Shareholder networks of university spinoff companies: firm development and regional characteristics

Prokop, Daniel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6394-6149 and Kitagawa, Fumi 2022. Shareholder networks of university spinoff companies: firm development and regional characteristics. Studies in Higher Education 47 (10) , pp. 2101-2116. 10.1080/03075079.2022.2122662

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Abstract

This paper contributes to the understanding of university spinoff (USO) development by analysing structural properties of their shareholder networks over time and across different regions. Theoretically, we propose a new stage-based typology of USO development across regions. Empirically, the study utilises a sample of 1033 academic spinoffs founded by 87 universities across 12 unitary regions in the UK considering the diversity of spatial contexts in the USO development. We undertake a social network analysis of relations USOs form with their parent universities and shareholders by adopting ‘betweenness centrality’ and ‘structural holes’ as two key measures. By employing this novel network-based view of firm development across regions, this study builds on the development model of USOs by identifying three key phases of USO development: (1) organisation phase, (2) exploitation phase, and (3) maturity and reorganisation phase. Second, we observe differences in USOs in terms of shareholder network development across diverse regional contexts. We propose a novel typology of entrepreneurial regions to better understand the diverse spatiality of USOs: peripheral lock-in, entrepreneurial periphery, rigid core, and entrepreneurial core. We call for further research to capture the long-term development and variable growth paths of USOs.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	0307-5079
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	21 September 2022
Date of Acceptance:	13 September 2022
Last Modified:	07 May 2023 20:19
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/152762

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