IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v31y2022i5p2437-2455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A comprehensive performance measurement framework for business incubation centres: Empirical evidence in an Irish context

Author

Listed:
  • Amir Hossein Azadnia
  • Simon Stephens
  • Pezhman Ghadimi
  • George Onofrei

Abstract

During the last 20 years, there has been an increased interest among academics and practitioners in the area of business incubation. However, limited attention has been devoted to developing a comprehensive framework that can measure business incubators' performances. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an appropriate, robust and useable performance framework. In this paper, we present a comprehensive framework using a weighted fuzzy inference system for business incubation centres' (BIC) performance measurement. The proposed approach utilises the input of a Delphi panel to identify criteria and subcriteria. Then a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is used to weigh the criteria. Subsequently, a weighted fuzzy inference system is developed and applied to provide results based on the identified criteria and subcriteria. To show the proficiency and applicability of the proposed framework, a case study of Irish BICs is applied. The comprehensive performance measurement framework presented in this paper provides for accurate evaluation and monitoring across six criteria. The six criteria are facilities and infrastructure; clients; networking and marketing; products and services; finance; and human capital. The results show that although most of the BICs focus on facilities and infrastructure, there is a need to concentrate more on factors such as networking, marketing and finance. The detailed approach presented in this paper can be used by academics and practitioners who wish to apply fuzzy inference systems to performance measurement. In addition, the results from our pilot can be used by BIC managers and policymakers to improve performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Amir Hossein Azadnia & Simon Stephens & Pezhman Ghadimi & George Onofrei, 2022. "A comprehensive performance measurement framework for business incubation centres: Empirical evidence in an Irish context," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2437-2455, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:31:y:2022:i:5:p:2437-2455
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3036
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.3036?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Surana, Kavita & Singh, Anuraag & Sagar, Ambuj D, 2020. "Strengthening science, technology, and innovation-based incubators to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons from India," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    2. Xun Liu & Xiaoliang Yu & Simon Gao, 2019. "A quantitative study of financing efficiency of low‐carbon companies: A three‐stage data envelopment analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 858-871, July.
    3. Jip Leendertse & Frank J. van Rijnsoever & Chris P. Eveleens, 2021. "The sustainable start‐up paradox: Predicting the business and climate performance of start‐ups," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1019-1036, February.
    4. Yu, Anyu & Shi, Yu & You, Jianxin & Zhu, Joe, 2021. "Innovation performance evaluation for high-tech companies using a dynamic network data envelopment analysis approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(1), pages 199-212.
    5. Muhammad Binsawad & Osama Sohaib & Igor Hawryszkiewycz, 2019. "Factors Impacting Technology Business Incubator Performance," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(01), pages 1-30, January.
    6. Abid Haleem & Shahbaz Khan & Sunil Luthra & Harshit Varshney & Musaib Alam & Mohd Imran Khan, 2021. "Supplier evaluation in the context of circular economy: A forward step for resilient business and environment concern," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 2119-2146, May.
    7. Karim Messeghem & Sylvie Sammut & Florence Gangloff & Chaffik Bakkali, 2017. "Performance measurement of French incubators," Post-Print halshs-01948737, HAL.
    8. Nair, Sujith & Blomquist, Tomas, 2021. "Exploring docility: A behavioral approach to interventions in business incubation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    9. Phillip Phan & Donald S. Siegel & Mike Wright, 2016. "Science Parks and Incubators: Observations, Synthesis and Future Research," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Phillip H Phan & Sarfraz A Mian & Wadid Lamine (ed.), TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS INCUBATION Theory • Practice • Lessons Learned, chapter 9, pages 249-272, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Siegel, Donald S & Westhead, Paul & Wright, Mike, 2003. "Science Parks and the Performance of New Technology-Based Firms: A Review of Recent U.K. Evidence and an Agenda for Future Research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 177-184, March.
    11. Baraldi, Enrico & Ingemansson Havenvid, Malena, 2016. "Identifying new dimensions of business incubation: A multi-level analysis of Karolinska Institute's incubation system," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 50, pages 53-68.
    12. Ehsan Pourjavad & Rene V. Mayorga, 2019. "A comparative study and measuring performance of manufacturing systems with Mamdani fuzzy inference system," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 1085-1097, March.
    13. Wang, Zhaoxing & He, Qile & Xia, Senmao & Sarpong, David & Xiong, Ailun & Maas, Gideon, 2020. "Capacities of business incubator and regional innovation performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Rowe, Gene & Wright, George, 1999. "The Delphi technique as a forecasting tool: issues and analysis," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 353-375, October.
