Performance Evaluation for Knowledge Transfer Organizations: Best European Practices and a Conceptual Framework

Innovation intermediaries and performance-based incentives: A case study of regional innovation poles

“…This incentivised the poles to focus more on those activities that were measured, further confirming that 'only what gets measured gets done' (Davies, 1999). Second, the indicators focused on short-term outputs that were considered desirable in themselves (Langford et al, 2006;Comacchio and Bonesso, 2012), such as recruiting a minimum number of members and providing a minimum number of services, rather than on more complex, less quantifiable outcomes aligned with policy objectives. This led poles to recruit members that were easier to reach, rather than focusing on the weakest firms, and to offer knowledge-intensive services to firms that did not necessarily need the intermediation of the poles, rather than spreading these services to new users.…”

“…Not only have other Italian regions used similar indicators to evaluate the performance of innovation intermediaries, but some of these indicators are also among the most commonly used by policymakers around the world (Comacchio and Bonesso, 2012). Second, the misalignment between performance indicators and policy objectives is a problem for many innovation policies, inspired by an evolutionary approach that aims to improve the learning and cognitive capacities of firms and other actors (Laranja et al, 2008).…”

Innovation intermediaries as a response to system failures: creating the right incentives

“…We then argue that performance indicators that addressed more directly the innovation system failures the policy intended to mitigate, would have been more appropriate and consistent with policy goals. The applicability of our findings goes beyond the case of Tuscany: not only other Italian regions adopting similar innovation policies have used similar sets of indicators to evaluate the performance of innovation intermediaries, but some of these indicators are among the most commonly used by policymakers around the globe (Comacchio and Bonesso, 2012;European Commission, 2013).…”

Managerial orientations and business performance in small and medium tourism accommodation businesses (SMTABs): A resource advantage-knowledge creation approach

“…For small businesses, both intra and external resources empower their owner-managers to formulate competitive products and services (Weerawardena et al, 2007). External resources are most likely to come from forming social relationships with alliances, customers and suppliers (Comacchio and Bonesso, 2012). In the SMTAB context, they derive benefits from such relationships that are of proximity in tourism regions, which contain a critical pool of unique resources with little transactional costs of interaction and ownership for nearby business premises (McGaughey, 2007).…”