CROSS-MATCH: HOW TO IDENTIFY THE DAUGHTER COMPANIES OF A UNIVERSITY AND ESTIMATE THEIR ECONOMIC IMPACT?

Abstract

A university is evaluated by the people it trains, the knowledge it provides and, more recently, the companies and jobs it generates. "Daughter companies" of a university are those created by former students or by people with some connection to the university. The objective of this article is to provide a better understanding of how to map companies that are daughters of a university, and to evaluate their economic impact. By systematizing the literature, we found that the reported cases used the sending of questionnaires to former students – a method whose results depend on participation in the research, which never reaches 100%. So we proposed and tested a method based on cross-referencing university information with business information available in public databases. To test the proposed method, called Cross-Match, we conducted a study with former students of the Computer Engineering course at the Federal University of São Carlos (1992 to 2019). For the 792 names tested, 352 companies were found, 206 (58.5%) of which were active; 42.7% of Micro Size, 13.1% of Small Size and 44.2% of Other Sizes, making it possible to estimate an average revenue ranging from R$ 0.4 to R$ 27 billion, and to generate other indicators. This research contributes by systematizing information; by proposing and testing an unprecedented method in the literature, which does not depend on response rate, with the potential to automatically generate indicators on the impact of the university on society through its daughter companies. To advance the research, we suggest applying the method on an institutional scale, using government information, possibly in combination with consultation with former students.