    15. Abhijeet Digalwar & Rakesh D. Raut & Vinay S. Yadav & Balkrishna Narkhede & Bhaskar B. Gardas & Ashwini Gotmare, 2020. "Evaluation of critical constructs for measurement of sustainable supply chain practices in lean‐agile firms of Indian origin: A hybrid ISM‐ANP approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1575-1596, March.
    16. Lukeš, Martin & Longo, Maria Cristina & Zouhar, Jan, 2019. "Do business incubators really enhance entrepreneurial growth? Evidence from a large sample of innovative Italian start-ups," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 82, pages 25-34.
    17. Czinkota, Michael R. & Ronkainen, Ilkka A., 2005. "A forecast of globalization, international business and trade: report from a Delphi study," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 111-123, May.
    18. Ming‐Lang Tseng & Ming K. Lim & Kuo‐Jui Wu, 2018. "Corporate sustainability performance improvement using an interrelationship hierarchical model approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1334-1346, December.
    19. J. Piet Hausberg & Sabrina Korreck, 2020. "Business incubators and accelerators: a co-citation analysis-based, systematic literature review," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 151-176, February.
    20. Sagath, Daniel & van Burg, Elco & Cornelissen, Joep P. & Giannopapa, Christina, 2019. "Identifying design principles for business incubation in the European space sector," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-1.
    21. Kannan Govindan & Aditi & Jyoti Dhingra Darbari & Arshia Kaul & PC Jha, 2021. "Structural model for analysis of key performance indicators for sustainable manufacturer–supplier collaboration: A grey‐decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory‐based approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1702-1722, May.
    22. Liu, Yipeng, 2020. "The micro-foundations of global business incubation: Stakeholder engagement and strategic entrepreneurial partnerships," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    23. Lai, Wen-Hsiang & Lin, Chiu-Ching, 2015. "Constructing business incubation service capabilities for tenants at post-entrepreneurial phase," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2285-2289.
    24. M. Teresa Fernández Fernández & Francisco J. Blanco Jiménez & Juan R. Cuadrado Roura, 2015. "Business incubation: innovative services in an entrepreneurship ecosystem," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(14), pages 783-800, October.
    25. Kavita Surana & Anuraag Singh & Ambuj D Sagar, 2020. "Strengthening science, technology, and innovation-based incubators to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons from India," Papers 2005.13138, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2020.
    26. Karim Messeghem & Sylvie Sammut & Florence Gangloff & Chaffik Bakkali, 2017. "Performance measurement of French incubators," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 30(1), pages 4-21.
    27. Sean M. Hackett & David M. Dilts, 2004. "A Systematic Review of Business Incubation Research," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 55-82, January.
    28. Karim Messeghem & Chaffik Bakkali & Sylvie Sammut & Abdelaziz Swalhi, 2018. "Measuring Nonprofit Incubator Performance: Toward an Adapted Balanced Scorecard Approach," Post-Print halshs-01948730, HAL.
    29. Amir Hossein Azadnia & Muhamad Zameri Mat Saman & Kuan Yew Wong, 2015. "Sustainable supplier selection and order lot-sizing: an integrated multi-objective decision-making process," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 383-408, January.
    30. Chris P. Eveleens & Frank J. Rijnsoever & Eva M. M. I. Niesten, 2017. "How network-based incubation helps start-up performance: a systematic review against the background of management theories," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 676-713, June.
    31. Albena Pergelova & Fernando Angulo-Ruiz, 2014. "The impact of government financial support on the performance of new firms: the role of competitive advantage as an intermediate outcome," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(9-10), pages 663-705, December.
    32. Kaveh Asiaei & Ruzita Jusoh & Omid Barani & Arash Asiaei, 2022. "How does green intellectual capital boost performance? The mediating role of environmental performance measurement systems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1587-1606, May.
    33. Mrkajic, Boris, 2017. "Business incubation models and institutionally void environments," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 44-55.
    34. Yuangao Chen & Shuo Wang & Jianrong Yao & Yixiao Li & Shuiqing Yang, 2018. "Socially responsible supplier selection and sustainable supply chain development: A combined approach of total interpretive structural modeling and fuzzy analytic network process," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1708-1719, December.
