Purpose

In recent years the role of business incubators (BIs) within the small-medium enterprise (SME) dimension has grown fast, supporting SMEs, especially during the early stage. For these reasons, this paper aims to investigate how BI supports entrepreneurs in the early stage and what specific instruments are used? What kinds of relations do start-ups use (RQ2)? Finally, the authors intend to explore the long-term influence of these relationships on the economic value of the start-ups (RQ3)?

Design/methodology/approach

The present paper is supported by a qualitative methodology of a single case study. To reach the declared goal in terms of relationship observation, the paper applies the CAOS model (Paoloni, 2021), an interpretative model useful for analysing the relational capital within the SME dimension.

Findings

This first explanatory research confirms the crucial role of the BI in the firm’s development process. Especially in the early stage, the knowledge transfer from the BI allows the start-up to overcome its main difficulties: the organizational aspect and finance capacity.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation concerns the number of start-ups observed. Future lines of research will be focused on the study of other firms to acquire more data on the topic of BI programmes and start-ups.

Practical implications

The managerial implication refers to advancing knowledge and practice in the area of knowledge sharing actuated by BIs. The present work underlines the importance of relational capital as an intangible asset in the development of the younger company.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to two different fields: knowledge sharing by relational capital and gender studies.

中文翻译：

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企业孵化器与初创企业：一种可持续的知识共享方式

目的

近年来，企业孵化器 (BI) 在中小企业 (SME) 维度中的作用迅速增长，支持中小企业，尤其是在早期阶段。基于这些原因，本文旨在研究BI如何在早期支持企业家以及使用哪些具体工具？初创公司使用什么样的关系（RQ2）？最后，作者打算探索这些关系对初创企业经济价值的长期影响（RQ3）？

设计/方法/方法

本文件得到了单一案例研究的定性方法的支持。为了在关系观察方面达到既定的目标，本文应用了 CAOS 模型（Paoloni，2021），这是一种用于分析 SME 维度内的关系资本的解释性模型。

发现

第一个解释性研究证实了 BI 在公司发展过程中的关键作用。尤其是在早期阶段，来自 BI 的知识转移使初创公司能够克服其主要困难：组织方面和财务能力。

研究限制/影响

限制涉及观察到的初创企业数量。未来的研究方向将集中在对其他公司的研究上，以获取有关 BI 程序和初创企业主题的更多数据。

实际影响

管理含义是指在 BI 推动的知识共享领域推进知识和实践。目前的工作强调了关系资本作为无形资产在年轻公司发展中的重要性。

原创性/价值

本文对两个不同的领域有贡献：关系资本的知识共享和性别研究。