Research On The Mechanism Which Lead To Distinct Performance Of Incubator

The science parks and incubators have been viewed as an effective institutional instrument to promote technology commercialization and the development of new technology-based firms since it came into being half century ago. As a policy institution, incubator is playing an important role in facilitating the start-out to overcome its nascent vulnerability, survive it's infancy, and it could stimulate economies by creating new industries and by contributing to employment and wealth creation. As a result, it should contribute to the competitiveness of regional or national economy. So the policy makers focus more and more on the phenomenon of incubator.But still now, how to evaluate the performance of incubator and which characteristics of the incubator and the tenant increase the probability of survival is still a sore-head problem. So we are lack of theory and empirical basis to provide insights on how to manage incubator in order to improve the operation and performance. This paper attempted to provide an assessment of the incubator performance by measurement model, so we can analysis what account for the distinct performance in quantitative ways.Firstly, we review the concepts, categories, organization frameworks of the incubator, its evolutional process, and value-added contributions based on existing research around the world, synthesis the theories, measurement models and methods of the performance evaluation on incubator, then we draw some conclusions on determinants which lead to the distinct performance of incubators. Finally we outline how to further our research:we should develop different econometric models to assess incubator performance according to its explanatory variables which have their own characteristics, what's more, the ways to measure them are different absolutely.The paper discuss what contribute to the successful incubator within a quantitative analytical framework based on theoretical exploration, some important conclusions are as follows:(1)"tenants graduation" is the best "dependent variable" to assess the incubator performance, for it's hybrid of all observable and unobservable performance and smooth away the one-sidedness of variables which couldn't comprise their performance in general. Based on the assumption whether a econometric model could be developed, we analysis the rationality of the models, and ascertain survive analysis is the very econometric model to analyze the explanatory variables which is the binominal variables or could be' measured in quantity; for those that we have to measure through subjective items by responds, the Structural Equation Modeling is the best choice.(2)Finance and infrastructure of incubating network which belong to the resource and organizational characteristics of incubator are the determinants of performance; as to tenants, the entrepreneurs' characteristics themselves, for example, gender, degree, and the different industry could be the determinants of tenants' graduation.(3)Incubation network is the effective interface of "dynamic incubating" between incubator and tenant, through which resource, information and knowledge flow between them. We found the trust among the tenants and the rational organizational framework and efficient operation are the facilitators of incubating network during our development procedure of items, which confirm that tenants and incubators are the two critical nodes and through them all parties involved with the networking connected with each other. To our knowledge, few studies have focused on the performance of incubator based on incubating network till now.In one word, we focus on domestic and worldwide status in quo of incubator and its' trend of evolution, then furthered our research through three streams:incubator, tenants and incubating network, so we can highlight the determinants of the performance, and strengthen the theory and empirical basis.