An Organizational Approach to the Academy-run Enterprises in China

摘要

Academy-run Enterprises (AREs), which are defined as the firms founded by academic institutions (including universities, public research institutes), have been prevalent in China. In this paper, we try to develop a theoretical framework to explain the emergence and growth of the AREs in China. For this, we propose to view ARE as an alternative "governance form " of "knowledge industrialization," which is different from ordinary spin-offs. By synthesizing two different fields of research (theory of the firm, academy-industry relationship), we develop the macro- and the micro-level frameworks. The frameworks developed in this paper are used to interpret the phenomenon in China, and the interpretations are verified with the preliminary results of our own empirical researches (interviews and questionnaire survey).