The factors influencing technological entrepreneurship in nanotechnology businesses.
| Autor | Nikraftar, Tayebeh |
Introduction
Several researchers have focused on the concept of "entrepreneurship" to maintain and improve the sustainability indicators of competitive advantage in organizations and businesses (Tajeddini, 2010). Entrepreneurship is recognized as an essential factor in the enhancement of the economic situation by creating new employment and income opportunities (Chitsaz, Tajpour, Hosseini, Khorram & Zorrieh, 2019; Sabokro, Tajpour & Hosseini, 2018). Furthermore, entrepreneurs who are aware of their acquired knowledge and experience can seize business opportunities that often result from extensive knowledge of specific industries, specific markets, customers and specific competitors, as well as various skills (Nikraftar & Hosseini, 2017). Entrepreneurship is also important in industries with high technological opportunities because it can lead to company success, engagement in entrepreneurship, and the simultaneous risk-taking of investment in product and technology development (Schaper, 2016). Technology transfer, commercialization and the development of a new product (the subject of technological entrepreneurship) can play an important role in creating a competitive advantage for various technology companies and organizations (Bridge & O'Neill, 2012). In addition, technological entrepreneurship must be recognized as a multidimensional attribute (Linton & Xu, 2021). Accordingly, Bailetti (2012) states that the field of technological entrepreneurship is comparable to different fields such as economics and management in childhood; the researcher then considered technological entrepreneurship as an investment in a project that is unique to individuals and collects and expands complexities related to scientific advances and knowledge management through its heterogeneous assets to create value in a company (Bailetti, 2012).
In addition, technological entrepreneurship is at the core of crucial negotiations and discussions around the foundation and growth of companies, the region's economic development, the selection of proper stakeholders for the ideas, and training of managers, engineers and scientists (Zhuo et al., 2018). The primary role of technological entrepreneurship is to integrate high-quality people and heterogeneous assets. In other words, it seeks to create and capture value for the company through shared experiences and discovery (Bailetti, 2012). Technological entrepreneurship refers to the innovative implementation of science and technical knowledge by an individual or a group of people while creating and managing a business and taking financial risks to achieve their goals and prospects (Etzkowitz & Zhou, 2017).
Moreover, today we are witnessing rapid changes in technology and the intensity of the complexity of the environment (Salamzadeh, Tajpour & Hosseini, 2019). Proper insight into the existing situation might enable managers to recognize market realities and related rules, it may also help them create new and valuable strategies (Saeeda Ardakani, Tajpour & Hosseini, 2020).
Technology-based industries are expanding rapidly and are replacing traditional industries; hence, it is imperative to develop technological entrepreneurship (Groen, Cook & Van der Sijde, 2015). These changes and knowledge-based activities are sometimes interpreted as the industrial revolution. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation, it is clear that the development of technology plays a significant role in economic growth and development, while the emergence of technological entrepreneurship has led to the emergence of small and medium-sized enterprises (Dahlstrand, 2007). Manufacturing can revive, and technological management can be sought provided that national measures are integrated with this topic. Hence, it might be manifested in a framework that includes developed manufacturing leading to the establishment of policies pertinent to the particular conditions of each country (Daudt & Willcox, 2018).
Since the early 2000s, the Iranian government has opted to encourage the shift toward a knowledge-oriented economy by implementing different procedures. For this purpose, they adopted the "Government's Vision 2025" established in 2005 and involved various policies regarding technology, revolution, and science (Naghizadeh, Allahy & Ranga, 2020). Iran has also enacted new laws in 2010 supporting the foundation and improvement of SMEs as a mediator between business and science. These enterprises can help introduce the new products into the market and present the outcomes of the research and development (R&D) departments in technological industries (Kanani & Goodarzi, 2017).
