Arcaini, E.: "Imprese che producono imprese. Motivazioni e fattori influenti sulla formazione di Spin-Off" ("Companies that produce companies. Motivations and factors influencing the creation of Spin-Offs"), IRES Lombardy, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato e Agricultura di Milano, Milan, 1997 (Only Italian version)

The IRES Lombardy conducted a survey on 147 Spin-Offs from the manufacturing sector in the highly industrialised Milan region. The objective was to determine the influencing factors for the creation, performance and survival of Spin-Offs. A company was considered a Spin-Off if it was founded between January 1989 and December 1990, if it had at least two employees, if it has survived until 1995 and if the founder had previous work-experience as an employee.

The Spin-Offs in the sample showed high average growth rates between 5.5 % and 453.8 %. However, the authors stress that 8.9 % of the Spin-Offs were forced to shrink and that 42.5 % after 5 years did not change in size at all. This suggests that a number of the Spin-Offs in the sample are born small and can stay small without losing the base of their existence.

On corporate level, four factors that motivate the creation of the Spin-Off have been extracted. These are:

  1. Exploiting a technological opportunity in a market identified during the work at the parent company.
  2. Insufficient recognition of internal capabilities at the parent company combined with a set of values that is not shared by the Spin-Off entrepreneur.
  3. Risks perceived if the Spin-Off entrepreneur stays with the parent company, i.e. risks of being laid-off, doubts about the future development of the company and obstacles concerning future career-development.
  4. Search for personal independence and self-fulfilment. The personal motivations stated for founding the Spin-Off are not different from the motivations related to the formation of a completely new business.

The study mentions three main competencies acquired at the parent company that constitute the Spin-Off’s know-how and shape its later configuration. These are:

  1. Operational know-how regarding the technological processes involved, market characteristics and cultural conditions prevailing in the sector.
  2. Innovative capacities which can be seen as learning effects from the participation in the development of innovative technological products and processes.
  3. Managerial and administrative experiences acquired within the market.

The probability of a Spin-Off to survive seems strongly related to the Spin-Off entrepreneur’s experience acquired within the parent company. The authors suggest that this experience constitutes a competitive advantage versus normal start-ups.

In total, the study is well structured, analysed (using factorial analysis) and presented.

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