Inside the incubator – business relationship creations among incubated firms

PublikationArtikel (med peer review)

Business relationship, Christina Öberg, incubator

Sammanfattning

Purpose
Incubators, as providers of advice and resources, suggest fostering the development of early-idea firms. Literature and practice seem to suggest an ever-increasing amount of incubator support. The creation of business relationships is at the heart of any business development, and this paper addresses whether a laissez-faire incubator fosters the creation of business relationships. The purpose of this paper is to explore the creation of business relationships among incubated firms during and after their time in the incubator along with the roles that these relationships play for the incubated firms.

Design/methodology/approach
Empirically, the paper is based on retrospective interviews with representatives of all incubated firms in a university incubator. A total of fifteen interviews were conducted with representatives of the incubated firms, the incubator and its owners, complemented by secondary data sources.

Findings
The paper points out three antecedents for business relationship creation: the lack of experience and connections; convenience; and trust based on the interactions with others in the incubator. These antecedents are connected to the roles of transforming businesses and of adaptation in the dyadic relationships. The laissez-faire incubator helped through the learning-by-doing among the incubated firms, which made them focus on business relationship creation from early on.

Originality/value
Most incubator research portrays the unilateral transfer of knowledge from the incubator to the incubated firm, with the latter being a service taker rather than a co-producer. The paper adds knowledge about business relationships among firms in incubators and the roles that these business relationships could play for the firms. The focus on an incubator providing limited support is of high practical relevance, given the trend of incubators facilitating more and more services.

Öberg, C., Klinton, M. & Stockhult, H. (2020). Inside the incubator – Business relationship creations among incubated firms.Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 35(11), 1767-1784.

Liknande innehåll

Open marketing – Conceptualizing external parties’ strategic marketing activities

Artikel (med peer review)Publikation

Öberg, C.

Publiceringsår

2020

Publicerat i

Technology Innovation Management Review 10 14-27

Sammanfattning

Open marketing as conceptualized in this paper refers to how external parties take part in strategic, integrative marketing activities. To distinguish this more recent trend in marketing from traditional meanings of marketing, the paper provides a typology on roles and role keepers in marketing. Four types of roles and role keepers are outlined: marketing as 1) solely being performed by actors in the supplier company communicating offerings, 2) an activity shared among functions of the supplier company, 3) external parties communicating offerings, and 4) external parties contributing to strategic marketing. Using the concept of ‘roles’ in marketing helps to structure activities and actors – or roles and role keepers – and provides a basis for understanding that marketing results from what is done, not merely from who performs it. The paper underlines how new ways of conducting business also have implications for a company’s marketing beyond its borders.

The shape of female board representation

Artikel (med peer review)Publikation

Öberg, C.

Publiceringsår

2020

Publicerat i

International Journal of Comparative Management

Sammanfattning

Female board representation is increasingly debated in research and practice. This paper problematises how board representation as such may not be the issue, but rather how well nested the women are: that is, whether there is a difference in board members’ representation on multiple boards between women and men and how this affects the woman’s influence, or power, on a particular board. This paper relates such representations not only to whether women hold several board positions, but also to the shape of the network that the multiple representations create. The paper points at how the power of women on boards varies with (1) the existence of few or many interlocks on the board, (2) the number of representations held by the female board member, (3) the fragmented or large network that the female board member is part of, and (4) whether the network consists of direct or indirect links.

Additive manufacturing – digitally changing the global business landscape

Artikel (med peer review)Publikation

Öberg, C.

Publiceringsår

2019

Publicerat i

European Journal

Sammanfattning

Purpose: Additive manufacturing, that is, layer-based manufacturing technologies, is thought to change supply chain operations from global to local, while also affecting design processes and product structures. As this transformation happens, a power struggle among various actors relating themselves to additive manufacturing has emerged. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and explain the development of additive manufacturing from a power dependence point of view.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on data collected from a number of seminars hosting a total of 620 industry experts representing 102 companies in the area, and reflecting every step of the supply chain.

Findings: The paper points out how measures to deal and create power imbalances occur also related to indirect parties, and how the disruptive character of the supply chain leads to exercised power.

Originality/value: The power struggle provides new insights into how an emerging technology is realised and the effect of protectionism on such attempts. Specifically related to additive manufacturing, the paper illustrates the business side from various actors’ point of view, which adds to technological perspectives on additive manufacturing, as well as studies viewing the supply chain from a bird’s-eye perspective.

Visa fler