Design of a University-Based Venture Gestation Program (UVGP)

Abstract

Design science methodology was used to develop and test a University-based Venture Gestation Program (UVGP), the model built after identifying key problems and reactions to them in student based gestation ventures. The model relied on a three-year longitudinal comparative case study of a successful and an unsuccessful student venture team. The teams came from the same university and were winners of business plan contests in 2012 and 2013. Although the teams were very similar to begin with, analyses revealed that different responses to three shared problems were key determinants of venture gestation success, and failure. Based on these observations, three design principles, termed tenure, competence compatibility and entrepreneurial bricolage, were adapted to derive a solution model, the Venture Gestation Model (VGM), with the aim of improving chances of venture success. To develop the model, the study drew on dynamic capability theory, and subsequently yielded the UVGP which provided concrete tools (prescriptions) toward gestation venture success. As a means of testing the designed solution, an evaluation of the program was conducted by observing the gestation venture of the 2014 winner of the annual contest. Findings show that gestation success depends more on the effectiveness of the program in increasing awareness of internal problems than on reactions to external changes. However, the prescription on competency development requires revision to overcome inadequacy issues.