New venture creation in academia: preconditions and drivers for the emergence of academic spin-offs

Purpose of the paper: This study aims to explore determinants for the emergence of academic spin-offs (ASOs). We analyzed individual, institutional and infrastructural factors that lead to the emergence of ASOs and their influence on the business model choice of firms in their start-up phase. Methodology: The analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative methods; the field of research is the life sciences faculty of the University of Siena. Findings: Consultancy by researchers is a positive predictor of the propensity to create a business. Quality and quantity of scientific production are associated positively but only up to a certain threshold, beyond which academics have less inclination for entrepreneurship. University department size plays a decisive role: scarcity of resources may limit the emergence and growth of ASOs. Science parks and university-industry liaison structures play a crucial role in the emergence and survival of new businesses. The resources, competence and motivation of the founders are the main determinants of the choice of business model of ASOs during the start-up phase. Research limitations: The analysis regarded one medium-sized university and a single (albeit large) scientific field, i.e. life sciences. Managerial implications: The results can help managers assess ex ante which university careers potentially lead to the emergence of ASOs. Originality of the paper: Few prior studies have considered qualitative and quantitative empirical evidence on factors influencing the emergence of ASOs and the choice of business model during the start-up phase

No need to choose between innovation and internationalization: when pursuing two strategies at a time leads to firm superior performance

Whereas commonly innovation and internationalization have been studied disjointedly, many academics have recently questioned the relationship that there might be between these two strategic choices. The present study aims to determine whether businesses can concurrently attain internationalization and innovation instead of selecting for only one of the two strategies in pursuing superior performance. The paper tests the relationships between firm managerial capabilities, technological and marketing resources, innovation and internationalization strategies, and firm performance based on the assumptions of the resource-based view. The hypotheses are tested using the data from a survey on 169 Italian SMEs. The outcomes reveal that innovation and internationalization are complementary, and not alternative in the attainment of firm superior performance, both technological and marketing resources are positively associated with the business internationalization, whereas only technological resources contribute to the business innovativeness. Additionally, managerial capabilities are key for deploying the firm overall resource endowment

Blending “hard” and “soft” TQM for academic excellence: the University of Siena experience in the field of Life Sciences

Purpose – Focusing on the adoption of Total Quality Management (TQM) principles in universities, this research paper explores how the “soft” dimensions of TQM trigger its “hard” dimensions considering them at the individual (micro-) and the university (meso-), and eventually at cluster (system-), levels. Design/methodology/approach – Adopting a qualitative approach, this study presents an in-depth, longitudinal case study of University of Siena, one of the oldest Italian universities, that has been at the core of the research-based cluster on vaccines, today converged in the Tuscan Life Science Cluster. In particular, data were collected between 2018 and February 2022 and consists of archival data (press articles, websites, books), nine interviews to key informants, multiyear experience of the Life Sciences sector by two of the authors and other material put at disposal by university offices, and emails. Data analysis relied on a timeline, a coding procedure that considered three levels of analysis (individual, organization and cluster). Finally, the authors looked at the “how” and “why” the emerged themes have contributed to academic excellence. Findings – This paper unveils how “soft” and “hard” sides of TQM are blended across multiple levels for reaching academic excellence. The grounded model emerged enlightens the importance of an individual “soft” dimension, academic passion (composed by its three subdimensions of individual research, teaching and entrepreneurial passion) and also sheds light on the organizational “soft” and “hard” sides that the university has been able to design for encouraging research, teaching and third mission quality. Academic excellence has been possible thanks to the capitalization of the individual and organizational“soft” sides into real outcomes as represented by the organizational and individual “hard” sides. Practical implications – The paper suggests the importance of TQM principles applied at universities’ level, providing an in-depth description of “soft” and “hard” sides dimensions of TQM and their impact on all the three pillars of academic excellence. The study findings suggest implications for managers and professionals in the higher education domain as well as for policymakers emphasizing the importance of supporting the individual and organizational soft sides of TQM. The authors provide practical implications recommending universities to consider not only the organizational dimensions but also individual ones when pursuing higher education excellence. In particular, individual passion plays a crucial role and universities need to identify ways of nurturing it. The authors also recommend policymakers to think about new ways to sustain universities as crucial actors in boosting a cluster development, as well as to consider higher education institutions, especially in more rural areas, as a privileged player not only capable of nurturing academic excellence but also able of creating an internationally renowned cluster. Originality/value – TQM principles have been intensively analysed from an industrial perspective focusing on manufacturing and services, while this paper focuses on TQM in universities, presenting a grounded model that blends the individual and organizational “soft” and “hard” sides

Gender differences and tech-based entrepreneurship: a literature review and research agenda

