Understanding a Business Incubator as a Start-Up Factory: A Value Chain Model Perspective

Abstract

This study proposes a value chain model for business incubation. It describes both an incubated start-up’s development of its own product and business and the incubator’s development of the start-up from entrance to exit as a “product” of the incubator. The reported research is based on qualitative content analysis of 15 start-up cases in a Norwegian business incubator. The reported research enhances our theoretical understanding of start-up development processes within an incubator and provides a framework that will be useful for incubator management to guide incubatees through their venture creation process.