Early Stages of Healthcare and Life-Science Service Companies in Taiwan

Numerous models and frameworks have attempted to clarify management priorities during the early stages of business growth. The early stages of growth represent a critical period for survival of the firm. Instead of building more conceptual/universal studies, more focused, empirically based and context-specific studies are needed. The early stages of technologybased ventures have attracted broad interest, while little attention has been paid to the early stages of service-based firms. This study bridges the above-described gap by examining the early stages of growth in service-based firms in a Taiwanese business context. The research problem can be condensed into the following research question: How do the experiences of managers in Taiwanese early-stage service companies relate to the assumptions of recent empirically based stage frameworks? The business context analysed in this study is Taiwanese early-stage health and life-science service companies. In this retrospective multiple case study, we devise a four-stage framework describing the early stages of servicebased firms. This study is a preliminary test of the applicability of the framework, and it opens context-specific viewpoints. It is necessary to recognise these viewpoints when using this framework in this particular Taiwanese business context. Context-specific viewpoints and their effect on the early stages of companies have not been widely studied. This study considers context and provides new insights into the growth and management of service-based companies.