Is experience a useful resource for business model innovation?

ABSTRACTBusiness model innovation has been proposed as a powerful strategic tool, able to offer competitive advantage, create markets and even reshape industries. Despite these powerful effects, little research has been conducted into studying and improving business model generation methods, and even less study has gone into analysing how to define new business models that can exert a disruptive effect on markets and industries. Our work tries to fill this gap, analysing whether experience encourages or discourages the generation of disruptive business models. An empirical analysis was carried out using an experimental methodology. The results seem to contradict the currently dominant Resou…

A quantitative-based model to assess seed accelerators’ performance

Seed accelerators are a new generation of business incubators. While the number of seed accelerators worldwide has grown exponentially, there is as yet no consensus on how to measure and analyse th...

Product development process in Spanish SMEs: an empirical research

Rapid product development has been treated as a competitive strategy in a global market environment. It is essential to improve the product development process with the objective of reducing product development cycle time and hence to reach the market as quickly as possible. Large-scale companies have adopted new strategies and technologies to reduce the product development cycle time, taking into account various market and innovation barriers. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have not received adequate attention from researchers for their product development process. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyze the critical success factors for the product development proc…

Information Systems and Business Strategy

The main purpose of this chapter is to deep into the importance attached to the Information Systems for the proper formulation of the corporate strategy. After introducing the basis of the strategic planning tradition model, which suggests the subordination of the Information Systems (IS) to the Business Strategy, we propose a new model that views the IS as an strategic instrument suited for the strategy formulation stage, rather than operational tools for the strategy control phase. Success in the application of this model we call “Concurrent Business/IS Strategic Planning Model” will closely depend on the consistency, coherence and soundness of the IS, both internal and external. In order…

Biopharma business models in Canada.

This article provides new insights into the different strategy paths or business models currently being implemented by Canadian biopharma companies. Through a case-study methodology, seven biopharma companies pertaining to three business models were analyzed, leading to a broad set of results emerging from the following areas: activity, business model and strategy; management and human resources; and RD, technology and innovation strategy. The three business models represented were: model 1 (conventional biotech oriented to new drug development, radical innovation and search for discoveries); model 2 (development of a technology platform, usually in proteomics and bioinformatics); and model…

Tourist Perceptions of Resources and Activities in Rural Areas

ABSTRACT This paper tries to delve into the tastes and preferences of tourists visiting rural areas in Spain as an alternative to the traditional sun and beach holiday that dominates Spanish tourism. This paper focuses on the demand side of rural tourism; more specifically whether the tourists visiting a Spanish rural area, El Alto Palancia region, show different behaviours towards two sets of variables, depending on the age, gender, income and educational background. The first variable, “interest in certain resources associated with rural tourism”, was focused on natural and architectural resources that attract the tourist's attention. The second, a broad set of “activities that a tourist …

Keys to success in investment rounds by immigrant entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley

[EN] This study presents an updated diagnosis of the SV ecosystem itself and offers an insight into the entrepreneurial mobility trends prospects and expectations of the growing number of start-ups launched by immigrant entrepreneurs arriving in SV. The purpose is to determine and rank the attributes most valued by investors when assessing projects and start-ups founded by immigrant entrepreneurs. The model of analysis composed by three hypotheses leads to a series of findings about the profile and expectations of the immigrant entrepreneurs, and reveals remarkable hints and key targets to be met by immigrant entrepreneurs in SV in order to successfully close investment rounds in a hypercom…

New directions for the biopharma industry in Canada: modelling and empirical findings

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to identify features and trends shaping the business models currently prevailing in the Canadian biopharma industry, by disaggregating the business model analysis into four key areas: value creation, investment strategy, business strategy, success factorsDesign/methodology/approachResults arise from an empirical fieldwork of qualitative nature, undertaken by the end of 2004, involving deep interviews to a broad variety of key stakeholders of the biopharma industry in the Quebec region, including biopharma firms, large pharma firms, venture capital funds, research centers and recognized experts from consultancy firms and Universities.FindingsBiopharma…

Performance of Biotechnology Research Spin-Offs: Lessons from Spain

Performance analysis of NTBFs in knowledge-intensive industries: Evidence from the human health sector

Abstract This study aims to shed some light on the differences in performance between New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) and others in a knowledge intensive industry, in this case the Human Health (HH) sector. With that purpose in mind, this work involves applying a new model for performance assessment to a representative sample of firms pertaining to the Human Health sector in the Valencia region of Spain. Application of several statistical techniques confirms the presence of an NTBF effect which ascribes a more favorable performance profile to the NTBF group. The analysis also reveals significant disparities at the territorial level between the core of the region and the rest. The Biomedi…

