In this chapter the literature related to the topics discussed will be presented in a concise rather than comprehensive form. The reason is to allow the readers to progress to the main topic of discussion without delays. Also, one has to bear in mind that the topic of innovation is multi-disciplinary, and the topic of this book is extremely so. The topics presented in the literature review will present the scope of topics related to the move from start-up to a complete firm. As they encompass the main aspects related to the operation of the firm, they cover a wide area of research and threaten to distract the reader from the topic at hand. Therefore, for each of the topics presented, a skeleton of literature review will be presented mainly to offer a starting point to those interested to pursue a specific topic rather than to present a comprehensive picture of the literature.
TopLiterature Review
The main areas of relevant literature are:
The firm and the theory of the firm. This topic is focused on the structure and fit of the firm to the environment as well as the growth and development of the firm. It therefore includes also issues relevant to the organs in the firm and their capabilities.
This leads to the next topic, the one of start-ups. It deals with the different types of start-ups and their role within the research of innovation. Here the research deals with the development of the start-ups as a process of the growth in the capabilities of the different organs of the firm. It is, therefore, close to the topic of learning in start-ups.
The development of the start-ups raises the last major topic which is the support strategies and tools, on local, national and international levels. The tools are derived from the strategies and require their own fit to the specific environment – the relevant ecosystem, which is included in the discussion.
Therefore, the literature review below will give some starting points and will relate to the main topics mentioned here but is intended to invite the reader to further read on the topic that the reader find most interesting.
The Firm and the Theory of the Firm
There is a huge body of publications in that area of research from the publication of Penrose (1959) setting the tone of the research for decades to follow it, and up to the latest publications regarding lean organizations, their structure performance and role. That area of research aims to understand the theory behind the firms (Baum, Locke, and Smith, 2001;), the role of the firms (Folz, 2003;), how they try to construct their structure and internal processes to fit their role, goals and environments(Brown, and Eisenhardt, 1998; Calantone, Cavusgil, and Zhao, 2002; Porter, 2013; Owens, and Fernandez, 2014), the decision-making process that influence the firms (BÉNABOU, 2013; Brunkhorst, 2020), and related topics (Denison, 1990; Jaskyte, 2004; Denison, Janovics, and Young, 2005; Jiménez, and Sanz-Valle, 2011; Mustafa, Lundmark, and Ramos, 2016).