Female-owned innovative startups in Italy: status quo and implications

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the current literature of this business phenomenon with regard to gender studies and to point out what is substantially happening and what has happened in the Italian economic context. The main research questions were RQ1: How is the phenomenon of female Startups treated from a scientific point of view? RQ2: Which is the Italian situation of this phenomenon? The methodology used is both qualitative and explorative. A bidirectional analysis has been carried out for this purpose. In order to expand the first research question (RQ1), an analysis was carried out of the articles in the EBSCO database on the topic of female startups. In order to expand the second question (RQ2), an analysis was carried out on the data concerning the phenomenon of female startups, using the register of companies held at the Chambers of Commerce which were territorially competent. Our research, carried out within the Italian economic context, demonstrates how the phenomenon of Woman Startups (WSU), even if it is widely expanding, is inherent in all the typical elements of female entrepreneurship, as reported in the literature by gender scholars. The main factors that emerge for the WSU are the small size and the undercapitalization in the startup phase. This work contributes to the expansion of studies on the topic of startups in the context of gender and can be useful to the social context, new entrepreneurs, and practitioners of the sector

Business incubators vs start-ups: a sustainable way of sharing knowledge

Purpose In recent years the role of business incubators (BIs) within the small-medium enterprise (SME) dimension has grown fast, supporting SMEs, especially during the early stage. For these reasons, this paper aims to investigate how BI supports entrepreneurs in the early stage and what specific instruments are used? What kinds of relations do start-ups use (RQ2)? Finally, the authors intend to explore the long-term influence of these relationships on the economic value of the start-ups (RQ3)? Design/methodology/approach The present paper is supported by a qualitative methodology of a single case study. To reach the declared goal in terms of relationship observation, the paper applies the CAOS model (Paoloni, 2021), an interpretative model useful for analysing the relational capital within the SME dimension. Findings This first explanatory research confirms the crucial role of the BI in the firm’s development process. Especially in the early stage, the knowledge transfer from the BI allows the start-up to overcome its main difficulties: the organizational aspect and finance capacity. Research limitations/implications The limitation concerns the number of start-ups observed. Future lines of research will be focused on the study of other firms to acquire more data on the topic of BI programmes and start-ups. Practical implications The managerial implication refers to advancing knowledge and practice in the area of knowledge sharing actuated by BIs. The present work underlines the importance of relational capital as an intangible asset in the development of the younger company. Originality/value This paper contributes to two different fields: knowledge sharing by relational capital and gender studies

Innovation Against Gender Inequalities in Agri-Food Industry

Abstract: In recent years, industrialization and globalization have prompted small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to implement a significant technological and managerial innovation process. In Italy, it leads to new entrepreneurial pathways, such as innovative start-ups. The new solutions' implementation becomes even more crucial for a company's sustainability during crises since it improves the organization's flexibility and encourages the development of new tools and techniques. Previous research recognized the intangible assets' relevance in the innovation's creation process, mainly referring to Intellectual Capital (IC) and its components. In particular, Relational Capital (RC) fosters reactive firms' resilience, whereas Structural Capital (SC) helps SMEs respond to challenges proactively. Focusing on the agri-food sector, it has recently reached considerable results in terms of innovation, but it still appears insufficient to stimulate female entrepreneurship. Recent data confirm a remarkable gender gap: for 107 innovative agri-food start-ups in Italy, only 14 are led by women. Given all this, the paper aims to answer the following Research Questions (RQ). RQ1: How could RC and SC promote women innovative start-ups in agri-food? RQ2: How did these factors foster proactive and reactive firms' resilience during the pandemic? The work uses an exploratory, descriptive qualitative analysis performed during the pandemic emergency and applies the CAOS model, an interpretative model widely used in SMEs' studies since it allows a deep analysis of relational capital. Moreover, the CAOS model can be helpful to observe the SC's innovation. From a theoretical point of view, the research contributes to gender studies, identifying critical, innovative elements that similar women start-ups could implement. From a managerial perspective, findings could increase the firms' competitiveness in the current crisis period and reduce gender inequality. The application of a single case study could represent a research's limit. Thus, in the future, the authors aim at replicating the analysis considering a more comprehensive sample

