TY - JOUR

T1 - Spin-off enterprises as a means of technology commercialisation in a transforming economy-Evidence from three universities in China

AU - Kroll, Henning

AU - Liefner, Ingo

N1 - Funding Information: We are indebted to the VW Foundation for financing this research within the framework of a larger 30 month project fund. Additionally, we wish to thank our colleagues from Tsinghua, Zhejiang, and Wuhan University, who helped to organise the survey, as well as their graduate students who strongly supported us in our daily work. We also thank two colleagues from our department for proofreading and critical discussion of this paper, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

PY - 2008/5

Y1 - 2008/5

N2 - Recently, some university spin-off firms have begun to substantially contribute to the technological upgrading of China's economy. The corresponding academic literature, however, does not yet deal with spin-off activities of Chinese universities in a comprehensive and theoretically sound way. Currently, most articles on Chinese spin-offs focus on case studies of the most prominent government-sponsored enterprises in Beijing. This paper aims to contribute to the literature in a more comprehensive manner by providing a theoretical discussion of spin-off formation in a developing and transforming economy, and by presenting results from a comparative study based on data from 82 interviews with spin-off enterprises in three metropolitan regions in China. The study shows that under the initial framework conditions, government-driven spin-off formation has indeed proved an appropriate solution for technology transfer at Chinese universities. Many of the companies thus formed, however, suffer from defective incentive structures and lack of performance. Consequently, since lifting or easing restrictive regulations, the formerly unique model of Chinese spin-off formation has been complemented by a surge of entrepreneurial spin-off formation.

AB - Recently, some university spin-off firms have begun to substantially contribute to the technological upgrading of China's economy. The corresponding academic literature, however, does not yet deal with spin-off activities of Chinese universities in a comprehensive and theoretically sound way. Currently, most articles on Chinese spin-offs focus on case studies of the most prominent government-sponsored enterprises in Beijing. This paper aims to contribute to the literature in a more comprehensive manner by providing a theoretical discussion of spin-off formation in a developing and transforming economy, and by presenting results from a comparative study based on data from 82 interviews with spin-off enterprises in three metropolitan regions in China. The study shows that under the initial framework conditions, government-driven spin-off formation has indeed proved an appropriate solution for technology transfer at Chinese universities. Many of the companies thus formed, however, suffer from defective incentive structures and lack of performance. Consequently, since lifting or easing restrictive regulations, the formerly unique model of Chinese spin-off formation has been complemented by a surge of entrepreneurial spin-off formation.

KW - China

KW - Entrepreneurship

KW - Spin-offs

KW - Technology transfer

KW - University-industry relations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=41149138216&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.technovation.2007.05.002

DO - 10.1016/j.technovation.2007.05.002

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:41149138216

VL - 28

SP - 298

EP - 313

JO - TECHNOVATION

JF - TECHNOVATION

SN - 0166-4972

IS - 5

ER -