Measuring Efficiency and Productivity Growth of New Technology-Based Firms in Business Incubators: The Portuguese Case Study of Madan Parque

• Published in: TheScientificWorld Vol. 2015; no. 2015; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Grilo, António, Santos, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Business creativity; Business incubators; Business metrics; Case studies; Data envelopment analysis; Decision making; Efficiency; Employees; Entrepreneurs; Growth; Growth rate; Incubators; Industrial productivity; Innovations; Linear programming; Performance evaluation; Productivity; R&D; Research & development; Portugal
• ISSN: 2356-6140; 1537-744X; 1537-744X
• DOI: 10.1155/2015/936252

Business incubators can play a major role in helping to turn a business idea into a technology-based organization that is economically efficient. However, there is a shortage in the literature regarding the efficiency evaluation and productivity evolution of the new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in the incubation scope. This study develops a model based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology, which allows the incubated NTBFs to evaluate and improve the efficiency of their management. Moreover, the Malmquist index is used to examine productivity change. The index is decomposed into multiple components to give insights into the root sources of productivity change. The proposed model was applied in a case study with 13 NTBFs incubated. From that study, we conclude that inefficient firms invest excessively in research and development (R&D), and, on average, firms have a productivity growth in the period of study.