Human Resources in Start-Ups: Expert Interviews with Managers on the Transition of Start-Ups from Academic to Private
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Academic Start-Ups and Spin-Offs
- Research subquestion RSQ1: How does the team composition in academic high-tech spin-offs influence financial performance during the transition from an academic research group towards a private company?
2.2. Spin-Off Transition
- Research subquestion RSQ2: How do team characteristics change in each stage during the transition of academic high-tech spin-offs during their movement from an academic to private market sphere?
2.3. Human Resources in Spin-Offs, Start-Ups and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
- Research subquestion RSQ3: How do the team composition characteristics differ between the different types of intrapreneurship of spin-offs?
- Research subquestion RSQ4: What are the stage characteristics during the transition and reorganisation phase in academic high-tech spin-offs?
2.4. Theoretical Framework
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Methodology
3.1.1. Validation of the Proposed Framework
3.1.2. Acquired Data
3.1.3. Case Study Description
3.1.4. Conducted Case Study Interviews
3.1.5. Case Study Analysis
3.2. Improvement of the Applied Framework
4. Results and Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
CEO | Chief executive officer |
EU | European Union |
HR | Human resources |
HRM | Human resource management |
KPI | Key performance indicator |
MD | Managing director |
RQ | Research question |
RSQ | Research subquestion |
SME | Small and medium-sized enterprises |
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Country | Slovakia | |
---|---|---|
Case | A | B |
General Company Information | ||
Founding year | 2014 | 2018 |
Founding mechanism | professor-preneur-driven projects | professor-preneur-driven projects |
Type of company | limited (Slovak: s.r.o.) | public limited company (Slovak: a.s.) |
Shares of initial founder (2021) | 0% | 25.1% |
Sold units (average per year) | 1.6 | 3.5 |
Yearly turnover (in thousand USD) | 360 | 540 |
Number of employees | 20 | 11 |
Number of managers | 4 | 3 |
Country | Germany | |
---|---|---|
Case | C | D |
General Company Information | ||
Founding year | 2015 | 2018 |
Founding mechanism | postdoctoral-preneur-driven projects | professor-preneur-driven projects |
Type of company | public limited company (German: AG) | public limited company (German: AG) |
Shares of initial founder (2021) | 25.1% (12.3% & 12.8%) | 20% |
Sold units (average per year) | 10.7 | 2.9 |
Yearly turnover (in thousand USD) | 1430 | 280 |
Number of employees | 14 | 6 |
Number of managers | 3 | 3 |
Characteristics | Professor-Preneur-Driven | Postdoctoral-Preneur-Driven |
---|---|---|
University eco-system support | Support and training for grants Support to find investor | Training on sales and marketing |
Incubator services related to HRM | Investor search Sales and marketing search | None |
Helpful bondages with university | Academic: Yes nonacademic: Bureaucratic and non-business-like practices | Yes, tightened |
Salary increase from academic to private | Yes | Yes |
Economic benefit decrease for mixed teams | No | No |
Mixed teams increase tension | Yes | No |
Period of tension | 1 to 2 years | N/A |
Period of tension | 1 to 2 years | N/A |
Human-resource-related KPIs given in business plan | Employee growth rate Employee number | Employee growth rate Employee number |
Initial research team | 1 professor, postdocs, students | 2 Postdocs, PhD students, students |
First team change period | MD (leader) changed to nonacademic | Students ended study and were replaced |
Second team change period | Additional nonacademics Deterioration of academic focus Leaving of academic team (1 case) | N/A |
Duration of resource fluctuation | 1 to 2 years | 1 to 1.5 years |
Period of fluctuation with regards to company life duration | From 3rd year onward |
Research Subquestion | Description | Result |
---|---|---|
RSQ1 | How does the team composition in academic high-tech spin-offs influence financial performance during the transition from an academic research group towards a private company? | Positive performance benefits in professor-preneur-driven spin-off may vanish due to team break up. Heterogeneity in general boosts financial performance. |
RSQ2 | How do team characteristics change in each stage during the transition of academic high-tech spin-offs during their movement from academic to private market sphere? | The different stage characteristics found may be found in Figure 3. |
RSQ3 | How do the team composition characteristics differ between the the different types of intrapreneurship of spin-offs? | The professor-preneur-driven start-ups change their MD to nonacademic, and additional nonacademics were taken in. The doctor-preneur-driven spin-off sourced internally, hiring former students that also worked for the spin-off part time. |
RSQ4 | What are the stage characteristics during the transition and reorganisation phase in academic high-tech spin-offs? | The postdoctoral-preneur-driven spin-off shows stability throughout its operation. Professor-preneur-driven spin-offs show increased tensions in the team in the two transition phases around the reorganisation phase. The reorganisation stage characteristics may be found in Figure 3, having an academic lead but a mixed team. The reorganisation phase is framed by two transition periods that imply employee fluctuation. |
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Pfeifer, M.R. Human Resources in Start-Ups: Expert Interviews with Managers on the Transition of Start-Ups from Academic to Private. Merits 2022, 2, 81-100. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits2020008
Pfeifer MR. Human Resources in Start-Ups: Expert Interviews with Managers on the Transition of Start-Ups from Academic to Private. Merits. 2022; 2(2):81-100. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits2020008
Chicago/Turabian StylePfeifer, Marcel Rolf. 2022. "Human Resources in Start-Ups: Expert Interviews with Managers on the Transition of Start-Ups from Academic to Private" Merits 2, no. 2: 81-100. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits2020008
APA StylePfeifer, M. R. (2022). Human Resources in Start-Ups: Expert Interviews with Managers on the Transition of Start-Ups from Academic to Private. Merits, 2(2), 81-100. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits2020008