation up to a threshold, beyond which the effect was reversed. By contrast, the relative skilled unemployment level was related positively to the probability of academic spin-off, particularly high-tech spin-off, creation. The relationship between the level of skilled unemployment and the creation of high-tech spin-offs was moderated positively by university research orientation and regional research and human capital intensity.     

Key actors in UN environmental governance: influence,reform and leadership

In the introductory article it was concluded that the effectiveness of the UN environmental institutions studied was quite low. Key actors, especially the US and the EU, play a considerable role in explaining the course of development in these institutions. However, this does not mean that these processes are mainly state-driven as a number of other factors matter. The potential for reform and increased effectiveness is limited as the main actors, the US the EU and G-77/China have very different interests and perceptions as to the future directions of these institutions.

Imprinting and the progeny of university spin-offs

In this paper, we employ a genealogical imprinting approach to theorize that experiences incurred during the founding of a first-generation university spin-off will influence future spin-off activity from the focal firm. We propose that firms that secure equity investment during their founding process will have a higher likelihood of generating subsequent spin-offs, and that this impact is conditional on the human capital of the founding team. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 101 first generation university spin-offs around a large US research university and their subsequent progeny firms. This study develops a new understanding of multi-generational spin-off processes in a region.     

Support for public research spin-offs by the parent organizations and the speed of commercialization

We empirically analyze whether support by the parent organization in the early (nascent and seed) stage speeds up the process of commercialization and helps spin-offs from public research organizations generate first revenues sooner. To identify the impact of support by the parent organization, we apply multivariate regression techniques as well as an instrumental variable approach. Our results show that support in the early stage by the parent organization can speed up commercialization. Moreover, we identify two distinct channels—the help in developing a business plan and in acquiring external capital—through which support by the parent organization can enable spin-offs to generate first revenues sooner.     

Growth factors of research-based spin-offs and the role of venture capital investing

Using a proprietary dataset of 98 German research-based spin-offs (RBSOs) founded between 1997 and 2012, we assess which firm-specific and system-inherent factors are decisive for the spin-offs’ growth drawing on the resource-based view. Specifically, we aim to evaluate whether venture capital-backed RBSOs outperform non venture capital-backed RBSOs and whether a performance difference is explained by venture capitalists’ scouting or coaching capabilities. Our empirical findings detect that a homogeneous educational background of the academic entrepreneurs is positively associated with RBSO growth. A training provided by the parent research organization intended to develop entrepreneurial skills and to establish a network to outside professionals as well as the commercialization of a novel technology have a positive impact on firm growth. Concerning the involvement of venture capitalists, venture capital-backed RBSOs show a superior employment and revenue growth compared to non-venture capital-backed RBSOs. Our results support the view that this superior performance is attributed to venture capitalists’ coaching rather than their scouting capabilities.     

Programmatic actors and the transformation of European health care States

In France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, the decades from the late 1980s to the present have witnessed significant change in health policy. Although this has included the spread of internal competition and growing autonomy for certain nonstate and parastate actors, it does not follow that the mechanism at work is a "neoliberal convergence." Rather, the translation into diverse national settings of quasi-market mechanisms is accompanied by a reassertion of regulatory authority and strengthening of statist, as opposed to corporatist, management of national insurance systems. Thus the use of quasi-market tools brings state-strengthening reform. The proximate and necessary cause of this dual transformation is found in the work of small, closely integrated groups of policy professionals, whom we label "programmatic actors." While their identity differs across cases, these actors are strikingly similar in functional role and motivation. Motivated by a desire to wield authority through the promotion of programmatic ideas, rather than by material or careerist interests, these elite groups act both as importers and translators of ideas and as architects of policy. The resulting elite-driven model of policy change integrates ideational and institutionalist elements to explain programmatically coherent change despite institutional resistance and partisan instability.     

Conditions making for success and failure of denial and deception: Nonstate and illicit actors

Conclusion Deception is integral to illicit organizations. Cover is a strategic necessity that, at a great cost in efficiency, allows illicit organizations the opportunity to achieve their objectives. The revolutionary organization is, in fact, an alternative reality that seeks to be invisible except when it needs to propagate a version of the truth and to bolster the impact of its armed operations. In the case of the truth, remarkably little deception is deployed. The revolutionaries consider their faith to be inviolate and convincing, without need of apology or equivocation. Reality is often visible. Islamic Jihad preached the truth, the IRA hid it for two years and the Sicilian Mafia makes the hidden truth yield public respect. In operational matters, much that takes place underground is focused on maintenance, supply and distribution, command and control, and communication that needs to be hidden but need not otherwise be duplicitous. Secrecy apart, most operations focus on obvious targets. Strategic deception is rare.     

