Moderating Effects of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Market Orientation‐Performance Linkage: Evidence from Chinese Small Firms*

Literature revealed that an appropriate alignment between firm strategic orientation and market positioning is critical because of its impact on firm performance. The alignment is especially crucial for small businesses as a result of their limited resource base. However, studies have not adequately accounted for the joint effect of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and market orientation (MO) on firm performance in different institutional environments, such as transitional economies. In this study, we examine the moderating effect of EO on the linkage between MO and firm performance among small enterprises in China. We have found that MO, alone and in conjunction with certain EO dimensions, is positively related to firm performance. More specifically, innovativeness and proactiveness have positively moderated the relationship between MO and performance. We discuss managerial implications and offer suggestions for future research.     

The influence of firm age and intangible resources on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm growth among Japanese SMEs

With the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance having broad scholarly acceptance, researchers are now delving with increased focus into the contextual factors that change the nature of the relationship between EO and various manifestations of organizational performance. In this vein, this study adopts the resource based view and investigates the moderating influence of firm age and intangible resources on the EO-firm growth relationship among small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan. Further, we propose a three-way interactive model between EO, firm age, and intangible resources to better identify entrepreneurial configurations that promote superior SME growth.     

The entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship in private family firms: the moderating role of socioemotional wealth

Drawing on socioemotional wealth (SEW) literature, this paper revisits the established entrepreneurial orientation (EO)–performance relationship in a family business context. The main idea in entrepreneurship literature is that EO leads to increased firm performance. We question this logic in a family business context because family related non-financial goals, like SEW, may prevent the firm to reap the fruits of their entrepreneurial efforts. Specifically, we argue that SEW engenders inefficiencies that place constraints on the realization of the benefits of entrepreneurship. Therefore, we propose that a high level of SEW preservation hinders the transmission of the family firm’s EO into positive performance effects. To test this hypothesis, an empirical study was developed using a sample of 232 Belgian private family firms. Robust linear regression analysis reveals that the positive effect of EO on financial performance decreases as the level of SEW preservation increases.     

The mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation: A meta-analysis of resource orchestration and cultural contingencies

Building on the resource orchestration literature, we use meta-analytic structural equation modeling to test a model where entrepreneurial orientation (EO) mobilizes resources to influence firm performance. Our results indicate that (1) EO mediates (partially) the human and social capital - firm performance relationships; (2) social capital is positively associated with human capital; (3) the relationship between social capital and firm performance is mediated in two steps, first, by human capital, and then, by EO; and (4) the human capital – EO relationship is stronger in high in-group collectivistic, low future oriented, and high uncertainty avoidance cultures.     

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance in New Ventures and Established Firms

Lots of studies suggest a positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance; however, the empirical findings are inconclusive. There are two explanations for the contradictory results: the performance implication of EO is context‐specific and the relationship between EO and performance may be curvilinear. Consulted on the perspective of the liability of newness and taken together these explanations, this paper probes into the difference in the EO‐performance linkage between new ventures and established firms. We find that the relationship between EO and performance is inverse U‐shaped in new ventures but positive in established firms. Finally, we discuss our contributions, implications, and possible future extensions.     

Entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance in non-profit service organizations: contingent effect of market orientation

Prior research indicates that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance. This study argues that the inverted U-shaped relationship may depend on the level of market orientation (MO). A moderated hierarchical regression based on a sample of 307 non-profit service organizations reveals that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between each sub-dimension of EO and performance. However, these relationships do not exist for each sub-dimension of MO. When both market intelligence generation and responsiveness are high, the relationship between innovativeness and performance will be in a linear form. Under the condition of high-market intelligence responsiveness, the higher proactiveness will lead to a higher performance level. These findings will better our understanding of the relationship between EO and firm performance.     

Entrepreneurial orientation and performance in private family firms: A configurational model

The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and performance has received considerable attention from the family business literature. However, little is known about how EO, organizational parameters, and environmental characteristics act in combination to influence family firm performance. Drawing on the socioemotional wealth perspective, this study proposes a configurational model that considers the performance implications of EO, family management, and environmental dynamism. The empirical analysis indicates that the combination of family management, low EO, and low environmental dynamism engenders the best performance. The paper contributes to the family entrepreneurship literature by identifying the conditions under which EO leads to improved performance in family firms, and answers a recent call for more context‐based investigations of the performance effects of family managers. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Proactiveness,legitimation via ISO certification and the growth of SMEs in China

According to the literature on entrepreneurial orientation (EO), proactive firms are more likely to achieve first-mover advantage and higher performance. The neoinstitutionalism, however, suggests that enterprises with more legitimacy will acquire more growth opportunities. Usually, the first mover might face more legitimacy obstacles. To date, there has been little research on how proactive firms cope with legitimacy constraints and achieve firm growth. Integrating the legitimacy perspective and the EO literature, this research examines the roles of ISO certification as a strategy for seeking legitimacy of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies, and the relationship between proactiveness and firm performance. In particular, it hypothesizes that ISO certification has a mediating effect on the relationship between proactiveness and firm growth. We test the hypothesis using a sample of 632 firms collected from a nationwide survey on SMEs conducted by the Chinese SME Association. The results reveal that ISO certification partially mediates the relationship between proactiveness and firm growth, suggesting that proactive firms tend to use legitimation via ISO certification to enhance firm growth. Our paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the important relationship between seeking legitimacy, entrepreneurial orientation and firm growth in SMEs in an emerging economy.     

