(the second article in a two-part series, continued from May 2011)
Last time, traditional small business incubation was discussed. Today, the trend in business incubation is less about making sure an entrepreneur has business-friendly office space with reduced overhead expense to launch and survive to beyond break even. Now, the focus is more on creating an entrepreneurially charged think-tank from which ideas can be generated that solve known consumer and business problems.
The ideas may be new products and/or services or using existing products and services in novel ways, or a combination of both. The ideas are tested and, if effective, form the basis of new and hopefully profitable businesses. Demand is then gauged through primary and/or secondary research to determine most appropriate scale of operations for profitability and stages or phases of growth.
Theme-oriented incubators are prevalent today. That’s when an incubator specializes in shepherding start-up firms in a particular industry. Examples include food-related, biotech, software (including computer-based games) etc. In May 2012 the National Business Incubation Association is hosting their 26th International Conference on Business Incubation in Atlanta, GA. The conference provides material for those who are new to incubation and for advanced managers, and it hosts topical sessions on varied industry clusters. For more information, visit www.nbia.org.
When considering small business incubation themes, we South Carolinians often refer to the state’s strategic plan done by Dr. Michael Porter of Harvard University and the Monitor Group ©2005. It makes sense to focus a South Carolina incubator on a cluster area in which South Carolina enjoys natural advantages that can be leveraged by the synergy of imaginative minds brainstorming together in an incubator, whether physical or virtual. For the cluster areas, see pp. 15-16 at http://www.isc.hbs.edu/pdf/200504_SouthCarolina_report.pdf or www.newcarolina.org.