At present Europe lacks innovative companies, which grow quickly and end up big, as pointed out in The Economist. This book examines SME growth, innovation and success, to suggest that fast-growing firms can offer a major contribution to the recovery of a European economy. The contributors examine eleven case studies from Italian firms, breaking it up into three parts: context, actors and strategy. The topics discussed include entrepreneurship and technological clusters, innovative start-ups and growth factors, and family firms as the incubators of new ventures.Students and scholars of entrepreneurship and other related disciplines will find this book to be of interest. It will also be of use to practitioners in the field, working with and alongside SMEs.
Contents:Preface and Acknowledgements1. Introduction: Innovation Beyond National Systems Fragility: Institutional Bricolage for SMEs GrowthD. Lauto G. Pittino and F. VisintinPART I THE CONTEXT2. Entrepreneurship and Technological Clusters. The Influence of Contextual Factors on the Birth and Growth of New BusinessesT. Pucci and L. Zanni3. Tie Formation Through Venture Concept Development in Emerging Innovative Start-Ups A. Comacchio, S. Bonesso and V. Finotto 4. Micro-Context and Institutional Entrepreneurship: Multiple Case Studies and Innovative Start-Ups D. Giacomini, C. Muzzi, S. Albertini PART II THE ACTORS5. Innovative Start-Ups and Growth FactorsG. Antonelli, A. Berni and S. Consiglio 6. Family Firms as the Incubators of New Ventures: A Transgenerational PerspectiveM. Brumana, T. Minola, L. Cassia, D. Gamba and P. Pressiani 7. Evolution of University Spinoffs' Business Model.C.E. De Marco and A. Piccaluga 8. 'Reassembling the Social', in Entrepreneurial Innovation and Academic Entrepreneurship Studies: The 'Amphibious Scientists' Phenomenon. F. Crisci and P.A.M. MazzuranaPART III THE STRATEGY9. Learning from Critical Internationalisation Events. Insights from Two Fast Growing Italian SMEsC. Dossena, A. Francesconi, G. Magnani, A. Onetti, A. Pisoni, M. Talaia and A. Zucchella10. Spin-Offs and Social Capital: Contingent Social Networking Towards GrowthB. Masiello, F. Izzo, M. Pezzillo Iacono and M. Martinez 11. Business Model Evolution and the Drivers of the Growth of High-Tech New Ventures A. Tracogna, G. Bortoluzzi and B. Balboni12. Quasi-Successful and Quasi-Failing Academic Spin-Offs: The Role of Technological and Commercial AlliancesP. Gubitta, A. Tognazzo, D. Campagnolo and M. Gianecchini Index