Description of the EU innovation project about entrepreneusrhip development programs. Presented in the ISPIM conference 2005

1. 01
CREATING AND CONSOLIDATING
BUSINESS IN TRACTOR
Carlos Peña
LABEIN Technological Centre
carlos@labein.es
Javier Mendibil
LABEIN Technological Centre
jmendibil@labein.es
Guadalupe del Río
LABEIN Technological Centre
gdelrio@labein.es
Javier Ruiz
LABEIN Technological Centre
jruiz@labein.es
A rich generation of young potential entrepreneurs is wasted every day due to
the hard obstacles that they have to face up to when transforming an
innovative idea into a strong and consolidated company. The difficulty is not
only in the starting up of the new companies from those good innovative ideas,
but also in the huge challenge of a long-term success that depends on
changing mentality and the way of dealing with technical and knowledge-
driven market conditions while remaining faithful to the original mission. In
this paper, some outcomes of the TRACTOR project (2002-2005) are
presented. This project aims to facilitate the creation of new innovative
companies, and to increase the success rates of star-ups. It integrates
consolidated practices about creation and development of new innovative
companies in the involved countries (Spain, France, Sweden and Slovenia) in a
TRACTOR scheme, supported by an open source internet platform.
1. INTRODUCTION
A rich generation of young potential entrepreneurs is wasted every day due to the
hard obstacles that they have to face up to when trying to transform an innovative
idea into a strong and consolidated company.
The difficulty is not only in the starting up of the new companies from those
good innovative ideas, but also in the huge challenge of a long-term success that
depends on changing mentality and the way of dealing with technical and market
conditions while remaining faithful to the original mission.
Moreover, they need to reach such transformation under the so-called
knowledge-based market conditions, which imply new challenges and skills in a
new global environment –knowledge driven competition.

2. NUMBER OF START-UP/SIZE
ISPIM 2005
The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) becomes a
great opportunity for the companies to make a more efficient use of its resources,
enlarging their possibilities as regards to the choice of location and the onset of new
methods of employment, offering them the instruments required for innovating and
adapting to the changing economic environment, etc.
2. THE CONCEPTION OF TRACTOR
But how to reach these goals when there is a lack of financial resources, lack of
skills (particularly relevant for technology driven new services), obstacles to sales
activities and a bureaucratic mess? (European Observatory of SMEs, 2000) How to
fight against the fact that start-ups reach a considerable size in a short period of time
and then they show serious difficulties to survive?
Tractor is born with the objective of creating a favourable environment to the
business creation and to the consolidation of young companies by means of
providing some accompanying processes that combine physical support and
consultancy with the so-called e-learning. This way TRACTOR aims to facilitate the
creation of new innovative companies, and to increase the success rate of the young
innovative star-ups.
TRACTOR provides specific guiding materials for entrepreneurs, integrating
consolidated practices about creation and development of new innovative companies
in Spain, France, Sweden and Slovenia, in a TRACTOR scheme, all of which is
supported by an open source internet platform that facilitates an e-learning
environment.
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00000000000000000000000000040000002d010100050000000902000000020d0000
00320a500000000100040000000000ca071a0520182d00040000002d010000030000
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Figure 1 – General Objectives of TRACTOR
Other more specific objectives achieved at TRACTOR have been, firstly, the
transition from tacit to explicit knowledge of existing and new practices in
supporting entrepreneurs. And secondly, the stimulation of the learning process
among the partners and other actors already working in the support of entrepreneurs
and start-up companies.
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3. Creating and Consolidating Business in Tractor
3. TRACTOR METHODOLOGY
The Tractor scheme is summarised in the following figure:
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00000000000000000000000040000002d010100050000000902000000020d0000003
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000
Figure 2 –TRACTOR Scheme
The TRACTOR methodology (Tractor, 2003) resulted from the integration of the
different methodologies and best practises utilised by the project incubator partners,
and it includes a step-by-step definition of two main processes:
1) Business Advisor Support from the Incubator centre to the entrepreneur and
oriented to the construction of the Business Plan. The potential entrepreneurs are
supported on all stages of the Business Plan creation, from the validation of their
idea to the development and validation of their Business Plan. It will be the Business
Advisor, an expert from the incubator centre, the person responsible of interacting
with the entrepreneur, deciding about the validity of his/her business idea and
assuring that a continuous support is given to the project. The regular contacts with
the Business Advisor will allow potential entrepreneurs to solve any doubt during
the creation of their business plan as well as in the future creation of the company.
