Business incubators in Croatia: Resources and results

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the resources that business incubators in Croatia have at their disposal and to analyze the business dynamics and financial performance of their tenant enterprises. Unlike the previous studies that mainly employed a survey of business incubators, this study, in addition to a survey of 24 business incubators in Croatia, also uses firm-level data of tenant enterprises. Findings indicate small management teams of business incubators and high demand for tenant enterprises for mentoring services. Policymakers should consider these empirical findings and support investments in knowledge, skills, and mentoring capabilities of business incubators’ management teams. The main limitation of the research is that it did not include data from tenant enterprises on the perceived quality of services provided by business incubators. However, the financial analysis of tenant enterprises is the first of that kind and will enable a more straightforward evaluation of business incubators’ success and, thus, better control over public spending.

Keywords: business incubators; entrepreneurial infrastructure; incubators; new technologies; tenant enterprises