Imitation and entrepreneurial learning: Insights from academic spin-offs

The subject of this article is the inheritance of the parent university of academic spin-offs through imitation and\r\nentrepreneurial learning. Building on a capability perspective, the article adds to the literature on university spin-offs\r\nand presents insights into the academic spin-off phenomenon that may be useful in supporting academic entrepreneurship.\r\nThe study is based on four universities, all located in the metropolitan area of Milan. The authors followed the start-up\r\nprocesses of 74 spin-off ventures over the period 2004–2013, obtaining economic data for 61 of the ventures. The analysis\r\nwe carried out shows that parent universities influence the industry distribution of spin-offs, since most spin-offs showing\r\na positive performance were concentrated in industries that (1) could benefit from the most advanced research of the\r\nparent university and (2) were those in which previous start-ups had also tended to concentrate. Thus, a focus on the\r\nparent (university)–progeny (spin-off) dyad as the unit of analysis reveals that the specific capabilities available and previous\r\nspin-off experience developed in the university play an important role in facilitating spin-off ventures and influencing new\r\nfirms’ behaviour in their start-up and development phases.