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Continuity and change in a spin-off venture: the process of reimprinting

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  • Simone Ferriani
  • Elizabeth Garnsey
  • Gianni Lorenzoni

Abstract

Because new entrants very often spin off from established firms, their learning and capabilities are closely linked to their organizational and technological heritage. While this may provide an initial advantage, parental influence can generate inertia and resistance to change, unless the new company is able to unlearn inappropriate practices and create its unique competitive identity. The tension between inheritance and search for novelty is the subject of the article. Building on an in-depth case study of Acorn Computers and ARM semiconductors, we present a model of intergenerational learning and spin-off performance. Early parental influence is followed by intense learning, improvisation and response to feedback from the market. This we term reimprinting , to emphasize the enduring competitive and organizational identity established early on by the spin-off, which in this case provided the basis for disruptive innovation. Focus on the parent--progeny dyad as the unit of analysis can reveal micro-processes that reconstitute past experience to make possible both continuity and innovation in the spin-off venture. Copyright 2012 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Ferriani & Elizabeth Garnsey & Gianni Lorenzoni, 2012. "Continuity and change in a spin-off venture: the process of reimprinting," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 21(4), pages 1011-1048, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:21:y:2012:i:4:p:1011-1048
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 277-305.
    2. Bahoo-Torodi, Aliasghar & Torrisi, Salvatore, 2022. "When do spinouts benefit from market overlap with parent firms?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    3. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, 2016. "An integrative process model of organisational failure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3388-3397.
    4. Quatraro, Francesco & Vivarelli, Marco, 2013. "Entrepreneurship In A Developing Country Context," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201314, University of Turin.
    5. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2020. "Unpacking the process of overseas knowledge recontextualisation in returnee entrepreneurship - a learning perspective : a study of returnee entrepreneurs in Vietnam," OSF Preprints y5psh, Center for Open Science.
    6. Marco Ferretti & Salvatore Ferri & Raffaele Fiorentino & Adele Parmentola & Alessandro Sapio, 2019. "Neither absent nor too present: the effects of the engagement of parent universities on the performance of academic spin-offs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 153-173, January.
    7. Ferriani, Simone & Lazerson, Mark H. & Lorenzoni, Gianni, 2020. "Anchor entrepreneurship and industry catalysis: The rise of the Italian Biomedical Valley," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    8. Egle Vaznyte & Petra Andries & Sarah Demeulemeester, 2021. "“Don’t leave me this way!” Drivers of parental hostility and employee spin-offs’ performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 265-293, June.
    9. Helmut Fryges & Mike Wright, 2014. "The origin of spin-offs: a typology of corporate and academic spin-offs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 245-259, August.
    10. Markus Perkmann & André Spicer, 2014. "How Emerging Organizations Take Form: The Role of Imprinting and Values in Organizational Bricolage," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 1785-1806, December.
    11. Marco Vivarelli, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and Post-Entry Performance: the Microeconomic Evidence," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1286, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    12. Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Is entrepreneurship necessarily good? Microeconomic evidence from developed and developing countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(6), pages 1453-1495, December.
    13. Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Drivers of entrepreneurship and post-entry performance : microeconomic evidence from advanced and developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6245, The World Bank.
    14. Bruno Cirillo, 2019. "External Learning Strategies and Technological Search Output: Spinout Strategy and Corporate Invention Quality," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 361-382, March.
    15. Banalieva, Elitsa R. & Karam, Charlotte M. & Ralston, David A. & Elenkov, Detelin & Naoumova, Irina & Dabic, Marina & Potocan, Vojko & Starkus, Arunas & Danis, Wade & Wallace, Alan, 2017. "Communist footprint and subordinate influence behavior in post-communist transition economies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 209-229.
    16. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, 2014. "Old habits die hard: A tale of two failed companies and unwanted inheritance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1894-1903.
    17. Kriz, Alexandra & Rumyantseva, Maria & Welch, Catherine, 2023. "When does the internationalization process begin? Problematizing temporal boundaries in international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(3).
    18. Vasconcelos Gomes, Leonardo Augusto de & Salerno, Mario Sergio & Phaal, Robert & Probert, David R., 2018. "How entrepreneurs manage collective uncertainties in innovation ecosystems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 164-185.
    19. Maryann P. Feldman & Serden Ozcan & Toke Reichstein, 2019. "Falling Not Far from the Tree: Entrepreneurs and Organizational Heritage," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 337-360, March.
    20. Marco Ferretti & Salvatore Ferri & Raffaele Fiorentino & Adele Parmentola & Alessandro Sapio, 2020. "What drives the growth of academic spin-offs? Matching academics, universities, and non-research organizations," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 137-163, March.
    21. Scaringella, Laurent & Miles, Raymond E. & Truong, Yann, 2017. "Customers involvement and firm absorptive capacity in radical innovation: The case of technological spin-offs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 144-162.
    22. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Entry and Post-Entry Dynamics in Developing Countries," GREDEG Working Papers 2013-20, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.

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