ABSTRACT
Business incubation programs are designed to accelerate the successful
development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed by incubator management. The purpose of the paper is to explore, investigate and identify the business incubators as effective tool for the economic development. The identification based on the best practice of business incubation process in successful implementation of case studies. Methodology/approach: The research methodologies adopted in this research study are desk-research and case study of 10 incubator organisations in the international countries. Findings: The findings of this study indicate the business incubators as an effective and innovative tool in supporting the graduated companies. Practical implications: The empirical results highlight some implications for successfully developing and implementing best practice of business incubation program. Originality/value: This study makes a contribution to knowledge about the of business incubation. Incubators fosters technological innovation and industrial renewal (Allen and Rahman, 1985; Similor and Gill, 1986; Allen, and McCluskey, 1990; Mian,1996; Al-Mubaraki and Busler ,2011a). In addition, it is supporting regional development through job creation (Allen, and Levine, 1986; Mian,1997; Thierstein and Wilhelm, 2001; Roper,1999). The structure and functions of an incubator depends on local and national needs. Well-structured business incubators will provide all the resources and services needed to enable the survival and growth of small businesses. Despite the different types of business incubators, their processes and services are generally similar (United Nations Industrial Development Organization, 1999, 85). In addition, critical to the definition of an incubator is the provision of management guidance, consulting tailored ,technical assistance to young growing companies. Incubators usually also provide clients a place where business professionals are offered an organized resource rich environment and support services dedicated to start-ups. As a broad approach to enterprise development, business incubators are considered one of a positive and effective means as public intervention. Businesses generally report satisfaction from services and increases in turnover higher than non-incubated businesses (Nahavandi and Chesteen, 1988). The objective of the paper is to identify the business incubators as an effective tool for economic development based on successful implementation of case studies. It will focus on many criteria namely, definitions, types of incubators, services provided by incubators and goals of each business incubation program and number of client, graduated companies. The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 2 provides literature review of the business incubation. In Section 3 the research methodology included the evidence from literature review and 20 successful case studies to illustrate different key performance of the business incubation. In Section 4, the authors briefly discuss the findings of the study drawn from quantitative approaches of incubators. Section 5 concludes with implications of the business incubators from successful international countries.
تاريخ النشر
01/03/2012
الناشر
Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, JAABC
د. امحمد عبدالله المنصوري | DR. EMHAMAD ELMANSORI | 7365