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Abstract
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In order to enable offering more effective business coaching activities in the future, this research program analyzes the impact of such coaching on venture survival capabilities. The entrepreneurship research initiative, conducted by the Institute for Strategic Innovation & Technology (IST) at the Constance University of Applied Sciences, Germany, is supported by Nesta with an Innovation Growth Lab grant.
Technology-based ventures foster economic growth by accelerating the transfer of new technological knowledge to the market. Regional innovation activity is stimulated by expanding the technology-based venture eco-system. As a consequence, the industrial landscape is modernized and additional jobs are created. Hence, the public sector is interested in increasing technology-based ventures’ survival prospects by effectively allocating limited financial resources to support them.
Business coaching is an important support measure that positively impacts venture team performance because it helps to address the challenges of high-speed organizational change which founders face. Though not much research has investigated this type of supportive intervention applied to technology-oriented startups, it is a key value proposition provided by incubation and acceleration programs. But how do we know that business coaching actually affects survival capabilities, and thus the growth of ventures?
Following the conceptual design of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) study, this research program applies quantitative research methods in a business context to investigate the cause-and-effect-relationship between business coaching and venture survival. RCTs represent a specific experimental study design, achieving the highest hierarchy of evidence in primary research. RCT studies first appeared in the fields of psychology and medicine to test the effectiveness of treatments on patients. Within business contexts, the method has hardly been applied yet – though it is seen as the gold standard for analyzing the effectiveness of an observed intervention.
For the RCT study, a longitudinal sample of 450 early-stage, technology-based ventures will be recruited in Germany over three years (2015-2017) by the project delivery partner bwcon GmbH. bwcon is an expert in supporting technology-based ventures and will selectively offer business coaching to the sampled ventures following the defined RCT experiment design. Six months post-intervention, the survival capabilities of those ventures which received coaching are compared with those which did not receive the support intervention. Survival capabilities will be measured based on indicators for the maturity of the ventures’ value-networks in various market dimensions. It is expected that the survival capabilities significantly differ between the two groups, thus proving the effectiveness of business coaching.
Accordingly, by using the unique database of early-stage, technology-based ventures from the German regional state Baden-Württemberg, a deeper understanding of the impact of coaching activities will be gained. Identifying underlying causal effects of the effectiveness of business coaching on venture survival capabilities enables accelerators and entrepreneurship program providers to become more effective, which accelerates startup business growth in the long-run.
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After
In order to enable offering more effective business coaching activities in the future, this research program analyzes the impact of such coaching on venture survival capabilities. The entrepreneurship research initiative, conducted by the Institute for Strategic Innovation & Technology (IST) at the Constance University of Applied Sciences, Germany, is supported by Nesta with an Innovation Growth Lab grant.
Technology-based ventures foster economic growth by accelerating the transfer of new technological knowledge to the market. Regional innovation activity is stimulated by expanding the technology-based venture eco-system. As a consequence, the industrial landscape is modernized and additional jobs are created. Hence, the public sector is interested in increasing technology-based ventures’ survival prospects by effectively allocating limited financial resources to support them.
Business coaching is an important support measure that positively impacts venture team performance because it helps to address the challenges of high-speed organizational change which founders face. Though not much research has investigated this type of supportive intervention applied to technology-oriented startups, it is a key value proposition provided by incubation and acceleration programs. But how do we know that business coaching actually affects survival capabilities, and thus the growth of ventures?
Following the conceptual design of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) study, this research program applies quantitative research methods in a business context to investigate the cause-and-effect-relationship between business coaching and venture survival. RCTs represent a specific experimental study design, achieving the highest hierarchy of evidence in primary research. RCT studies first appeared in the fields of psychology and medicine to test the effectiveness of treatments on patients. Within business contexts, the method has hardly been applied yet – though it is seen as the gold standard for analyzing the effectiveness of an observed intervention.
For the RCT study, a longitudinal sample of 450 early-stage, technology-based ventures will be recruited in Germany over three years (2015-2017) by the project delivery partner bwcon GmbH. bwcon is an expert in supporting technology-based ventures and will selectively offer business coaching to the sampled ventures following the defined RCT experiment design. Six months post-intervention, the survival capabilities of those ventures which received coaching are compared with those which did not receive the support intervention. Survival capabilities will be measured based on indicators for the maturity of the ventures’ value-networks in various market dimensions. It is expected that the survival capabilities significantly differ between the two groups, thus proving the effectiveness of business coaching.
Accordingly, by using the unique database of early-stage, technology-based ventures from the German regional state Baden-Württemberg, a deeper understanding of the impact of coaching activities will be gained. Identifying underlying causal effects of the effectiveness of business coaching on venture survival capabilities enables accelerators and entrepreneurship program providers to become more effective, which accelerates startup business growth in the long-run.
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Last Published
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December 08, 2015 05:05 AM
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December 08, 2015 05:10 AM
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Primary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Measuring the absolute rate of survival entails the challenge of limited comparing opportunities due to the fact that the sample is drawn over time. A more refined measurement of survival thus had to be introduced by breaking down the outcome measure ‘survival’ into survival capability classes. Based on network theory and the assumption that the likelihood of survival increases as the venture’s value-network of transactions with partners in various dimensions (selling, procurement, HR, and capital markets) matures, we are measuring five distinct survival capability classes in these four categories summing up to a total survival capability score.
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After
Measuring the absolute rate of survival entails the challenge of limited comparing opportunities due to the fact that the sample is drawn over time. A more refined measurement of survival thus was introduced by breaking down the outcome measure ‘survival’ into survival capability classes. Based on network theory and the assumption that the likelihood of survival increases as the venture’s value-network of transactions with partners in various dimensions (selling, procurement, HR, and capital markets) matures, we are measuring five distinct survival capability classes in these four categories summing up to a total survival capability score.
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Randomization Method
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Restricted blocked randomization will be used to ensure the budget-limited number of interventions (50/year) is entirely reached.
One ‘block’ in this specific context refers to a one-year budget of 50 coaching contracts, randonly allocated to venture teams by bwcon consultants.
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Restricted blocked randomization will be used to ensure the budget-limited number of interventions (50/year) is entirely reached. One ‘block’ in this specific context refers to a one-year budget of 50 coaching contracts, randonly allocated to venture teams by bwcon consultants.
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Additional Keyword(s)
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Innovation, Entrepreneurship
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Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Business Coaching, Venture
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