Research On Technology Business Incubator Interdependence And Incubation Performance

In the mid-20th century,with the rapid development of science and technology,human society has entered into an era of knowledge economy,technological innovation has gradually become a decisive factor in driving regional economic growth and many countries in world have increased investment in R&D and new knowledge.New technology-based firms play an important role in transform new knowledge into economic growth,but they have to overcome several barriers and risks to survive due to small sizes,inexperience,poor management,high overhead,insufficient financial capital,and so on.The primary function of business incubators is to create a protected environment,shielding the new and fragile technologies and ventures from mainstream market selection,keeping the steady increase for regional economy.In the recent two decades,there has been a significant increase in the number of incubators in the world and scholars from different perspectives have paid increasing attention to the emergence and growth of incubators.However,these studies have implicitly treated BIs as if they are independent of one another,little theoretical or empirical work has been done to address the effects of incubator interdependence on incubation performance.Thus,ecological theory is introduced into the research of the influencing factors of incubation performance,from the density dependence model and ecological perspective,we try to explore how incubator interdependence may affect incubation performance with the continued increase in incubators,population,the results of this research may contribute to answering the practical question that "whether the rapid increase in Chinese incubators has been successful in fostering new technology-based firms and promoting incubation performance?" Firstly,using ecological theory,density dependence model and related research results on organization community,we try to analyze the types and meanings of regional incubator interdependence and theoretically articulate how incubator interdependence is expected to affect incubation performance.Secondly,by creating a pooled cross-section time series dataset on 418 NTBIs in China spanning from 2008 to 2012,we empirically test the above relationships,and given the fact that Chinese NTBIs are not evenly distributed throughout the country,we further discuss the problem of regional heterogeneity.Thirdly,we take the characteristics of Chinese incubators into full consideration,we further explore how incubator ownership(government-owned vs.non-government-owned)and strategy(specialized vs.diversified)moderate the relationships between incubator interdependence and incubation performance in China's transitional economy.Finally,management assistance has been identified as important role in the incubation process,we propose two types of incubator assistance that may moderate the effect of geographic agglomeration on incubation performance:business assistance and technical assistance.Based on the analysis,this paper has drawn the following conclusions:(1)At low level of density,an initial increase in the number of incubators improves incubator population's position and legitimacy,this mutualism between incubators enhances their resource acquisition ability and promotes incubation performance.With the incubator population continuing to grow,competition for similar limited resources will erode their abilities to acquire resources.(2)Considering the heterogeneity of regions,due to the high density and rapid growth of incubators,we found that regional incubator density in the eastern region has a positive relationship with incubation performance,and this positive relationship became weaker as the number of incubators continues to increase.While,as the incubator density is low and the growth rate is relatively flat,the increase in incubator density in the central and western regions is conducive to enhancing incubators' resource acquisition abilities and promoting their growth.(3)Considering the heterogeneity of incubators' ownership,because of the weak institutional position of non-government-owned incubators in a transition economy,these incubators receive little support from the government and lack the government's endorsement,as a result,incubator interdependence is more crucial for non-government-owned incubator as a substitute resource channel for insufficient formal support than government-owned incubator.(4)Considering the heterogeneity of incubators' strategy,because too much diversification impedes the transfer of valuable knowledge and the exchange of experience among tenants,and the weak internal peering networks of diversified business incubators,incubator interdependence is more crucial for diversified business incubators as a substitute resource channel for insufficient informal support than specialized business incubators.(5)Considering the important roles of Chinese incubator's assistance,this study offers insights on the mechanism to provide assistance to incubatees.Chinese incubator managers have their own expertise to offer marketing assistance in terms of helping incubatees learn about customer preferences.However,incubator managers should also recognize their limited ability to provide technical assistance directly in diversified business incubators.