Despite the widespread recognition of the growing, positive contribution of female entrepreneurship in economic and social development processes, women are still less involved in high-growth entrepreneurship, especially in Europe, where their participation is lower than in most part of the world, and where they show some of the lowest rates of entrepreneurial perceptions (seeing new business opportunities, having the skills to start a new business, being undeterred by fear of failure), according to Women's Entrepreneurship GEM Report (2021). Gender gap in entrepreneurship and management is confirmed by the European Institute for Gender Equality, whose statistics show that across the EU, women business owners make up only 33.2% of self-employed people, and management boards are dominated by men (EIGE Report, 2021). This gap is somewhat larger in tech-based industries, where founding and managing a technology-based firm has been commonly considered to be a male affair (Green et al., 2003; Nelson and Levesque, 2007) and prominently within STEM fields (Poggesi et al., 2020), where women entrepreneurs are still strongly underrepresented (Dautzenberg, 2012; Tonoyan and Strohmeyer, 2021). Since the seminal contribution of Schwartz (1976), the debate surrounding women and entrepreneurship has grown up, focusing on their underrepresentation and their “marginalization” into sectors with low growth perspectives (Carter et al., 2000). There has been, among scholars as well as policymakers, a tendency to interpret this evidence as the expression of female structural weaknesses, to be fixed through specific programs aimed at training women to adopt prototypical entrepreneurial attitudes (Marlow, 2019). Despite this generalized view, a different perspective emerged in the same years, suggesting that female entrepreneurship specificities had to be considered as the result of a generalized gendered subordination (Fischer, 1993; Jennings and Brush, 2013). Even though this topic has given rise to a substantial body of literature, there are relatively few studies dedicated to investigating the presence of women entrepreneurs in technology-based sectors. Except for a few recent works (Wheadon and Duval-Couetil, 2019; Poggesi et al., 2020) that propose a literature review on the topic of gender and technology entrepreneurship, there is currently no dedicated strand of research that, in the field of management, identifies the issue of gender differences with reference to high-tech entrepreneurship. This is even more surprising, when considering that today technology plays a pervasive role and that even mature industries are undergoing strong changes precisely because of the spread of new technologies related to STEM fields. This opens great opportunities from which, once again, women risk being excluded or marginalized. It is therefore important, in our opinion, to examine this issue in depth and take stock of the results of the research conducted so far. Given the above, our study has two overarching objectives. The first is to document the development of the body of work related to gender differences and high-tech entrepreneurship. The second is to assess its contributions vis-a-vis the broader corpus of literature on female entrepreneurship

Le Scienze della Vita in Toscana. Il governo istituzionale e imprenditoriale dei processi di sviluppo

Un primo monitoraggio del distretto Life Sciences toscano è stato svolto nel 2012 (Pucci e Zanni, 2012); il presente rapporto di ricerca aggiorna la precedente indagine che ha costituito una delle basi informative di dati utilizzate per impostare il piano strategico del distretto nel periodo 2015-2017. L’attuale ricerca intende in particolare perseguire quattro obiettivi generali: A. Delineare i caratteri strutturali delle imprese attive nei diversi segmenti del settore Life Sciences, esaminando i modelli imprenditoriali adottati dagli attori coinvolti e le soluzioni organizzative utilizzate per rispondere alle sfide dell’innovazione e della crescita. B. Descrivere il ruolo delle Istituzioni toscane a supporto dei processi innovativi e di sviluppo delle imprese del settore. C. Indagare le modalità attraverso cui si implementano le strategie di sviluppo (innovative e di crescita) individuando: le specificità settoriali e i modelli di business adottati; le caratteristiche delle relazioni instaurate e le possibili relazioni tra strategie e performance. D. Approfondire il ruolo e le specificità delle imprese familiari all’interno del cluster. Sulla base dei suddetti obiettivi generali tenteremo di trarre alcune prime considerazioni di sintesi con riferimento ai seguenti interrogativi specifici di ricerca: 1. Emergono cambiamenti nei modelli di business del settore Life Sciences in Toscana? 2. Quale ruolo giocano le Istituzioni e gli altri fattori di contesto nei processi innovativi e di crescita delle imprese toscane? 3. Quali drivers contribuiscono a spiegare i processi innovativi e di sviluppo e le loro performance? 4. Le aziende familiari si differenziano dalle imprese non familiari

Consumer touch points e prossimità cognitiva: uno, nessuno e centomila millennials

L’obiettivo di questo studio è quello di comprendere come la fiducia riposta dai consumatori nei diversi touch points (brand-owned, partner-owned, customerowned e social/external) possa influenzarne il successivo acquisto online. In più, in linea con alcuni precedenti lavori, abbiamo distinto delle sottocategorie di Millennials (18-23, 24-27 e 28-35) per comprendere differenze sia nella fiducia, che nell’ acquisto online. Il settore moda è stato scelto come setting empirico della nostra analisi. Partendo dalla letteratura, abbiamo quindi distinto sei variabili (offline brand-owned, online brand-owned, online partner-owned, social/external, influencer-owned e other consumer-owned) e ne abbiamo testato l’effetto sulle scelte di acquisto di 1294 Millennials italiani. I risultati delle nostre analisi in generale confermano un effetto positivo della fiducia nei confronti dei diversi TP sull’acquisto online. In più, le tre classi sono risultate significativamente distinte nelle dinamiche di fiducia ed acquisto

The virtuous cycle of stakeholder engagement in developing a sustainability culture: Salcheto winery

Stakeholder engagement in sustainability represents a powerful driver for value creation. Drawing from stakeholder theory, this paper explores how a firm with a proactive sustainable behaviour engages stakeholders in developing innovation and creating value. A longitudinal, single case study of the Salcheto winery was carried out. Since the late 1990s, Salcheto has been at the forefront of wine eco-innovation and it has played a key role in the development of Montepulciano (Tuscany, Italy) as one of the first sustainable wine clusters worldwide. The development of a sustainable wine culture is one of the firm's various innovations. In doing so, the firm has had to face three challenges - identity creation, legitimization and enhancement - and has engaged its stakeholders through three specific mechanisms (adoption and development; co-creation and diffusion; exploitation and contamination). This virtuous cycle of stakeholder engagement has resulted in value creation at a firm, stakeholder and local level