Application of Importance and Performance Matrix to Assess the Quality of Services Provided by Business Incubators

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the use of importance and performance matrix in assessing the quality of services provided by incubators. It is a descriptive research and it uses a qualitative approach. The research design is a case study, based on interviews with four entrepreneurs from the same incubator. It also uses a documental analysis from the public notice selection of the incubates used by this incubator. The dimensions of the services provided by incubators (infrastructure, professional services and network) and the attributes of these dimensions were selected based on previous studies. These attributes were used in the construction of the interview script and results analysis, aided by qualitative data analysis software for researchers, called NVivo® from QSR International Pty Ltd. The coding was developed based on 146 citations from interviews. High importance was attached to the infrastructure, which was evaluated as excellent. The professional services have received less importance, but they need to be improved. Despite the importance attached to the network, no robust actions were reported by the incubator. The analysis of clusters (or groupings) resulted in a group with hardware companies and another with software companies, resulting in two importance and performance matrixes being built. These matrices suggest the improvement of incubator performance in promotional activities to internal and external network. For hardware developers, access to laboratories is added. The study contributes to investigate the quality of services offered by incubators, especially when using importance and performance matrix