Spin-Off Performance: Entrepreneurial Capabilities and Social Networks of the Founders in the Creation Period

This study examines spin-off performance from the perspectives of resource-based view and social networks of the founders. This explores the roles of pre-established factors in the financial and operational performance of a new venture. Such factors comprise entrepreneurial capabilities and social networks of the entrepreneurs before the spin-offs were established. These capabilities are constituted by technology, organizational capability, human resource, strategy, and commercial capability. The social networks are analyzed in structure, governance, and content dimensions. Based on the data from 181 university spin-offs in Spain, the paper empirically demonstrates that the entrepreneurial capabilities positively influence the performance of the spin-offs. The social networks of the founders indirectly affect the spin-off performance through enhancing the entrepreneurial capabilities.