Benchmarking Spain's Biotechnology: a comparative perspective

New evidence on accelerator performance based on funding and location

Seed accelerators (SAs) appear as a more advanced version of business incubators. These for-profit organizations in exchange of equity, help setting new start-ups by providing mentoring and funding during its first months. Due to their emergent nature, the impact and expectations of SAs remains largely unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to throw new light on this field by empirically assessing for the first time the performance and prospects of these organizations through a survey of 116 SAs.,A model based on the Business Incubators literature is built with four categories covering size, location, age and profitability variables, leading to two hypotheses to be tested empirica…

Success factors and barriers facing the innovative start-ups and their influence upon performance over time

Based upon a sample of 18 start-up innovative firms, all of them located in the Bay Area of San Francisco, this study is intended to shed some light on the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats usually common to the innovative start-up firms, gathered into five areas: funding, management, focus, personal profile and goals and growth strategy. Managerial and organisational hurdles prevail during the first stages of development, whereas most strengths fall into the funding, focus and personal profile categories. An update of the 18 firms under study in year 2002 certifies the innovation start-ups usually manage grow faster than the conventional SMEs.

Analysing the Impact of the Glass Ceiling in a Managerial Career: The Case of Spain

The need to break down the barriers facing women in the labour market arouses great interest for reasons of social and sustainability justice. This study breaks new ground on the topic of the “glass ceiling” by assessing the evolution of gender inequality in the proportion of individuals reaching high managerial positions. The application of the csQCA method to a survey of two cohorts of Spanish graduates in management sharing the same starting conditions reveals two factors: job variety and additional education, as conditions that are usually present in a successful managerial career. Our findings confirm the prevalence of the gender gap with little progress in recent years. Women find it …

Performance analysis of research spin-offs in the Spanish biotechnology industry

Abstract This study examines whether the performance of biotechnology research spin-offs in Spain differs from non spin-off firms, using empirically-based fieldwork over a 5-year period and standard dichotomous regression analysis on 7-year data. Biotechnology research spin-offs in Spain are not necessarily located in core regions, are smaller in size and tend to grow faster in terms of turnover. Corporate groups seldom control them but venture capitalists have a greater tendency to acquire shareholdings in them. Compared to non spin-off firms, research spin-off firms face more serious and more numerous challenges and disadvantages. Only two advantages are apparent: their capacity to attrac…

Finding evidence on the innovative or positional character in medium sized manufacturing firms

Through an empirically based study on 65 medium sized manufacturing firms corresponding to 12 industrial sectors and located in the Spanish region of Valencia, we seek in this paper to provide enough evidence about the prevalence of positional, static and myopic values or, instead, innovative, dynamic and open minded principles, among the firms under study. Gathered into three groups of sectors, depending on the scope of demand (weak, medium and strong demand sectors), we conclude that the weak and medium demand sectors are still facing remarkable challenges basically connected to technology issues, despite improvement in other variables directly linked to an innovative character.

European countries in the race to attract successful biopharma investment: Winners and laggers

The post-coronavirus era will open myriad opportunities for the biopharma industry. However, the extent to which each country will take advantage of this promising new scenario will largely depend on its position in a few key areas. Here, we offer an overview of the European countries that are winning and those that are lagging behind in the race to attract the greatest investment in this industry and to attain the highest rate of successful new ventures. Our results highlight the vital importance of a sound, active funding base, especially in terms of venture capital. Our findings also suggests that general scientific foundations are not enough to secure an advantage in new venture formati…

A new tool to classifying new technology-based firm prospects and expectations

Abstract This is an exploratory insight into the profile and prospects of growth and success attached to one category of firms, the so-called New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs). Analysis of our empirically based data from 30 NTBFs leads us to the Market-Technology-Entrepreneurial (M-T-E) Matrix, whose eight three-dimensional quadrants serve to classify high-tech new ventures by performance. A factorial analysis coupled with a discriminate analysis are the statistical tools employed in obtaining the M-T-E Matrix and ascribing predictive capacity to it.

The Unexpected profile of agricultural innovators: evidence from an empirical study

[EN] Innovation capacity is essential for farmers to remain competitive and overcome the challenges facing Mediterranean agricultural systems. Based on an extensive empirical study, this paper elucidates the common attributes of innovative farmers in the Region of Valencia (Spain). The model presented in this study investigates whether an innovative attitude can be explained by market-entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, individual profile traits and farm size. The findings provide insights into how age and experience affect innovation in agricultural smallholdings. The study shows that the most innovative farmers run large farms and have a strong market-entrepreneurial orient…

Asymmetric behaviour of biotechnology business patterns in Spain

Since the end of the 90s there has been an increase in the emergence of biotechnology industries in Spain, partially as a result of growing support from institutionally based infrastructures. Through the use of empirical fieldwork, this study aims to reveal how future prospects are not as optimistic as most Spanish agents perceive. Our conclusions are based on the asymmetric behaviour shown by Spanish biotechnology firms in their business models. This asymmetry is based on the overwhelming dominance of business models centred on low investment, limited R&D expenditure and minor or incremental innovation, whereas the long term–long return model, which prevails in the leading countries in thi…