    35. Kilic, Huseyin Selcuk & Yalcin, Ahmet Selcuk, 2021. "Comparison of municipalities considering environmental sustainability via neutrosophic DEMATEL based TOPSIS," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    36. Chang, Da-Yong, 1996. "Applications of the extent analysis method on fuzzy AHP," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 649-655, December.
    37. Małgorzata Jasiulewicz-Kaczmarek & Patryk Żywica & Arkadiusz Gola, 2021. "Fuzzy set theory driven maintenance sustainability performance assessment model: a multiple criteria approach," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 1497-1515, June.
    38. Fidelis A. Ayatse & Nguwasen Kwahar & Akuraun S. Iyortsuun, 2017. "Business incubation process and firm performance: an empirical review," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vidit Mohan & Rohan Chinchwadkar, 2022. "Technology Business Incubation: A Literature Review and Gaps," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 53-63, June.
    2. Brian J. Bergman & Jeffery S. McMullen, 2022. "Helping Entrepreneurs Help Themselves: A Review and Relational Research Agenda on Entrepreneurial Support Organizations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 688-728, May.
    3. Han, Shaojie & Su, Jingqin & Lyu, Yibo & Liu, Qing, 2022. "How do business incubators govern incubation relationships with different new ventures?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    4. Sansone, Giuliano & Andreotti, Pietro & Colombelli, Alessandra & Landoni, Paolo, 2020. "Are social incubators different from other incubators? Evidence from Italy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Sohail, Kanza & Belitski, Maksim & Castro Christiansen, Liza, 2023. "Developing business incubation process frameworks: A systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Klofsten, Magnus & Lundmark, Erik & Wennberg, Karl & Bank, Megan, 2019. "Incubator specialization and size: divergent paths towards operational scale," Ratio Working Papers 326, The Ratio Institute.
    7. Photchanaphisut Pattanasak & Tanyanuparb Anantana & Boontarika Paphawasit & Ratapol Wudhikarn, 2022. "Critical Factors and Performance Measurement of Business Incubators: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-39, April.
    8. Mingfeng Tang & Hao Huang & Grace Walsh & Maribel Guerrero, 2023. "The impact of entrepreneurial overconfidence on incubator effectiveness," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 416-440, February.
    9. Mian, Sarfraz & Lamine, Wadid & Fayolle, Alain, 2016. "Technology Business Incubation: An overview of the state of knowledge," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 50, pages 1-12.
    10. Margarida Madaleno & Max Nathan & Henry Overman & Sevrin Waights, 2022. "Incubators, accelerators and urban economic development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(2), pages 281-300, February.
    11. Robert Newell & Lenore Newman & Zsofia Mendly-Zambo, 2021. "The Role of Incubators and Accelerators in the Fourth Agricultural Revolution: A Case Study of Canada," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, October.
    12. Lukeš, Martin & Longo, Maria Cristina & Zouhar, Jan, 2019. "Do business incubators really enhance entrepreneurial growth? Evidence from a large sample of innovative Italian start-ups," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 82, pages 25-34.
    13. van Rijnsoever, Frank J. & Eveleens, Chris P., 2021. "Money Don't matter? How incubation experience affects start-up entrepreneurs' resource valuation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    14. Grilli, Luca & Marzano, Riccardo, 2023. "Bridges over troubled water: Incubators and start-ups’ alliances," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    15. Hu, Yubei & Ahmad, Ali J. & Lu, Dawei, 2023. "Performance management challenges at Chinese business incubators: A systematic literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    16. Rosado-Cubero, Ana & Hernández, Adolfo & Blanco Jiménez, Francisco José & Freire-Rubio, Teresa, 2023. "Promotion of entrepreneurship through business incubators: Regional analysis in Spain," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    17. Laura Lecluyse & Mirjam Knockaert & André Spithoven, 2019. "The contribution of science parks: a literature review and future research agenda," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 559-595, April.
    18. Kouam, Jean & Asongu, Simplice, 2022. "Effects of Taxation on Social Innovation and Implications for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Developing Countries: A Literature Review," MPRA Paper 114061, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Shen, Rui & Guo, Hai & Ma, Hongjia, 2023. "How do entrepreneurs' cross-cultural experiences contribute to entrepreneurial ecosystem performance?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    20. Amezcua, Alejandro & Ratinho, Tiago & Plummer, Lawrence A. & Jayamohan, Parvathi, 2020. "Organizational sponsorship and the economics of place: How regional urbanization and localization shape incubator outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:31:y:2022:i:5:p:2437-2455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.