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Incubators refer to economic development tools and programs designed to promote and accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial companies through the provision of a variety of services and resources ( Barrow, 2001 ). Incubators help new ventures overcome the liabilities of newness by offering start‐up firms many benefits not available to the typical new venture. These benefits include flexible, low‐cost office or lab rental space, access to sources of capital, and a number of business and support services, such as a secretarial pool or administrative staff, shipping, receiving, and copying services, and human resource, finance, legal, information technology, and accounting services. Members of incubators can also benefit from the flow of skills and resources across multiple members within the incubator's network or ventures. Business expertise, however, is perhaps the most valuable resource incubators provide, as they can offer consulting services and help incubatees develop business and marketing strategies. Given that nearly 60 percent of all new businesses fail within four years of start‐up, mostly due to insufficient financing and a lack of managerial expertise, incubators can assist new ventures through their infancy with the intent of nurturing them to the point they can become self‐sustaining ( Sherman, 1999 ). Through their collective arrangement, incubator firms can gain access ... log in or subscribe to read full text