SPIN-OFF ACTIVITIES AT HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS FROM A MODELING PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

One of the main thoughts about the development of spin-off activities at higher educational institutions is the need for money and time resources, at the expense of some resources invested for educational purposes. We analyzed the short- and long-run implications for higher educational institutions of investing time and money in spin-off activities from several perspectives: income, number of students and number of professors. To do that, we developed a simulation model at the aggregated level, which represents the phenomenon like a flow of two resources between two competing purposes: spin-off and educational activities. We also designed four scenarios according to different strategies to be implemented: high investment of time and money, low investment of time and money, high investment of time but low investment of money and low investment of time but high investment of money. The model was calibrated for the Colombian case. We concluded that proportional investment of time and money increases the performance in the long term, but decreases it on the short term. In addition, money investment without a proportional investment in time means a waste of resources, while time investment without a proportional investment of money could be a more effective strategy.