Purpose: Even in established economies, empirical studies on the relationship between business incubation and firm performance do not show unequivocally positive results. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this debate based on the empirical evidence from the under-researched Central and Eastern European region in which no similar study has been conducted before. Due to the shorter experience with the management of business incubators and less developed institutions, business incubators may not be so effective in supporting their tenants in this region. Design/methodology/approach: The authors utilise firm-level data from incubated Czech enterprises (n=205) founded after 2003 and compare them with those that have not received support from incubators. The authors implement three matching techniques to pair incubated and non-incubated companies. The outcome variables measured sales, price-cost margin, assets turnover, value added, size of total assets and size of personnel costs. Findings: Compared to the control group, incubated firms reported on average lower values of the above-mentioned indicators. Presented study shows that Czech incubators have not been successful in supporting growth of incubated firms. Practical implications: The study suggests that there is a clear room for improvements. Incubators should improve in attracting and selecting high potentials and in providing more effective support focussed on tenants’ growth, whereas policymakers should exercise stricter control regarding the money spent and effectiveness of incubators. Originality/value: The empirical analysis was conducted based on the research gap in the studies related to the impact of business incubation in the under-researched Central and Eastern European region. It also shows that positive results from similar studies done in established economies cannot be taken for granted as they depend on the quality of institutions in a particular country.

The paper is a country-specific study that explores the potential points of connection between the sustainable territorial development goals and managerial tools in the context of local authorities. In particular, the purpose of this research is to propose a set of features and criteria to evaluate the contribution of accounting documents to the pursuit, development and strengthening of social sustainability. As part of traditional accounting systems, social reporting is essential to support policy makers’ decisions in promoting social sustainability and in evaluating the effects of their choices within the institution and externally towards citizens and various stakeholders. To this end, we present a leading case study of a medium-sized Italian local authority’s accounting system in which the contributions and limits of managerial tools to social reporting are analyzed. The case study allows us to have a deeper understanding of social reporting and to get insights about issues that matter to social sustainability assessment in public administration. Since the reporting tools comply with international accounting standards, the case study offers interesting food for thought in the international debate on the assessment of sustainability in public organizations. The results identify the areas of complementarity and critical issues between social reporting and traditional accounting systems. Therefore, they enhance our knowledge about the role of public accounting system in supporting sustainable territorial development policies and programs through managerial tools’ adoption.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the topic of agency problems in service ecosystem for innovation. It specifically explores the corporate policies aimed at encouraging collaboration, so as to prevent opportunistic behaviors within the innovation hub, where service exchange is central for innovation creation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors apply the agency theory framework to the hub as a service ecosystem in order to understand how it would be possible to address agency problems between the firm (principal) and the other actors of the hub (agents), involved in peer-to-peer interactions. The research explores the case study of a high-tech leading company, which is a pioneer in the use of the hub for supporting its innovation process. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews to some key informants of the Hub Program regarding structure and organization; participation; incentives and monitoring. Findings: In service ecosystems, corporate policies are based on commitment, psycho-social incentives and social control may encourage collaboration among the actors, thus contributing to align their own interests to the hub’s innovation common goals. Research limitations/implications: Given the exploratory nature of the research, the paper is based on a single case study. Thus, it is not possible to either generalize the results or evaluate any statistical correlation. Practical implications: The paper provides a wider awareness about the benefits and risks related to service ecosystems for innovation, and advise both managers and practitioners about appropriate corporate policies to better address the agency problems. Originality/value: This study enhances the literature on service ecosystems, highlighting the importance of corporate policies in preventing opportunistic behavior of actors in order to ensure the value co-creation process. It also extends the agency theory application to informal and not-hierarchical contexts. Besides, it suggests practitioners a way to reconcile the different interests of the firm and the other hub’s participants.

The paper affords the topic of the innovation hub as an enabler of connectivity to support organisations in the innovation process. Given its potentiality, the hub is a tool increasingly adopted by companies, science parks and local authorities to enhance informally communication, knowledge sharing and open collaboration for innovation. Starting from some successful examples of innovation hub, the research focuses on its design and management, highlighting some challenges to be faced by organisations that deliberately adopt this tool. The first challenge lies in the identification of the drivers and guidelines underlining the hub's design. The second challenge concerns the opportunity of extracting value from big data collected in the hub. The study highlights not only the importance of setting technological tools based on social media to exchange data at real-time but also the ability of the organisation to transform information into long-term competitive advantage through dynamic capability expressed in the form of listening, analysing and proactivity. The last challenge regards the way to unleash the innovative potential of participants by defining appropriate corporate policies that are based on technological tools, incentives and rewards and orchestrating mechanisms to coordinate the network of communities.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent and under which conditions R&D projects benefit from team members’ participation in spontaneous and work-related communities of practice (CoPs).Design/methodology/approach: This is a quantitative empirical study. R&D projects are the unit of analysis. Data are collected through interviews to 121 informants who are members of 60 R&D projects and participants in 195 CoPs.Findings: The participation of project team members in work-related CoPs positively affects the R&D project performance. This positive effect applies also to radically innovative projects. The diversity in the institutional affiliation of CoPs members is also highly significant and positively correlated with the project performance.Research limitations/implications: The paper considers only work-related CoPs, thus neglecting the knowledge transacted through other types of CoPs.Practical implications: Practitioners should support the autonomous participation of project team members to spontaneous and work-related CoPs that cut across the organizational boundaries. Team leaders may enhance team innovative capabilities and performance by ensuring diversity of knowledge and skills from CoPs whose members work for institutions that differ from each other.Originality/value: First, this study provides quantitative evidence of the CoPs ability to support innovation. Second, this research is focused on spontaneous and work-related CoPs within business environments. Third, this study does not analyze CoPs performance, but it postulates a connection between innovative organizational units (i.e. R&D projects) and spontaneous CoPs that cut across the firms’ boundaries.