Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/174654 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
56th Congress of the European Regional Science Association: "Cities & Regions: Smart, Sustainable, Inclusive?", 23-26 August 2016, Vienna, Austria
Publisher: 
European Regional Science Association (ERSA), Louvain-la-Neuve
Abstract: 
Industrial competence is increasingly dispersed across the globe, urging technology-based firms in Europe to establish international knowledge relationships at larger distances. This paper examines changing patterns of international knowledge relationships and the influence of capability factors of university spin-off firms on building such relationships, using a sample of 105 of such firms. The paper addresses the debate on capabilities among young high-tech ventures in developing an adequate internationalization network, in which opinions are contrasting, like concerning an easy globalization (born-global model) versus a reluctant and step-wise approach. In early patterns, 62 per cent of the sampled firms employed knowledge relationships abroad. The main capability factors affecting these early relationships tend to be PhD education in the founding team, participation in training, and the capability to innovate on a practical and modestly innovative level responding to market demand. The subsequent changes in relationships have led to a high overall internationalization level of 82 per cent five years later, but also reveal diverse trends on the individual level of firms, namely, no change for half of the spin-offs but an increase of spatial reach for only one third. With the aim to explore spatial internationalization patterns and changes herein, we apply logistic regression analysis. Important factors affecting both early and later international networks tend to be entrepreneurial orientation, regarding industry sector and market, while later relationships tend to be path-dependent, i.e. mainly influenced by the previous pattern.
Subjects: 
University spin-off firms
Knowledge relationships
Spatial reach
Capability factors
JEL: 
D8
L21
L26
M13
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

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