Lisete Barlach and Guilherme Ary Plonski
This paper aims to investigate the decision-making on new ventures of eight directors or managers of Brazilian accelerators, aiming to understand if the Einstellung effect �…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the decision-making on new ventures of eight directors or managers of Brazilian accelerators, aiming to understand if the Einstellung effect – mental rigidity – operates during the judgment of new ventures to accelerate.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a quasi-experiment design, the study was conducted with directors or managers of Brazilian accelerators, who were separately interviewed and responded to a psychological test, previously consented, as well as to a simulated decision-making questionnaire.
Findings
The selection process, with the criteria for decision-making, functions as a “template” for the recognition of potentially successful companies and is, indeed, subject to various cognitive biases, among which, the Einstellung effect, characteristic of mental rigidity.
Research limitations/implications
The main contribution of the present study is to identify the cognitive mechanisms, which can negatively affect the evaluation of innovative projects and propose ways that can counteract or mitigate them.
Originality/value
The psychological approach to decision-making, usually studied in chess game context or problem-solving, was applied to a relatively unexplored field that is startups to accelerate. Its originality remains at the interdisciplinary approach, combining knowledge from psychology, decision-making and entrepreneurship.
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Artur Tavares Vilas Boas Ribeiro, Cesar Alves Ferragi, Guilherme Ary Plonski and André Coimbra Félix Cardoso
This study aims to analyze the phenomenon of entrepreneurial spawning in the new context of software startups, revisiting theory and identifying patterns within the emergence of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the phenomenon of entrepreneurial spawning in the new context of software startups, revisiting theory and identifying patterns within the emergence of startups/spin-offs in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
A study of two cases of startups recognized for generating several spin-offs founded by former employees. The authors based the data collection on the following triangulation: 11 in-depth interviews, systematic analysis of 33 resumes from entrepreneurs in spawned firms and document analysis.
Findings
Six skills developed in startups were identified: (1) structuring a company, (2) people management, (3) strategic/operational planning, (4) commercial/sales, (5) product development, and (6) behavioral traits. In addition, points of contradiction concerning the literature were found, such as the absence of the location effect, different professional experiences and new local agents to support startups.
Research limitations/implications
The present study covers only two cases in the context of software startups, which requires caution and discretion in extrapolating to other contexts.
Practical implications
The understanding of the phenomenon may reflect in: university programs focused on internships in startups, corporate training programs for entrepreneurs and the design of public policies based on entrepreneurial spawning.
Originality/value
The present study stands out for its access to data from high-impact startups in Brazil, in addition to revisiting the literature bringing a new perspective to the specificities of high-growth software companies.
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Artur Tavares Vilas Boas Ribeiro, Felipe Mendes Borini and Guilherme Ary Plonski
This article aims at the understanding of specific spaces where entrepreneurship education (EE) happens – inside and outside the classroom.
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims at the understanding of specific spaces where entrepreneurship education (EE) happens – inside and outside the classroom.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on frameworks such as formal versus non-formal entrepreneurial education and institutional versus non-institutional actors, this research applies structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore which spaces entrepreneurs attended as undergraduate students. Going beyond intentionality, the authors collected data from 175 respondents in Brazil, all of the respondents are entrepreneurs whose companies are at least one year old.
Findings
Results demonstrate that student-led activities are as important as institutional ones when training future entrepreneurs, while specific in-classroom activities feature the lowest impact among the institutional ones.
Research limitations/implications
Sample size and characteristics could impact the generalization power, but, since the results fit within research criteria, researchers can benefit by reflecting over new research horizons, going beyond classroom studies and understanding the university as an ecosystem of learning interventions.
Practical implications
Results can be useful to university managers when designing institutional policies, fostering a diverse set of undergraduate experiences towards entrepreneurship training.
Originality/value
Although current literature has focused on classroom education, researchers have been pointing out the need of stepping out of the classroom, analyzing other spaces such as student-led movements, co-curricular programs and more.
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Claudia Pavani and Guilherme Ary Plonski
Personalized medicine (PM) encompasses a set of procedures, technologies and medications; the term became more prominent from the 2000s onwards and stems from the mapping of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Personalized medicine (PM) encompasses a set of procedures, technologies and medications; the term became more prominent from the 2000s onwards and stems from the mapping of the human genome. The purposes of this study were to analyse the development stage of the process of technological innovation for PM and the obstacles that prevent PM from being adopted in the public health system in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
As a research method, this paper opts for a case study carried out at the Hospital das Clínicas, which belongs to São Paulo Medical School. In total, 22 in-depth interviews were carried out at the hospital to identify current practices in PM, future prospects and barriers imposed to the adoption of PM technologies in public health.
Findings
Personalized or precision medicine is already a reality for a small portion of the Brazilian population and is gradually gaining ground in public health care. One finding is that such changes are occurring in a disjointed manner in an incomplete and under development health innovation system. The analysis pointed out that the obstacles identified in Brazil are the same as those faced by high-income countries such as regulation, lack of clinical studies and need to adapt clinical studies to PM. They appear in all stages of the innovation cycle, from research to widespread use.
Research limitations/implications
The research method was a case study, so the findings cannot be extrapolated to other contexts. A limited number of professionals were interviewed, their opinions may not reflect those of their organizations.
Originality/value
There are several studies that discuss how health-care systems in high-income countries could incorporate these new technologies, but only a few focuses on low or middle-income countries such as Brazil.
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Mariza Almeida, Guilherme Ary Plonski, Justin Axel-berg, Adelaide Baeta, Branca Terra, Bruno Simões and Henry Etzkowitz
This paper aims to propose a performance measurement system to evaluate the key aspects of entrepreneurial activities in Brazilian universities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a performance measurement system to evaluate the key aspects of entrepreneurial activities in Brazilian universities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was developed in two phases. Both phases consisted of a survey sent to Brazilian universities (public, private and not-for-profit) whose technology transfer offices (TTO) had contributed to the annual report by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI, 2015), which evaluates the implementation of the Innovation Law. Multiple correspondence analysis was used to analyze the answers.
Findings
A set of 13 indicators and 13 characteristics of the organizational structure of the institutions was identified for the purpose of evaluating the level of development of the entrepreneurship activities.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this study relates to the low quality of the survey responses. It was not possible to qualitatively validate all the selected indicators. This is because universities are still not internally organized, because the higher authorities do not enforce the collection and treatment of data based on the existing legislation.
Originality/value
The results of this study, with the definition of indicators, can be used to inform public policy for the stimulation of entrepreneurship in other countries and regions.