Influence of the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and its knowledge spillovers in developing successful university spin-offs

University Spin-Offs (USOs) are dynamically involved in the knowledge spillover process and incorporated in the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. Drawing on the knowledge spillovers related concepts and entrepreneurial ecosystem approach, the paper aims to explore the hypothesis that the regional context may partially determine the USOs' growth via a cross-national analysis and using an ‘interactionist’ approach. Two samples of Spanish and Italian USOs (516 and 904 firms, respectively) over the period 2005–2013 were used and it was applied the multilevel modelling to empirically test the hypotheses. The findings show that regional context affects firm's growth only for Spanish USOs, while for the Italian USOs the evidences seem to suggest a not significant determining influence. The paper provides evidence that the region is a critical contextual dimension and an influential factor in building a more explicative research agenda on entrepreneurial universities.     

Business model innovation in cultural and creative industries: Insights from three leading mobile gaming firms

This paper contains an exploratory analysis of the business model innovations (BMIs) that firms in cultural and creative industries (CCIs) undertake along their life-cycle. Despite the role that creative and cultural and creative firms (CCFs) have in the economic development of industrialised countries, they tend to remain small and often fail due to industry-specific constraints and tensions, such as the lack of managerial capabilities and complexity in nurturing value chain relationships. However, there has been relatively limited scholarly interest into the specific conditions and processes that enabled CCFs to overcome these liabilities, and in particular into the identification of the business models they have adopted along their life-cycle. In this paper, this issue is analysed by using the concept of BMI, which sheds light on how the reconfiguration of the activity system through which a CCF creates, delivers and captures value enables the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities over time. This paper builds on an in-depth historical study of three leading firms operating in the mobile gaming industry, namely Rovio, Zynga and King Digital Entertainment. Three main results emerge from this study. First, in the ramp-up phase of their life-cycle, CCFs organize their resource architecture to build a strong and recognized reputation. Second, in the development phase, BMI is used to leverage new distribution paradigms. Finally, in the maturity phase, firms dedicate resources to innovate their product portfolios by providing platforms that support the development and testing of new creative ideas and solutions. Findings and implications are then discussed.     

Collaborative modes with Cultural and Creative Industries and innovation performance: The moderating role of heterogeneous sources of knowledge and absorptive capacity

Organizations can no longer be isolated entities in the current dynamic competitive environment but tend to establish alliances and networks with external parties. Recently, research has suggested that organizations develop collaborative modes with Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) to acquire and combine Heterogeneous Sources of Knowledge (HSK) within their organizational environment. Innovation thus becomes increasingly generated by a cross-process involving a diverse set of industries. Nevertheless, few studies have assessed how knowledge from distant industries, such as CCIs, can affect firms’ innovation performance. Accordingly, this empirical research on a sample of 187 firms evaluates whether formal and informal collaboration modes with CCIs affect innovation performance. Moreover, it assesses the moderating role of both HSK and absorptive capacity. In particular, it aims to answer the following questions. What are the effects of collaboration modes with CCIs on firms’ innovation performance? What are the differences (in terms of effects) between Formal Collaboration Modes (FCMs) and Informal Collaboration Modes (ICMs) with CCIs on firms’ innovation performance? Do heterogeneity of knowledge sources and absorptive capacity increase the possibility of benefiting from FCMs and ICMs with CCIs in terms of innovation performance? The results contribute to the theory indicating that HSK are important to benefit from knowledge from CCIs, while absorptive capacity does not fulfil the same role.     

The digital transformation of business models in the creative industries: A holistic framework and emerging trends

This paper examines how digital technologies facilitate business model innovations in the creative industries. Through a systematic literature review, a holistic business model framework is developed, which is then used to analyse the empirical evidence from the creative industries. The research found that digital technologies have facilitated pervasive changes in business models, and some significant trends have emerged. However, the reconfigured business models are often not ‘new’ in the unprecedented sense. Business model innovations are primarily reflected in using digital technologies to enable the deployment of a wider range of business models than previously available to a firm. A significant emerging trend is the increasing adoption of multiple business models as a portfolio within one firm. This is happening in firms of all sizes, when one firm uses multiple business models to serve different markets segments, sell different products, or engage with multi-sided markets, or to use different business models over time. The holistic business model framework is refined and extended through a recursive learning process, which can serve both as a cognitive instrument for understanding business models and a planning tool for business model innovations. The paper contributes to our understanding of the theory of business models and how digital technologies facilitate business model innovations in the creative industries. Three new themes for future research are highlighted.     

文化创意产业对旧城空间生产的作用机制研究——以北京市南锣鼓巷旧城再生为例

基于空间生产理论梳理了文化创意产业对旧城空间再生的作用机制,认为文化创意产业之所以能有效驱动旧城再生,是因为在资本生产新商业空间的同时,旧城文化可以融入新的文化创意并资本化、商品化,进而能够提升新空间收益的附加值,加大反馈力度,从而更好地协调新空间权利的分配。并以北京东城区南锣鼓巷为例分析了资本和文化在旧城空间生产过程中对商户和消费者、原住民、政府这三者空间权利的影响,认为南锣鼓巷的旧城再生模式具有文化创意产业驱动旧城更新的样本意义,较好地处理了新空间的权利分配,但也开始面临文化创意乏力、资本结构分化、各方权力边界再平衡等问题,需要进一步的跟踪研究以更好地完善文化创意产业对旧城空间生产的作用机制。