H-Farm: a networked venture incubator Silvia Rita Sedita silvia.sedita@unipd.it
Service category Services Sources of competitive advantage Physical infrastructure Office support Access to capital Process support Internal External Internal External Office space, desk, PC, telephone amenities PC & equipment support, secretary & mail, security Direct investment Access to VCs, business angels and investors Coaching, mentoring, consulting & legal advice Networking Internal Formal and informal relationships with key employees External Formal and informal relationships with customers, suppliers, partners Favourable rent/lease terms, volume discount, shared use IT support & lease, reception services, safety & protection Own incubation fund, milestone instalments, road-shows Access to technical experts, start-up training, business planning, strong involvement/co mmitment of the management team in the entrepreneurial initiatives Rolodex, internal matchmaking, travel support Competitors Municipalities, science parks, realestate/landlords Science parks, real estate operators Venture capitalists, business angels, crowdfunding platforms Law & accountancy firms, consultants, business angels HR firms, networking organizations, virtual social network (i.e. Facebook and Linkedin), VCs and business angels, clusters and industrial districts Source: Adapted from von Zedtwitz and Grimaldi (2006). The networked BI Physical infrastructure & Office support Access to capital and Process support Networking
Networks in a networked BI inter-organizational formal linkages Source: Grandinetti and Sedita 2014 interpersonal cooperative interactions
H-Farm is a Venture Incubator which operates on the Web, Digital and New Media, promoting the development of startups based on innovative business models. silvia.sedita@unipd.it
https://youtu.be/6uyfoc2ph8o https://youtu.be/_hub9qygwxo https://youtu.be/tmdb5cy3lsu
Riccardo Donadon (CEO) How does it work?
H-Farm Portfolio
Methodology We gathered primary data from multiple respondent groups (incubator managers, tenant managers and employees, experts) and secondary data from various sources, including websites (of incubator, tenants, business partners, clients and suppliers), social networks (Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter), internal incubator documents, and incubator and tenants brochures. Primary data collection was conducted in the period May September 2012 through face-to-face in-depth interviews (one hour long on average) with key actors operating in H-Farm. In addition, a survey was conducted over a sample of 11 companies incubated in H-Farm. Firm questionnaire: addressed to founders, collecting information on the inter-organizational network (face-to-face interviews). Individual questionnaire: addressed to all members of the firm, collecting information on the interpersonal network (paper self-administered form). 11 firm questionnaires and 45 individual questionnaires were collected Data were elaborated through descriptive statistics and social network analysis
Interpersonal relationships
Interpersonal relationships Type of cooperative interaction Communication means Frequency a.v. % a.v. % a.v. % Between co-workers 187 63.61 F2F 214 72.79 More times a week With H-Farm staff 48 16.33 Skype 42 14.29 More times a month With external consultants 32 10.88 E-mail 18 6.12 More times a year 233 79.25 49 16.67 9 3.06 Among H-Farmers 27 9.18 Phone 13 4.42 Seldom 3 1.02 Social network 7 2.38 Total 294 100.00 Total 294 100.00 Total 294 100.00 Apa R.,Grandinetti R., Sedita S.R. (2017) The social and business dimension of a networked business incubator: the case of H-Farm. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24 (2), 198-221.
Interpersonal relationships silvia.sedita@unipd.it
Inter-organizational relationships
Inter-organizational relationships Type of contact #Ties External Internal a.v. % a.v. % a.v. % Service provider 21 28.00 13 61.90 8 38.10 Client 15 20.00 15 100.00 0 0.00 Business partner 12 16.00 6 50.00 6 50.00 Technology supplier 11 14.67 9 81.82 2 18.18 Investors 11 14.67 4 36.36 7 63.64 Intermediate goods supplier 5 6.67 2 40.00 3 60.00 Total 75 100.00 49 65.33 26 34.67 silvia.sedita@unipd.it
Inter-organizational relationships Legenda: Nodes Red nodes = H-Farmers Blue nodes = external organizations Ties Pink lines = business partners Green lines = investors Grey lines = clients Blue lines = technology supplier Red lines = intermediate goods suppliers Black lines = service providers
Information sources Information sources Sum of scores Variation Product development Marketing H-Farm Staff 46 46 = H-Farmers 36 27 - Workshops/seminars in H-Farm 32 33 + Investors 31 37 + On-line communities 28 35 + External firms 27 27 = Freelance/external consulting 25 28 + Workshop/seminars out of H-Farm 22 29 + Universities/research centres 22 20 - Apa R.,Grandinetti R., Sedita S.R. (2017) The social and business dimension of a networked business incubator: the case of H-Farm. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24 (2), 198-221.
So what? A NBI offers an extensive network of business relationships that start-ups can use to make their fledging process faster and more efficient (Hansen et al., 2000). There are important relationships not only with external stakeholders but also within the incubator, whether as inter- organizational relationships or social ties (Bøllingtoft and Ulhøi, 2005). The role of the team that manages the incubator is twofold. On the one hand, it works as an enabler and facilitator of relationships for start-ups, offering them the possibility of leveraging on the reputation of the incubator, which helps to legitimate their activities and so mitigates the liability of newness (Baum et al., 2000). On the other hand, it also develops intense interactions with start-ups, conveying relevant information and knowledge (Scillitoe and Chakrabarti, 2010). The results demonstrate that it is the co-presence of interpersonal and inter-organizational interactions that makes the incubator a vital environment and qualifies it as a specific type of entrepreneurial ecosystem (Staber, 2012)
References Apa R.,Grandinetti R., Sedita S.R. (2017) The social and business dimension of a networked business incubator: the case of H-Farm. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24 (2), 198-221. Stinchcombe, A.L. 1965. Social structure and organizations, in: March, J.C. (Ed.), Handbook of Organizations. Rand McNally, Chicago, pp. 142 193. Von Zedtwitz, M., Grimaldi, R. 2006. Are service profiles incubator-specific? Results from an empirical investigation in Italy. Journal of Technology Transfer, 31 (4), 459 468.