Network and firm antecedents of spin-offs: Motherhooding spin-offs

Manuel Portugal Ferreira (), Ana Teresa Tavares (), William Hesterly () and Sungu Armagan ()
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Ana Teresa Tavares: CEMPRE, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto
William Hesterly: David Eccles School of Business, The University of Utah
Sungu Armagan: David Eccles School of Business, The University of Utah

FEP Working Papers from Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto

Abstract: We advance firm and network conditions that are favorable for the gestation of new spin-offs by entrepreneurial employees that exit the mother firm to constitute their own companies. This type of entrepreneurial activity has some unique characteristics. We suggest that spin-offs from certain parent firms have fundamental network benefits that increase their likelihood of survival and success. These benefits accrue on the form of social resources and a unique embeddedness in networks of other offspring and mother firms, and do not require the spin-offs to engage in any direct exchanges with the parent firm. The process which we call 'motherhood' highlights the potential for a mother-progeny and child-child model that promotes entrepreneurial action through spin-offs, and allow us to understand the conditions under which interorganizational networks of firms emerge and thrive as an entrepreneurial process. We conclude that considering a motherhood process, with the characteristics defined in this paper, contributes to the study of entrepreneurship and network evolution.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; spin-offs; motherhood; network benefits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M13 D02 D23 D85 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-soc and nep-tid
Date: 2006-02

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:por:fepwps:201

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