Ende der 'Gemischtwarenläden': Spezialisierung von Technologie- und Gründerzentren als Option kommunaler Wirtschaftsförderung
Michael Schwartz, Christoph Hornych
List Forum für Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik,
2009
Abstract
In the context of policy measures that focus on the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovative start-ups on the level of cities and municipalities, since the beginning of the 21st century, there is an explicit tendency to establish a new type of business incubators and technology centers. These support facilities focus their support infrastructure and processes on firms from one specific sector and its particular needs. In Germany, since 1999, nearly one-third of all new business incubators opened with a sector-specific focus. Despite the continuously increasing importance of such specialized business incubators in local and regional development strategies, there is no analysis of these support facilities. On the basis of the key principles of business incubation functionality, supplemented by recent findings of incubator/ incubation research, this article investigates the evolution of this incubator concept in Germany, its regional distribution and describes the benefits to firms of being part of a specialized incubator. Moreover, this article details what are the general conditions and requirements for the long-term success of specialized business incubation initiatives.
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A Multidimensional Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Business Incubators: An application of the PROMETHEE outranking method
Michael Schwartz, Maximilian Göthner
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,
2009
Abstract
Considerable public resources are devoted to the establishment and operation of business incubators (BIs), which are seen as catalysts for the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation activities and regional development. Despite the vast amount of research that focused on the effectiveness of incubator initiatives and how to measure incubator performance, there is still a lack of understanding of how to determine incubators that are more effective than others. Based on data from 410 graduate firms, the present article concentrates on this crucial question and compares the long-term effectiveness of five BIs in Germany by applying the multi-criteria outranking technique PROMETHEE. In particular, we investigate whether PROMETHEE is a well suited methodological approach for the evaluation and comparisons in the specific context of business incubation.
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Possible Ways for Developing a Media City: Chances for Newcomer Cities are rather Limited!
Christoph Hornych, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, Michael Schwartz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 5,
2009
Abstract
Numerous cities try to set up themselves as centres of creative businesses, especially for media industry. Behind such strategies for supporting the local media economy stands the aim to profit from the high share of supra-regional sales in the media economy, from possible image effects as well as – especially in Germany – from the backflow of taxes for public broadcasting. Against this background, the article examines the efficiency of possible instruments for local decision makers to improve the location conditions for the media industry. An analysis of the location preferences of the media industry shows that localization economies as well as urbanization economies have a high importance. Economic measures to generate or strengthen these effects are the attraction of public broadcasting stations, the assignment of subsidies for local film and media producers, the endowment with science facilities and educational institutions which are relevant for media, the establishment of business incubators specialized on media industry, and the development of inter-firm networks and special city districts for the local media industry. Our analysis shows that most of these instruments have only limited impacts. In particular, cities without public broadcasting stations and without educational institutions relevant for the branch probably will not have the chance to become media cities.
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A Novel Approach to Incubator Evaluations: The PROMETHEE Outranking Procedures
Michael Schwartz, Maximilian Göthner
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 1,
2009
Abstract
Considerable public resources are devoted to the establishment and operation of business incubators (BIs), which are seen as catalysts for the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation activities and regional development. Despite the vast amount of research that has focused on the outcomes or effectiveness of incubator initiatives and how to measure incubator performance, there is still little understanding of how to determine incubators that are more effective than others. Based on data from 410 graduate firms, this paper applies the multi-criteria outranking technique PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation) and compares the long-term effectiveness of five technology-oriented BIs in Germany. This is the first time that outranking procedures are used in incubator evaluations. In particular, we investigate whether PROMETHEE is a well-suited methodological approach for the evaluation and comparisons in the specific context of business incubation.
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Determinants of Academic-Industry Linkages and Incubator-internal Cooperation Patterns of Incubator Firms: Empirical Evidence from Germany
Michael Schwartz, Christoph Hornych
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 2,
2009
Abstract
The article examines cooperation patterns of firms located in German business incubators (BIs) and technology centers. Based on cross-sectional data, the study explores the network activities within the tenant portfolio and the academic-industry linkages of the tenant firms. In this respect, we contribute to the literature on the impact of business incubation by explicitly considering differences regarding cooperation patterns between diversified and specialized incubator facilities. Contrary to common assumptions, we do not find a higher propensitiy for incubator-internal cooperation activities for firms located in specialized BIs. However, firms located in specialized BIs show significantly higher propensity to engage in academic-industry linkages compared to firms located in diversified incubators.
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Incubator Age and Incubation Time: Determinants of Firm Survival after Graduation?
