TY  - SER
AU  - Huyghe, Annelore
TI  - Technology transfer offices as boundary spanners in the pre- process
PY  - 2014///
KW  - Nascent Spin-Offs
KW  - Proximity
KW  - Boundary Spanning
KW  - Technology Transfer Office
KW  - Spin-Off Entrepreneurship
N2  - Over the past decades, universities have increasingly become ambidextrous organizations reconciling scientific and commercial missions. In order to manage this ambidexterity, technology transfer offices (TTOs) were established in most universities. This paper studies a specific, often implemented, but rather understudied type of TTO, namely a hybrid  TTO model uniting centralized and decentralized levels. Employing a qualitative research design, we examine how and why the two TTO levels engage in diverse boundary spanning activities to help nascent spin-off companies move through the pre-spin-off process. Our research identifies differences in the types of boundary spanning activities that centralized and decentralized TTOs perform and in the parties they engage with. We find geographical, technological and organizational proximity to be important antecedents of the TTOs
ER  -