Effective commercialization of high-technology entrepreneurial ideas: a meta-synthetic exploration of the literature

Abstract Commercialization of high-technology entrepreneurial ideas plays an important role in the success of high-technology companies and economic development. However, most of commercialization processes fail due to poor recognition of enabling and constraining factors at each stage of the process. Thus, this article aimed to identify the factors through the meta-synthesis method of Sandelowski and Barroso. A systematic review of 30 articles selected on the basis of inclusion criteria was carried out. The findings revealed that the key internal enabling factors were competitive capabilities of the high-tech company, qualified human resources, satisfying market needs, content marketing, application of high technology, innovative high-technology product, and sufficient financial resources; as well, the key external enabling factors were elite research universities, quadruple helix, intellectual property rights, and government support policies. Moreover, the findings showed that the key internal constraining factors were limited financial resources, uncertainty of high technology, traditional marketing, market uncertainty, limited companies’ capabilities, unqualified human resources, and uncertainty of product, while the key external constraining factors were shortage of government support, absence of quadruple helix, lack of intellectual property rights, and weak research universities. Consequently, identifying the factors help high-technology firms to effectively commercialize high-technology entrepreneurial ideas.