Title: Business incubators and start-ups in India: an assessment of incubation services availed

Authors: Vaishali S. Dhingra; Dhaval Maheta; Hemlata Agarwal

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat, Gujarat, India ' Department of Business and Industrial Management, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, Gujarat, India ' S.R. Luthra Institute of Management, MTB Campus, Athwalines, Surat, Gujarat, India

Abstract: Business incubators (BI) provide a variety of services to innovative companies, such as infrastructure, business-related support, and network access. However, adequate performance measures (PMs) and performance measurement systems (PMSs) for business incubators (BI) have been the subject of dispute for a long. There is a need to examine the performance of incubation centres in India. The study aims to measure the effect of endogenous variables, viz., physical infrastructure, accessibility of shared services, mentoring and networking, and funding projects on an exogenous construct called the performance of incubation centres (irrespective of their sponsoring body). The relationship is established using the partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) tool. The study identifies key factors that lead to the better performance of incubation centres.

Keywords: business incubator; performance measurement system; PMS; partial least square structural equation modelling; smart PLS; incubation services; start-ups; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2026.153950

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2026 Vol.40 No.2, pp.188 - 207

Received: 20 Sep 2022
Accepted: 05 Mar 2023
Published online: 09 Jun 2026 *

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