Michael Schwartz
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 14,
2008
Abstract
On the basis of a sample of 149 graduate firms from five German technology oriented business incubators, this article contributes to incubator/incubation literature by investigating the effects of the age of the business incubators and the firms’ incubation time in securing long-term survival of the firms after leaving the incubator facilities. The empirical findings from Cox-proportional hazards regression and parametric accelerated failure time models reveal a statistically negative impact for both variables incubator age and incubation time on post-graduation firm survival. One possible explanation for these results is that, when incubator managers become increasingly involved in various regional development activities (e.g. coaching of regional network initiatives), this may reduce the effectiveness of incubator support and therefore the survival chances of firms.
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Long-term Effects of Business Incubators: What Happens to Incubated Firms after they Have Graduated from the BIs?
Michael Schwartz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 8,
2008
Abstract
Many cities and municipalities devote considerable public resources to the establishment and operation of business incubators (BIs) to promote the survivability and the positive development of newly founded firms. In the context of incubator evaluations, survival is one of the most important performance indicators, and survival rates of incubated firms are frequently communicated to the public by local authorities to demonstrate the success of those policy initiatives. However, in most cases, these data refers to the initial incubation period. Little is known about survival or exit dynamics of incubated firms after they have graduated from the BIs. On the basis of a comprehensive research project concerned with the development of graduate firms from incubators in Dresden, Halle (Saale), Jena, Neubrandenburg and Rostock, this article not only investigates how many firms survive after leaving the incubator facilities, but also investigates if graduation causes an immediate negative effect on subsequent survivability. The results show that about one third of all graduate firms fail after leaving the incubator. Furthermore, it can be found that graduate firms from the BIs in Halle (Saale) and Neubrandenburg face a relatively high risk of business closure especially in the first years after the completion of the incubation period.
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Wie effektiv sind Technologie- und Gründerzentren in den Neuen Bundesländern?
Michael Schwartz
List Forum für Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik,
2008
Abstract
In Eastern Germany, since the beginning of the 1990s technology centers and business incubators are established by cities and municipalities to provide a favorable business environment for young and newly founded innovative firms. Right from the beginning, the effectiveness of these support facilities has been the subject of intense academic and policy discussions, but empirical evidence on the actual effectiveness of these centers is limited so far. Taking into account that the choice of the appropriate criteria for evaluations of the effectiveness of technology centers and business incubators is far from clear cut, this article focuses on three core indicators that are generally accepted as measures for effectiveness (incubation time, share of newly founded firms in the tenant portfolio and technological level of the supported firms), and analyses for five business incubators in East Germany whether they can be characterized as being effective policy instruments. A positive assessment of the five incubators’ effectiveness can be made with regard to average incubation time of tenant companies, as well as insofar the share of newly founded firms on all supported companies is concerned. However, deficiencies are found regarding the technological level of the incubator firms.
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Specialization as Strategy for Business Incubators: An Assessment of the Central German Multimedia Center
Michael Schwartz, Christoph Hornych
Technovation,
No. 7,
2008
Abstract
The literature on business incubators (BIs) mainly discusses findings of incubators that do not restrict themselves to specific sectors (diversified incubators). There is a strong disregard of the possible benefits arising from the concept of a sector-specialized business incubator (SBI), although this concept has become more important in recent years. In Germany, about 19% of the incubators can be characterized as being specialized. Since 1999, nearly one-third of all new BIs in Germany opened with a sector-specific focus. This study attempts to approach this research question by examining the advantages and deficiencies of this concept and to address them with empirical observations from an SBI in the city of Halle (Germany), which has an explicit sector-focus on the media industry (MI). We identify key benefits arising from such an incubator concept: (1) high quality premises and equipment, (2) improvement of service and consultancy offerings and (3) image effects for the location. We also find deficiencies of an SBI especially regarding internal networking activities and promotion of linkages to universities. Furthermore a negative working climate impedes interaction. This study offers implications for firms, incubator managers and local policy-makers who are concerned with the instrument of an SBI.
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Technologie- und Gründerzentren im Lichte von Diversifizierung versus Spezialisierung
Michael Schwartz, Christoph Hornych
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 7,
2008
Abstract
In Germany, a growing tendency can be observed to focus business incubators (BIs) and technology centers and their respective support elements and processes as well as the selection criteria applied by the incubator management on firms from solely one sector or few but complementary sectors and their specific needs and requirements. These are called specialized business incubators (SBIs). Despite the increasing importance of specialization strategies of business incubators as local and regional policy instruments, there are no reliable empirical examinations of the specifics, and advantages in particular, of SBIs compared to more diversified BIs. On the basis of survey-data, that comprises responses from 161 actual firms incubated in 13 diversified BIs and 13 specialized BIs in Germany, this study investigates the mechanisms within the specific context of specialized BIs and their value-added contribution versus the more diversified incubation model. For the first time, this study provides large-scale empirical evidence concerning the effects of adopting a specialization strategy in the context of business incubation.
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