Entrepreneurial Team Learning, Forgetting and Knowledge Levels in Business Incubators: An Exploration and Exploitation Perspective

Exploration and exploitation are common in entrepreneurial teams. This paper considers the relationship among entrepreneurial teams in business incubators (BIETs) and the relationship between leaders and members of BIETs. It also examines the effects of BIET learning, forgetting and exit and entry on their knowledge level (KL) in different environments and models; two general situations involving the development and use of knowledge in BIETs and business incubators. The results indicate that in a static environment, the rate of BIET learning from each other and BIET equilibrium KL are negatively correlated, but a moderate rate of forgetting leads to a positive correlation. Second, in a static environment within a BIET, the combination of the leader learning from members quickly and members learning from the leader slowly can improve BIETs’ KL. However, with forgetting, improving BIETs’ KL requires a combination of fast learning by the leader and moderate learning by members. Third, in a dynamic environment, maintaining a moderate amount of exit and entry and forgetting within BIETs moderately improves BIETs’ KL in the long run. This effect is even more significant with BIETs’ exit and entry.