Identifying the principal factors of business incubation processes

Abstract

The common objective of Incubation or Entrepreneurship Programs (IEPs) is to facilitate the entrepreneurial process by meeting the needs of client enterprises and supporting their development. Many studies have been conducted in different contexts to assess the effectiveness of IEPs by relating the incubation process to businesses' performance indicators, particularly in terms of job creation and economic development. To contribute to overcome the limitations of this approach we adapted the model proposed by Hackett. and Dilts to fit the context of Puerto Rico, particularly in technological aspects. Taking the large set of variables that characterize the processes of the IEPs and using Principal Component Analysis methodology, it is possible to substantially reduce the number of variables needed to capture the principal characteristics of such processes.