Key Competences for Effective Commercialisation
Purpose: Commercialisation is treated as the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of products based on new technologies to launch them in the market. Effective commercialisation depends heavily on the competence of staff involved in commercialisation activities. The paper aims to identify key commercialisation competences needed in a research network organisation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors analyse the state of the art by studying publications in the Web of Science database and present a single case study. As a result of the state-of-the-art review, commercialisation competences are identified. The empirical part of the paper is a single case study. The methodology of the study is based on two modules: an online survey (CAWI) followed by face-to-face (CAPI) and telephone interviews (CATI). Findings: The result of the analysis is a list of key commercialisation competences presented in terms of their importance in the commercialisation process, accompanied by data on the competence gaps of employees involved in commercialisation activities. Practical implications: The findings can be used as a base for creating a human resource strategy. The conclusions include recommendations for managers of research organisations involved in commercialisation, focusing on the aspects of strategic competence development that are key to the effectiveness of commercialisation processes. Originality: The paper takes a complex approach to the competences required for commercialisation of research results. Furthermore, it fills the gap of overlooking how capable an individual is of performing a given skill, thanks to both providing key competence lists and considering the extent of competence possession by commercialisation specialists.