Research universities as actors in the governance of local and regional development

In the increasingly competitive, knowledge-based economy, universities have a variety of potential roles for stimulating economic development beyond teaching, research and technology development. In this article we focus on universities’ role as actors in the governance of local and regional development. Using recently developed theories about the emergence of heterarchical governance, we discuss the motivations, interests, structural arrangements, and contingent conditions for universities becoming actors and partners in steering regional economic development policy and contributing to regional problem-solving, and explore the how university involvement may increase the effectiveness of governance processes. We test several hypotheses and draw lessons for the design and participation of governance arrangements. Our results suggest that individual leadership initiatives and the quality or interpersonal working relationships among leaders may be more important than the particular structural arrangements for producing effective governance outcomes.     

When incubator resources are crucial: survival chances of student startups operating in an academic incubator

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Earlier studies provide mixed results regarding the influence of incubator resources on a startup’s chances of survival. This study suggests that this is...     

Examining the risk reduction strategies of actors in online criminal markets

Research examining offender risk reduction strategies within illicit markets focus primarily on those operating in the real world for drugs and stolen goods. Few have considered the strategies that may be used by individuals in virtual illicit markets that are hidden from public view. This study addresses this gap through a grounded theory analysis of posts from 10 Russian and three English language web forums selling stolen data to engage in identity theft and fraud. The findings indicate that buyers employ multiple strategies to reduce their risk of loss from unreliable vendors, along with resources provided by forum administrators to manage relationships between participants. The implications of this study for law enforcement and offender decision-making research are also discussed.     

Prolonged international environmental negotiations: the roles and strategies of non-state actors in the EU

For scholars of international environmental agreements, the role of non-state actors has been a central focus. There is a considerable literature on the influence of environmental NGOs and business groups on state behaviour and in turn international environmental outcomes. However, much less empirical work has been done to examine the influence of these actors and the strategies they can use in prolonged international environmental negotiations that last for years or decades. This article takes up this task. Drawing on a rich empirical data set on the role of European-based actors in the international climate change negotiations, it considers the influence of non-state actors in prolonged negotiations and identifies four strategies that these actors can use to influence state actors and non-state actors alike.     

University supply and corporate demand for academic research

University research is an important contributor to corporate innovation, but corporate-sponsored research has lagged other forms of research expenditure since 2000 and is perceived to be sub-optimal. This paper first examines and interprets reasons given by industry participants for this relative underperformance. It next establishes the complexity of this issue by explicating different patterns of research relationships for four industry groups. University supply of research and industry demand are both affected by internal factors that create inherent limits to these activities. The paper concludes that proactive measures by universities are the most feasible steps under current conditions to enhance corporate-sponsored university research.     

The accountability of non-governmental actors in the digital sphere: A theoretical framework

The last decade has seen increasing demands for greater accountability in digital governance. What, however, does accountability require and what normative goods does it serve? This article develops a general framework for assessing digital accountability focused on four normative goods: openness, non-arbitrariness, effectiveness and publicness. As the article will evidence, claims for digital accountability often refer to deficits relating to one or more of these goods. While scholarly attention has deservedly focused on tying powerful digital actors to rule of law guarantees, the article argues that accountability offers an important normative yardstick to allow citizens to contest digital decisions beyond strict legality. The framework therefore provides a basis for both conceptually disaggregating and normatively forwarding accountability claims in the digital sphere.     

Agency dynamics of International Environmental Agreements: actors,contexts, and drivers

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - The structural elements of global environmental governance are notoriously difficult to change and align with the needs of a...     

The council for national academic awards and legal studies

This is part one of a two-part paper. The papers outline the research for designing an m-learning (mobile phone) financial education game to counter financial exclusion. The paper will explain what led the researchers to use an m-learning game and what is unique about the design of the game compared to other serious games. The researchers will present the results of their 18-month project called “Innovation in Inclusion”, which teaches financial education to secondary school children aged between 13 and 15 years old, but which can be extrapolated into any type of interactive or m-learning method of teaching at any age. This game tested the hypothesis that if you increase financial education you can decrease the chances of being financially excluded in the future, by ensuring the people undertaking the learning aims can make effective financial decisions.