Rethinking the Resources and Responsibilities of University Spin-Offs: Critical Factors in Times of Global Crisis

Nuria Toledano, Ana Gessa and Reyes Sanchez-Herrera
Additional contact information
Nuria Toledano: Business Management and Marketing Department, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain
Ana Gessa: Department of Financial Economics, Accounting and Operations Management, University of Huelva, 21002 Huelva, Spain
Reyes Sanchez-Herrera: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-18

Abstract: In recent years, the promotion of university spin-offs has become a measure adopted by many European universities to facilitate the commercialization of new technologies and knowledge that can lead to more sustainable economies and societies. However, the effectiveness of university-based companies has also been questioned, as many of them are resource-constrained, remain small in size and struggle to consolidate once they leave the university context. This paper addresses two main research questions: what are the critical factors inhibiting the consolidation, performance, and sustainable development of university spin-offs at a mid-range European university, and which critical factors need to be addressed the most thoroughly by the university’s support programs in order to improve their efficiency? To answer these questions, we collected relevant information from a panel of experts and interviewed academic entrepreneurs from a public university in the South of Spain. The analytic hierarchy process was applied to identify and prioritize the critical factors and sub-factors encountered by the university-based companies. The results show that poor management is the biggest critical factor in the consolidation of the spin-offs. One implication, the findings of our study reveal, is the need for university administrators to improve support for university spin-offs in terms of managing the new business as opposed to prioritizing the difficulties associated with the launch. Another is the need to raise awareness among faculties of the importance of finding an appropriate balance between technical and managerial skills in order to improve the chances of entrepreneurial success.

Keywords: university spin-offs; academic entrepreneurship; technology transfer; entrepreneurial universities; analytic hierarchy process (AHP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12628/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12628/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12628-:d:933510

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().