The relationship value from incubators to female start-ups

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if the knowledge transfer process comes from business incubators can improve the female startups’ competitive advantage in terms of the attractiveness of financial resources and subsequent acquisition by larger companies. This paper is a part of ongoing research on the gender studies field and it focuses on the study of relationship evolution between the woman startup (WSU) and its business incubator (BI), during three main company lifecycle stage: i) start-up or early stage, ii) equity- crowdfunding campaign and iii) the acquisition of WSU by a larger company. The qualitative methodology of a single case study was adopted. Particularly, thanks to a dynamism approach of the CAOS model is possible to observe, during the time, how the relationships’ evolution can contribute, in term of relational capital, to reach the declared goal. Assuming that variable (S) refers to the sustainability of the woman startup and identify the stages before, during, and after the equity crowdfunding campaign, it was needed to apply a triplication to the variable (S). Utilizing this framework, it is possible to recognize which types of relationships acquired by the female entrepreneur during the incubation phase, has reverberated in the following life-cycle phases until its acquisition by a larger company. Findings show that BI’s knowledge transfer process plays a central role in the development of woman start-up. Especially, it is possible to appreciate how knowledge transferred not regards only to the company dimension but it increases the personal sphere of entrepreneur that, thanks to the skills acquired, she will continue to retain a strategic management role also into the new company – after the M&A. This paper contributes to the literature in three different fields: i) gender studies; ii) knowledge transfer process and the relational capital; iii) the use of alternative ways of finance. Limitations concern the SMEs (startup) dimension. Analysis of data has been available only through direct interviews with the female entrepreneur. Future research perspectives will be focused on the acquisition of more data on the topic of woman startup and crowdfunding to reply the analysis by multiple case studies and try to understand which relational capital’s factors recurring for the sustainability of the start-up

Knowledge resources in the University context: An overview of the literature

Purpose – The aim of this work is to identify and analyze the main areas on which researchers have focused in relation to intellectual capital (IC) and its management in the university context. This review will also analyze how these researchers carried out their work to understand future research directions. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis was conducted through a structured literature review (SLR) of 866 research contributions (articles, book chapters and books). An analysis of the content was performed to identify the main topics discussed and to ascertain how these studies were carried out. Findings – This paper highlights how the management of knowledge resources (as IC) has been discussed in the literature, focusing specifically on how universities report the information, which is fundamental for allowing stakeholders to understand the value created by these kinds of organizations. Research limitations/implications – The manual analysis of the results of the SLR can be considered a limitation of this work. Another limitation of the work is represented by the use of only one database. Originality/value – This SLR makes several useful contributions for both practitioners and scholars. First, it suggests strengthening the relationship with the external stakeholders to assure the survival of universities. Second, it enables others to replicate scientific research, thanks to its clear and transparent process. It also allows scholars to identify which issues their work should address, as well as suggesting possible future research area

Relational capital to revamp the pink side of agri-food

The current economic scenario has increasingly challenged Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), threatened their competitiveness, and endorsed the gap with larger companies. To reduce this gap and foster the innovation process in SMEs, the Italian legislator regulated the “innovative start-up” (IS). He recognised some benefits in terms of tax advantages. The substantial requirements defining ISs confirm the critical role literature has attributed to Intellectual Capital (IC) in elaborating innovative elements. In particular, the research focuses on Relational Capital (RC), the IC’s component that encourages a precious knowledge-sharing process enriching collaborative innovation and reactive resilience. Its relevance is maximum in female enterprises, where all SMEs’ typical structural limits are amplified, especially the difficult access to credit, significantly affecting the firm’s innovative capability. Given this, the present research aims at investigating the RCs contribute to a reality that is innovative by definition, namely women-led innovative start-ups (WIS). In particular, the authors focus on the agri-food industry, a milestone of the Italian economy strictly anchored to the tradition and still recording a low research level. In particular, the paper aims to answer the following Research Question (RQ). RQ1: How does RC affect innovation and resilience in WIS operating in agri-food? The present work uses an exploratory, descriptive qualitative approach, analysing a single case study. The research is performed during the pandemic emergency and applies the CAOS (an Italian acronym for “Caratteristiche personali, Ambiente, Organizzazione, Start-up”) model (Paoloni 2021). Data are acquired through a semi-structured interview (Yin, 1984) directly placed by the company’s owner. The present work contributes to expanding literature on intangible resources and gender studies and confirms that RC can help female entrepreneurs overcome crises. Moreover, it offers a specific analysis of innovative female agro-startups. Findings could be helpful to female agro-food start-ups to recognise the importance of investing in RC to overcome a challenging scenario and help WIS reduce the gender gap and, in general, the agro-startups entrepreneurial gap with larger companie

Crowdfunding in the crisis context: an overview of Covid-19 era

This paper aims to identify and analyze the main areas on which scholars have focused in relation to crowdfunding (CF) and their contribution to the uncertain period. In particular, this review analyzed the role of this financial instrument during the Covid-19 emergency

Female Agri-Food Start-Ups: Mapping the Italian Context During the Coronavirus Era

The present contribution aims to map the innovative female start-ups in the Italian agri-food sector during the Coronavirus era. To reach the declared goal a qualitative explorative research was conducted (Glaser, 1978; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Stebbins, 2001). The survey was conducted on 12,068 innovative start-ups registered in the special section of the business register of the Italian chambers of commerce. The results show that from the point of view of innovation and technology, the agri-food sector is still very poor and only 0.7% of Italian start-ups operate in this sector (91 companies out of 12,068). Regarding gender issues, the situation gets worse with only 10 innovative farms being led by women (11% of the sector; 0.08% of Italian start-ups). The present chapter has several implications. From a theoretical perspective, it contributes to gender studies and to the business innovation field, especially during periods of crisis. From the managerial perspective, the work provides a first picture of the state of the art of Italian innovative agri-food start-ups, highlighting the current gap between the number of female and male companies