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Do exploration and exploitation in university research drive early-stage equity financing of university spin-offs?

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  • Davide Hahn

    (University of Bergamo)

  • Tommaso Minola

    (University of Bergamo)

  • Silvio Vismara

    (University of Bergamo)

  • Daniel Agyare

    (University of Bergamo)

Abstract

An emerging theme in the entrepreneurial university (EU) literature is how universities should evolve to best reconcile their different missions, particularly research and commercialization, which often require different sets of resources. This tension is evident in the development of university spin-offs (USOs). In particular, the EU literature has generally overlooked how characteristics of university research affect USO’s early-stage access to external equity. In this study, we embrace the characterization of university research offered by literature in terms of patterns, specifically, exploration and exploitation. Through the lens of the imprinting perspective, we study the effect of exploration and exploitation in university research on the early-stage equity financing of USOs on a unique dataset that covers a sample of 739 USOs from 39 Italian public universities founded from 2011 to 2019. Our results indicate that exploration (exploitation) in research has an overall positive (negative) impact on the likelihood of USOs obtaining early-stage external equity financing. Additionally, this exploratory study offers several conceptual and practical contributions to the EU literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Davide Hahn & Tommaso Minola & Silvio Vismara & Daniel Agyare, 2024. "Do exploration and exploitation in university research drive early-stage equity financing of university spin-offs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 627-653, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:63:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11187-023-00862-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-023-00862-3
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    Keywords

    Early-stage equity financing; Entrepreneurial university; Exploration; Exploitation; Research patterns; University spin-offs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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