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Opportunity recognition and international new venture creation in university spin-offs—Cases from Denmark and Ireland

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Abstract

Extant research suggests that the founder’s activities and interactions are considered pivotal in driving the opportunity recognition process leading to international new venture emergence. This paper aims to explore the opportunity recognition process and international new venture emergence in the context of university high-technology spin-offs that are internationally market driven from inception. University spin-offs (USOs) are defined as ‘new firms created to exploit commercially some knowledge, technology or research results developed within a university’ (Pirnay et al., Small Bus Econ 21:355–369, 2003). To address this inquiry, this study imports theory from the entrepreneurship literature on organizational emergence, opportunity recognition, effectuation and the principle of individual self-efficacy. Drawing on empirical case data from four case USOs from Denmark and Ireland, this paper finds that the inventor-founders are typically engaged in opportunity recognition processes that are characterized as creative, driven by scientific innovations. It is indicated that the process of USO emergence and continuous development involves activities and interactions similar to typical international new ventures. The scientific knowledge that created opportunities for the emergence of INV-USOs across our cases endorses the view that innovation and internationalization are strongly correlated. Insights are provided on inventor-founders’ entrepreneurial intention demonstrated through activities and interactions in the on-going processes of creating the USO. Findings further highlight that self-efficacy of the inventor-founder(s) and access to specific resources (means at hand) are salient determinants for international new ventures to materialize. The study concludes with a proposed conceptual framework for further research on the creation of INV-university spin-offs. Conclusions and implications are drawn at the end of the article.

Résumé

Des nombreux travaux de recherche proposent que les actions et interaction du fondateur sont considérés cruciaux dans le déploiement du processus de reconnaissances des nouvelles opportunités qui mènent à la création des nouvelles entreprises. Cet article vise à explorer le processus de reconnaissance d’opportunités et la création des nouvelles initiatives dans le contexte des entreprenariats technologiques universitaires qui sont, dès le début, propulsés par et orientés vers le marché international. Des tels entreprenariats académiques sont définis comme « nouvelles entreprises créées pour exploiter commercialement une connaissance, une technologie ou d’autres résultats de recherches développés par une université » (Pirnay et al., Small Bus Econ 21:355–369, 2003). Pour mener cette étude, nous appliquons des théories de l’émergence organisationnelle de la littérature entrepreneuriale ainsi que théories de la reconnaissance des opportunités, implémentation et les principes de l’auto-efficacité. Sur une base de données empiriques de quatre études de cas d’entreprenariat académique du Danemark et de l’Irlande, cet article constate que les innovateurs-fondateurs sont typiquement engagés dans des processus de reconnaissance d’opportunités de caractère créative. Nous proposons que l’émergence et développement des processus d’entreprenariat académique incluent des activités et interactions similaires aux ceux qu’on trouve dans la création typique des nouvelles entreprises internationales. De plus, nos résultats soulignent que l‘auto-efficacité de l’innovateur-fondateur ainsi qu’accès à des ressources spécifiques (de style bricolage) sont des déterminants essentiels pour la réalisation des nouvelles entreprises internationales. Nous concluons notre étude avec une proposition d’un cadre conceptuel intégral pour des projets de recherche futurs sur la création des entreprises internationales sortant de milieux universitaires, dont les implications sont esquissées à la fin de l’article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing and Management, IBE, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Martin Hannibal & Per Servais

  2. Marketing Discipline, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Natasha Evers

  3. Visiting Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Learning, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden

    Natasha Evers

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  1. Martin Hannibal
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Correspondence to Martin Hannibal.

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Hannibal, M., Evers, N. & Servais, P. Opportunity recognition and international new venture creation in university spin-offs—Cases from Denmark and Ireland. J Int Entrep 14, 345–372 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-016-0181-0

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