The paper’s main purpose is to analyse newness and heritage, and what form it may take, in the context of university spin-offs (USOs). The empirical research is based on two cases of USOs generated from an Italian university. The case analysis provides an in-depth investigation of the conditions under which newness can be considered an asset rather than a liability, and sheds light on the role of heritage and how it is related to newness in spin-offs originating in an academic setting. The paper contributes to the literature on whether newness is to be considered a liability or an asset and enhances our understanding of heritage in the context of USOs. The study is also relevant to industrial marketing literature, as it addresses newness and heritage in business networks and affords the potential to better understand the two concepts and how they are linked. The paper demonstrates the existence of an interplay between heritage and newness that is manifest in the mitigating effects of the dimensions of heritage on those of newness: when the degree of heritage (in its various dimensions) is significant, the effects of newness are limited in terms of changes to the existing network, and vice versa.

Introduction

Given their strategic role in fostering innovation by creating and disseminating knowledge, university spin-offs have received increasing attention in the management literature (Cooper, 1971; Pirnay, Surlemont, & Nlemvo, 2003; Roberts & Malonet, 1996; Smilor, Gibson, & Dietrich, 1990). Although most authors have not yet provided a clear definition of what a university spin-off actually is, scholars do agree on the conditions that qualify any given phenomenon as a “spin-off”: (Hannibal, Evers, & Servais, 2016; Mustar et al., 2006; Pirnay et al., 2003; Rasmussen, Mosey, & Wright, 2015): it takes place within an existing organization, generally known as the “parent organization” and it involves one or several individuals who leave the “parent organization” to create a new one. Pirnay et al. (2003, p. 356) define university spin-offs (USOs) as “new firms created to exploit commercially some knowledge, technology or research results developed within a university”. This definition, adopted in the present study, includes several key elements. The first concerns the status of “new company”, in the sense that a USO is a “new company endowed with a distinct legal status that is neither an extension, nor a controlled subsidiary of the university, but is an autonomous structure pursuing profit making activities” (Pirnay et al., 2003, p.357). The second key element in the definition of USO is the nature and role of the parent organization, by definition a university, thus excluding technical schools, public/private R&D departments and research institutes.