Article Preview
TopIntroduction
By July 2022, worldwide unicorns rose from 39 in 2013 to 1182; more than 50 startups can be called decacorn and even hectocorn (CB Insights, 2022; Lee, 2013). These figures fueled many people to start new ventures. Entrepreneurship could not only create wealth for entrepreneurs but help spur employment, economic growth, and social change. According to Startup Genome (2022), the world’s startup economy hit $6.4 trillion and created thousands of jobs. Especially technology-based startups have attracted much attention since an innovation-led economy makes great sense in today’s world. However, it is not easy to start a new technology company — half of the startups will fail at the end of the fifth year; the failure rate increases in technology-related industries (Failory, 2020). Accordingly, many measures to support startups have been taken. As a representative, the technology business incubator (TBI) has been widely used. Taking China which highly values technology as an example, the number of TBIs has continued to increase in recent years. At the end of 2015, China already owned the largest number of BIs (People.cn, 2016). However, problems also arose in this process. A typical one is that TBIs usually fail to support startups effectively. To tackle these issues, the Chinese government even took measures like updating its management rules for TBIs in 2018 (Ministry of Science and Technology of China, 2018).
Reviewing previous studies, the authors found that similar problems have also troubled many other countries. Although some studies claimed that, theoretically, TBIs could encourage startup development, there was still little evidence (e.g., Colombo & Delmastro, 2002; Macdonald, 1987; Phillips, 2002; Ratinho & Henriques, 2010). To solve this problem, researchers made efforts to examine the effects of some specific support (e.g., Mian, 2011; Ratinho & Henriques, 2010; Wang et al., 2020; Xiao & North, 2017); others tried to assess a TBI’s performance and/or give suggestions to improve it (e.g., Binsawad et al., 2019; Chan & Lau, 2005; Guadix et al., 2016; Özdemir & Şehitoğlu, 2013). However, those studies are mostly done from the perspective of TBIs, overlooking on-incubator startups. For entrepreneurs, finding an incubator that aligns with their needs is important (van Weele et al., 2017). Thus, this study aims to figure out what startups need from TBIs. To do so, this study established a support program system from TBIs. Taking Korean technology startups as an example, the authors explored what they want from TBIs and if they are satisfied with current support programs. Results could help TBIs optimize their support and match with startups.
Another issue worth noticing is the difference in needs due to the distinct national context for technology startups. Globalization promotes entrepreneurial cooperation and network construction between countries and regions. Understanding the difference is meaningful to international entrepreneurial activities. Thus, the study also compared the needs of Korean and Chinese startups. The reasons lie in two aspects. First, Korea is geographically close to China. The two countries have relatively frequent exchanges and cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship. Second, both of them mainly encourage technology startups, but their policies and domestic market environment differ. In this situation, analyzing startup needs in two countries can help clarify the effects of different policies on TBIs and startups and then provide directions for two countries in coming out and bringing in.