Monthly Archives: April 2007
The Incubator as a Strategy Component
Key Point: The incubator must be a component of a local economic development strategy. A number of researchers have confirmed the positive impact of business incubators in increasing a new enterprise’s chances of survival. Additionally, incubators have been found to … Continue reading
Filed under Business Incubation, Incubator
Dispelling the ‘Theory vs. Practical Experience’ Debate
It’s unfortunate how the word ‘theory’ has been misused in everyday speech such that it has lost its original meaning. These days ‘theory’ is considered synonymous to ‘impractical’, ‘unrealistic’, and even ‘speculation’. The result of this misunderstanding is significant: Students … Continue reading
Filed under Definitions, General Management
The Incubation Process
This is part three of my studies in business incubation. In case you missed the first two, here are Part 1 and Part 2. Despite the growing literature on business incubators, very little existing research focus on the incubation process … Continue reading
Filed under Business Incubation, Definitions, Incubator
Classifying Business Incubators
This is the second part of my studies in business incubators. The first part may be found here. To aid in the analysis of business incubators, particularly in identifying issues related to incubator evaluation and recommended practices, a classification system … Continue reading
Filed under Business Incubation, Definitions, Incubator
Defining Marketing
The American Marketing Association states that: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” However, a … Continue reading
Filed under Definitions, Marketing
What is a Business Incubator?
This is an excerpt from my paper on business incubation. From this point on, I will post the results of my studies in smaller, more manageable parts. Extant literature is yet to provide a standard definition of business incubators and … Continue reading
Filed under Business Incubation, Definitions, Incubator
Innovation does not mean R&D
True, we are now operating in a knowledge economy. That is, an economy where the central source of value is knowledge: a world where the one who has the most knowledge and produces the most number of innovations will be … Continue reading
Filed under Innovation, Knowledge Management
Service Quality: A Literature Review
In this paper, I review the work of Parasuraman et al. on service quality, particularly their gaps model and SERVQUAL, a marketing survey tool used for measuring a firm’s level of service quality. I then compare it with more updated … Continue reading
Filed under Marketing, Service Marketing
Absorptive Capacity
Absorptive capacity refers to an organisation’s ability to acquire and internalise new knowledge. Absorptive capacity is said to be composed of two elements: prior knowledge and intensity of effort. When a firm has a large knowledge base, acquiring additional related … Continue reading
Filed under Definitions, Innovation, Knowledge Management
