Resumo

Considering the great credence for—and the large amounts of money invested in—incubators by governments, universities, research institutions, municipal agencies and other interested parties, the question of what return society gets on these investments has been raised. Consequently, and in line with a general demand for more rigorous evaluations (OECD, 2006). This research aims to evaluate the effects of the characteristics on the global performance of business incubators in Brazil, Chile, Israel, Italy and USA.

Question: What are the effects of characteristics on the business performance (outcomes) in the Brazil, Chile, Israel, Italy and USA? This research aims to verify the effects of the characteristics on the global performance of business incubators. A conceptual framework is drawn up based on the literature and confirmed with specialists. The model was tested on incubators in three countries: Brazil, Chile, Israel, Italy and USA.

Business incubators have traditionally been recognized as new organizational forms for promoting entrepreneurship and stimulating new business formation (AMAZCUA 2010; CHAN AND LAU, 2005; ÖZDEMIR AND SEHITOGLU, 2013; LINDHOLM-DAHLSTRAND AND KLOFSTEN, 2002; LYONS AND LI, 2003; ALLAHAR AND BRATHWAITE, 2016; AL-MUBARAKI , MUHAMMAD , AND BUSLER, 2015; MONSSON AND JØRGENSEN, 2016). Business incubators (BI) date back to the 1950s (MIAN ET AL., 2016).

A conceptual framework is drawn up based on the literature and confirmed with specialists. The model was tested on incubators in three countries: Brazil, Chile, Israel, Italy and USA. Mailed structured questionnaires were employed for the collected 115 expert (Survey). The data were extracted using an assessment matrix (a survey). To reduce subjectivity in the results achieved the following methods were used complementarily and in combination: Law of Categorical Judgments psychometric scaling method (Thurstone 1927), multicriteria analysis, and neurofuzzy technology.

Business incubators contribute to the international economy and play a vital role not only in the economic recovery but also in smart growth and economic development. These findings will assist incubator managers, policy makers and government parties in successful implementation of incubator policies.

Finally, there are several directions in which this research might be extended. First, replicating this research with a larger sample size including a variety of stakeholder types will be recommended. Second, characteristics others can be used in the sample to achieve superior performance. Third, the proposed approach can be adapted for others countries. Fourth, comprehensively examine more influencing characteristics to accurately assess the business incubators performance.

AL-MUBARAKI, H. M. A MUHAMMAD , A. H. ; and Busler , M. (2015) Categories of incubator success: a case study of three New York incubator programmes, World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 12, 1, CHANDRA, A., and MEDRANO S., M. A. (2012) Business Incubation in Chile: Development, Financing and Financial Services. Journal of Technology Management and Innovation, 7 2, 13. CORSI, C. and DI BERARDIN, D. (2014) Assessing the business incubators performance referring the local development in Italy. European Scientific Journal September SPECIAL/ edition 1, 323-334.