Growth of university-based start-ups and acquisition as an exit strategy in academic entrepreneurship: evidence from software-based ventures

Marcus Wagner

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2011, vol. 12, issue 4, 395-412

Abstract: Innovation activities of firms significantly depend on university-to-industry knowledge transfer. As part of this, engineers and scientists in this high-tech industry frequently leave universities to found small start-up companies, which is a specific form of academic entrepreneurship. In particular, these mechanisms enable an important option for larger firms who frequently face make-or-buy decisions where such decisions have considerable management implications. This is the possibility to acquire such start-ups which is one form of enabling the commercialising of academic discoveries. In technology-rich industries, this is an important origin of innovation, since, e.g., large firms may be hindered by organisational inertia or lack of skills which are newly taught at universities. The paper investigates these issues for a software-based industry. Based on explorative interviews and survey data the paper analyses empirically reasons for academic entrepreneurship with particular focus on the growth and exit strategies of innovative small firms in the industry.

Keywords: long-term orientation; entrepreneurial universities; higher education; business start-ups; acquisitions; exit strategies; software industry; innovation; knowledge transfer; engineers; scientists; high-tech industries; new business ventures; make-or-buy decisions; commercialisation; academic discoveries; technology-rich industries; organisational inertia; skills; growth strategies; innovativeness; engineering students; environmental concerns; electronic design automation; EDA; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; entrepreneurs; academic entrepreneurship. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=39682 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:ids:ijesbu:v:12:y:2011:i:4:p:395-412

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().