While small and medium enterprises (SMEs) intend to improve the range of activities and the related market, their performance has been questioned by the competitive environment in developing countries (Hosseini, Saeida Ardekani & Sabokro, 2020a). Besides, various factors such as the lack of interacting and technical skills, incorrect selection of technology, insufficient obligation to learn novel technologies, as well as inadequate human capital have affected the consistency of such enterprises with the progression rate in the technological business in the world (Salisu & Bakar, 2019). Three factors of "the number of studies," "the quality of studies" and "the number of nanotechnology inventions" can determine Iran's position in the area of nanotechnology. Accordingly, authors selected the Web of Science database as the statistical source, and the related studies would be searched, extracted, and measured based on appropriate keywords. Moreover, the number of nanotechnology inventions would be determined according to the reliable patent committees in the world, including United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Europe Patent Office (EPO). Consequently, it was declared that Iran had registered 263 nanotechnology inventions in these two committees by the end of 2019 (Navabakhsh, Navabakhsh & Shadnoosh, 2019). In addition, Iran has registered 16 Nano-patents in USPTO, and 24 Nano-inventions have been delivered to USPTO for further investigations throughout 2019. Accordingly, Iran ranked 24th among the registered patents in USPTO in 2019 (www.nano.ir).
Despite the growing tendency toward technological entrepreneurship and SMEs have attracted significant attention among the media and policymakers, there is still a little research-based knowledge available accordingly. Existing studies have focused on some concepts, ideas, and solutions; however, it is necessary to conduct further studies in this area, given that technological entrepreneurship is a relatively new topic of research (Najjari, Didehkhani, Mostaghimi & Hosseini, 2021). It is believed that lack of consensus on the concept of technological entrepreneurship is regarded as the central issue because researchers commonly regard it as the combination of the concepts of entrepreneurship and technology where there is still no integrated definition for either of them (Babaei Fishani, Khozain, Ziyae & Ashrafi, 2020). Furthermore, the field of technological entrepreneurship needs further investigation in Iran due to the lack of political stability and economic conditions, poor knowledge of managers and the lack of access to financial resources. Moreover, given that technological businesses and SMEs are highly dependent on human capital and exist in a competitive environment, it is necessary to conduct supplementary studies accordingly (Keikhakohan, Akbari & Hejazi, 2020).
As a result, it is imperative to propose a model for the development of technological entrepreneurship in order to provide integrated plans and policies accordingly (Bolzani, Munari, Rasmussen & Toschi, 2021). Previous studies indicate that executive managers have focused on the development and promotion of nanotechnology as an integral part of the technological foundation in Iran; besides, the development of nano-technological entrepreneurship requires a reliable and scientific model (Ghasemi, Navabakhsh & Shadnoosh, 2019). The analysis of related scientific databases revealed that the identification of crucial factors in technological entrepreneurship had been disregarded in SMEs (Babaei Fishani etal, 2020). Consequently, the present research can contribute to filling the existing gap in this field given that data are collected from the corporates involved in the existing administrative plan supporting SMEs in Iran. The present research employs the Smart Specialization concept to encourage local improvement as a result of determining local potential and significant ventures that can help promote its competitive advantage. Consequently, it is likely to observe the establishment of the nanotechnology industry in developing areas that might result in entrepreneurship policies and prominent innovation in the region (Hosseininia, Yaghoubi Farani & Afshar, 2014).
Hence, this study can help expand the literature in the field of technological entrepreneurship and make a relationship with the innovative nanotechnology industry. It will also indicate that technology, peripheral knowledge, resources and collaborations can lead to the enhancement of businesses. This study highlights the potential relationship between technological entrepreneurship and the concept of business. The authors can also claim that there is no similar study on the mediating role of contextual elements in this relationship. Thus, this study aims to identify the influential factors in the successful performance of technological entrepreneurship in small and medium enterprises among Iranian nanotechnology-based corporates.
Literature review
Entrepreneurship and its types
Entrepreneurship refers to the fundamental driving force in economic development through creating novelty and new combinations of materials (Nikraftar, Hosseini & Moghadam, 2016). Entrepreneurship is largely focused on respective behaviors and decisions, exploration and...
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