Management Review ›› 2023, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (9): 324-336.

• Case Studies • Previous Articles     Next Articles

How does the Incubation Platform Internal Network Improve Entrepreneurial Performance? A Case Study Based on the Dual Perspective of Resources and Learning

Li Mengya1, Zhang Yong2, Yang Delin3, Hu Xiao4, Zhang Jinsheng5   

  1. 1. Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065;
    2. School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044;
    3. School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084;
    4. School of Finance, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130;
    5. Beijing Tus Entrepreneurship Incubator Co., Ltd., Beijing 100084
  • Received:2022-07-18 Online:2023-09-28 Published:2023-10-31

Abstract: Internal network is the core carrier for a incubation platform to effectively exert its nurturing function and achieve the goal of empowerment. How to construct and optimize the internal network to promote the better growth of incubated enterprises has become an important topic of entrepreneurial incubation. Based on the dual perspectives of resources and learning, this paper takes TusStar, a leading enterprise in China's incubation service industry as a case for research. By deconstructing the evolution of resource actions of incubation platforms and learning behaviors of entrepreneurial enterprises during the development of internal networks, this paper reveals the internal mechanism of how the internal network improves entrepreneurial performance. The research finds that:(1) The resource actions of incubation platform and the learning behavior of entrepreneurial enterprises are the important behavioral processes of the incubation internal network to improve entrepreneurial performance. The internal network structure and quality status are the prerequisites for the resource action selection of the incubation platform. The resource actions taken by the incubation platform based on the internal network development context and the learning behaviors carried out by the entrepreneurial enterprise on this basis are the key links and implementation methods for the leap in entrepreneurial performance; (2) With the improvement of the internal network structure and quality, the focus of resource action of the incubation platform begins to progress "from resource construction to resource arrangement to resource orchestration to resource extension". In this process, the focus of learning behavior of entrepreneurial enterprise also adaptively progresses "from cognitive learning to experiential learning to practical learning"; (3) At different stages of the internal network development, there is an adaptive relationship between the resource action dominated by the incubation platform and the learning behavior dominated by the entrepreneurial enterprise. Under the effect of the corresponding resource actions of incubation platform, the resource endowment of internal network and the entrepreneurial ability of enterprises are the key considerations for the selection of entrepreneurial learning behavior. This paper expands the research on the path and mechanism in the field of incubation internal network, and has reference value for the effective use of the internal network of incubation platform to improve the efficiency of incubation.

Key words: incubation internal network, resource action, entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial performance