The role of organisation structure in the success of start-up science and technology parks (STPs)

Start-up STPs have a central initiative controlling the decision-making. In early maturity, better decision-making is required and decisions are best taken with the input of 10 optimally two on-cluster firms; this ambidextrous situation is superior under all circumstances. Where poor-fit innovations abound and where the STP has been unable to attract large firms, retaining a hierarchical decision process is most helpful, even when the quality of decision-making is poor. This developmental trajectory will lead to market failure as size, and the seriousness of the concomitant potential losses, increases. With time, off-cluster firms move outward, inhabiting a band 4-7 km from the STP; their size remains modest and their innovation output is low. On-cluster firms are resilient to externalities; their innovation output is large and strongly correlated with social/networking expenditure. These new results are reviewed here as a contribution towards a "road map" to help STP decision-making and regional policy.