MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BUSINESS INCUBATORS: A FOUR DIMENSIONS APPROACH FROM A GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL PERSPECTIVE

Business incubators are intended to support startup and entrepreneurial businesses by providing a number of services and resources to clients. The effectiveness of the business incubation industry has been debated since the industry gained popularity in the 1990s. But up to now, there exists no commonly agreed model in theory and practice to measure the effectiveness of business incubation in a standardized way. The aim of this paper is to identify and to assess critical dimension of business incubation, which are suitable to measure the effectiveness of business incubation. This research is a multi-method approach combining desk-research, interviews and a multi-case study of five incubator organizations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. From these findings, a model for measuring the effectiveness of business incubation in a standardized way is developed. This model helps incubator manager, policy maker researchers, practitioners, stakeholders and government parties for successful implementation of business incubation initiatives. In addition, it increases new knowledge for academic literature incubators and economic development.