Exploring the Factors Affecting the Performance of Business Incubators

Subject Areas : مدیریت

Mohammad Esmaeil Hafezi ¹ , Kamal Sakhdari ² , Naser Hamidi ³

1 - PhD Student, Department of Entrepreneurship, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran (Correspondent)
3 - Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Management, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran

Received: 2021-01-12 Accepted : 2021-01-12 Published : 2020-12-21

Keywords: entrepreneurship, Business, incubator, Development of innovation,

Abstract :

Incubators are powerful tools for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship that are growing in number worldwide. Nevertheless, the lack of understanding of factors influencing the performance of these business incubators has remained as a theoretical gap in the literature. In this study, with the aim of understanding and recognizing these factors, at first stage, the initial influencing factors have been extracted by using a meta-synthesis approach and systematic study of 40 researches. Then, to base it on a reliable case study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals and experts in incubators of Qazvin city. Finally, by analyzing the qualitative content of the interviews, the influencing factors were identified and classified by implementing a process approach to business growth in the six main fields and in the context of 33 elements including 2 in the field of External environment, 2 in the field of Local context, 8 in the field of Pre-incubation, 9 in the field of Main-incubation, 2 in the field of After-incubation and 10 in the field of General strategies. After validating by Member Checking and Focus Group methods, the results have been presented in the form of practical concepts.