Appropriate strategies to establish knowledge‐based companies: Evidence from Iran

Abstract

The study aimed to put forward appropriate strategies for establishment of knowledge‐based companies (KBCs) in Iran. The statistical population included faculty members as founders of KBCs at Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST). The strategies were then suggested based on threats, opportunities, weaknesses, and strengths (TOWS) matrix. Priority analysis of strategies revealed that “using technical skills, commercializing technical knowledge, and practicalizing inventions and research results to develop high technologies” was the most prioritized offensive (aggressive) strategy, “practicalizing inventions and research results and commercializing internal technical knowledge as well as brining the IROST's brand together with that of KBCs to improve trust of business environment in domestic products” was of top priority as a competitive (diversification) strategy, “amending or revising rules and regulations, procedures, and executive policies of intellectual property (IP) rights along with commercializing and giving scientific/intellectual value to KBCs to support entrepreneurship and innovative programs aimed at developing high technologies and production of strategic raw materials” was advocated as a priority among conservative (contingent) strategies, and “amending or revising rules and regulations, procedures, and executive policies of IP rights along with commercializing and giving scientific/intellectual value to KBCs to reduce information rents and reproduction of knowledge‐based products” was recognized as the most prioritized defensive strategy. Results of cluster analysis to classify these strategies in terms of time also demonstrated that out of the 14 strategies identified, two of them were of crash type, eight cases were labelled as short‐term, two strategies were mid‐term, and two cases were selected as long‐term ones.