The supporting process is shown in the following figure:
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Figure 3 – Potential Entrepreneurs Accompanying Process
2) Accompanying start-ups in the diagnosis of their enterprise maturity level. It
means the support from the Business Advisor (Incubator Centre) to the manager or
owner of the start-up, and oriented to make an effective assessment of the situation
of the company and a posterior implantation of an improvement plan.
Entrepreneurs already running their businesses face new challenges that differ
from the ones they faced when started down the road of entrepreneurship. Now, a
few years after the creation of the company, a new change in the business is needed.
But… in which direction?
Tractor offers start-ups the opportunity to make an on-line analysis of their
enterprise maturity level and counting with the support of their Business Advisor,
identify the areas of the company which require greater effort and use that as a base
for future comparison with subsequent assessments, thus reflecting the degree of
improvement achieved. Both the assessment and the improvement phases are based
on a maturity management model born from the adaptation of EFQM to micro-and-
small-medium-size companies.
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5. Implementation of
Training Plan Creating and Consolidating Business in Tractor
The process is shown in the following figure:
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Figure 4 – Start-ups Accompanying Process
Although the entrepreneurs can come from different origins (other companies,
technology centres, laboratories, etc), however TRACTOR project focuses mainly in
the three next target groups:
- TG1: University Students: Potential entrepreneurs in the long term that
demand specific knowledge and information about entrepreneurship.
- TG2: Students with a Business Idea: Potential entrepreneurs that demand
immediate support to validate their business idea, and obtain the knowledge
and resources to create their new Business.
- TG3: Start Ups (0-5 years): They need to improve their management
knowledge and skills and to implement management procedures in order to
consolidate their business project.
The E-learning Platform (Tractor, 2005) is the physical implantation of the
TRACTOR methodology. Any incubator centre may utilise the platform as it can be
adapted to their necessities and changed accordingly, both in contents and in
appearance (multilingual capacities). As it is open source it's also possibly to
integrate the platform into the web servers of the centre. Through this platform the
incubator can provide support to entrepreneurs and young start-ups, as a
complement to other face-to-face support activities. Other resources also available
through the platform are:
- Learning and Awareness Contents: best practices, case studies, marketing,
financial analysis, diagnosis against maturity model, tools for a simple
management process, templates, etc.
- Incubator Support: Business Advisors together with experts and tractoring
agents can interact with the entrepreneur and provide their assistance and
follow-up activities.
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- Communication facilities through which entrepreneurs, start-ups, Business
Advisors and other local agents can exchange opinions, questions,
suggestions etc, and thus collaborate and informally build national and
international networks.
4. DEVELOPING ‘SOFT SKILLS’
As time moves on and the team of the new company grows, young managers
have to develop new management skills. The entrepreneur needs to transform into a
professional manager (Swiercz & Lydon, 2002) with good leadership skills, as well
as build up the team and improve communication across the company.
In intend to give answer to start-ups’ real needs, Tractor members have
developed an innovative multimedia module that aims to raise awareness about the
importance of leadership, team building and communication issues (Taylor, 1990)
when managing a young, innovative start-up.
The Multimedia Module is an interactive game, available in several languages
and composed of approximately 40 stories reflecting typical problems and
situations. Throughout the game, the user experiences real situations while learning
important aspects of managing a team. The player is presented with suggestions and
recommendations in each situation.
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Figure 5 – Multimedia Module Screen
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5. AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to the European Commission for its financial support, to
the partners of Tractor for the knowledge and the effort provided to the project, to
the Team Academy for its effort in the review of the Multimedia, to our
subcontractors, to the entrepreneurs, managers, business advisors, friends and
colleagues that participated in the different phases of the project and anonymous
reviewers for their feedback on this research.
6. REFERENCES
1. European Commission. The European Observatory for SMEs - Sixth Report, Executive Summary.
2000.
2. Swiercz P.M. and Lydon S.R. Entrepreneurial leadership in high-tech firms: a field study. Leadership
& Organization Development Journal 23/07/2002: 380-389.
3. Taylor, G.R. Getting Results Through Good Communications. Business Credit; Nov/Dec 1990; 92, 8;
ABI/INFORM Global pg.44.
4. Tractor Consortium. Deliverable 1.3. Tractor Methodology. October 2003.
5. Tractor Consortium. Deliverable 2.4. Tractor Platform: www.sme-innova.com/tractor March 2005.
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