Entrepreneurship, holism and technological innovation: theory conflicts in lessons from spin-off companies

Entrepreneurship scholars have described entrepreneurship as a holistic process. This has presented conceptual difficulties in the analysis of technological innovation, particularly the development process of new high-tech small firms, such as spin-offs from public research agencies. The paper first discusses the concept of holism and reviews the analytical and dialectical philosophy literature to establish possible tests for holism, and next reviews the constructs of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial capacity with the extension of Penrose growth theory to entrepreneurial ventures. Data from case studies of companies spun-off by universities and other public agencies have been used to explore the relevance of holism and the other constructs as defined to the study of new technology-based firms (NTBF). The implications of these findings for the generation of new high-growth companies were also explored.