企业集群环境下的公司创业研究——网络资源与创业导向对集群企业绩效的影响

As the business environment becomes increasingly complex and dynamic, more firms begin to adopt corporate entrepreneurship strategy in pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage. Based on the network theory, this paper compares three types of resources acquisitions and argues that unique network resources are the underlying reason that entrepreneurship activities benefit from enterprise clusters. It also explores the relationship among network resources, entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance. Finally, drawing on the data of the enterprise clusters in Zhejiang Province, empirical results show that a firm’s performance is positively related to entrepreneurial orientation and network resources, which greatly increases the enhancement of EO to firm performance.     

Disaggregating entrepreneurial orientation: the non-linear impact of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking on SME performance

Previous studies have generally established a positive relationship between aggregated measures of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance. However, there are theoretical reasons suggesting that three dimensions of EO (innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) may possess differential relationships with performance in smaller firms. This study utilizes a sample consisting of 1,668 small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in nine countries across 13 different industries to provide a finer-grained analysis of the EO-performance relationship. Specifically, we theorize and test a non-monotonic influence of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking on SME performance. Innovativeness and proactiveness displayed predominantly positive U-shaped relationships with SME performance. Risk-taking, however, displayed a predominantly negative U-shaped relationship with SME performance. Further, individualism was found to positively moderate the relationships between innovativeness-performance and proactiveness-performance. Taken together, these results suggest that differential relationships exist between three dimensions of EO and SME performance, with important theoretical implications for future EO research.     

Entrepreneurial orientation,export channel selection,and export performance of SMEs

Although research indicates that the export channel a firm uses can significantly impact export performance, it is unclear how firms should select this channel. Models of export channel choice tend to concentrate on transaction cost efficiencies, ignoring value adding orientations that entrepreneurial firms may possess. In this paper we develop and test the theoretical notion that in addition to transaction costs, differences in entrepreneurial orientation (EO) influence export channel choice and as a consequence export performance. Using data from a sample of Dutch and Italian SMEs we find that adding EO (moderated by institutional distance) significantly improves our model of export channel choice. Further we find that firms selecting export channels that align not only with transaction cost factors but also firm level EO, moderated by institutional distance, have higher export market performance. Thus, our study adds to and extends the export channel choice literature and provides interesting new insights into how EO helps firms create more successful export operations.     

As Different as Chalk and Cheese? The Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Orientation and SMEs’ Growth: Evidence from Russia and Finland

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm growth and the moderating role of business environment for Russian and Finnish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For hypothesis testing, structural equation modeling is applied to the data set of 104 Russian and 117 Finnish privately owned SMEs. Results show that while in the Finnish market context EO dimensions are directly associated with firm growth, in the emerging Russian market the relationship is moderated by the dynamic and hostile environment. The results also provide evidence of the nature of EO for SMEs operating in Russia.     

Firms’ degree of born-globalness,international entrepreneurial orientation and export performance

Despite the recent increase in ’born-global’ studies, there has been little research on how the scale and scope of being a born-global firm affects performance: most of the earlier research takes no account either the number of or the distances between the countries on firm or export performance. This article begins with a review of the existing literature on born-globals, and subsequently explores the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and two different born-global strategies, namely true born-global and apparently born-global (born-international), and the effectiveness of these two born-global pathways. The results of our empirical study on 185 Finnish exporting firms show that those that qualified as true born-globals had better export performance. Furthermore, depending on the degree of born-globalness, different dimensions of EO were of importance.     

Linking Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance: The Role of Organizational Learning Capability and Innovation Performance

This research contributes to the entrepreneurial orientation (EO)–performance literature by offering a wider picture that includes two intermediate steps: organizational learning capability (OLC) and innovation performance. This study also provides an explanation of intra‐industry firm performance differences by focusing on EO. We use structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses on a data set from Italian and Spanish ceramic tile producers. The results support our conceptual model and demonstrate its usefulness in explaining differences in intra‐industry firm performance. Findings suggest that OLC and innovation performance should be enhanced by managers in order to boost the positive EO–performance link.     

Strategic orientation and firm risk

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and market orientation (MO) have received substantial conceptual and empirical attention in the marketing and management literature and both orientations have consistently been linked to stronger financial performance. Yet the way in which market-oriented firms seek to achieve superior rents is substantively different from that of entrepreneurially oriented firms which could lead to differential impacts of EO and MO on firm risk. In this study, the authors employ a text mining technique to assess firms' EO and MO and examine the impact of these two strategic orientations on shareholder risk outcomes. The results show that while EO increases idiosyncratic risk, MO decreases it. However, only EO decreases systematic risk. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that a firm's decisions regarding strategic orientation should be examined in light of both likely risks and returns in order to make appropriate resource allocation decisions.     

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Performance of Chinese High-Tech Firms： The Mediating Role of Organizational Learning and Moderating Role of Firm Life Cycle

The evidence about how entrepreneurial orientation （EO） affects firms＇ performance remains inconclusive. This study joins the research by incorporating organizational learning （OL） as a micro-macro link and by extending empirical work to the largely underexplored context of Chinese high-tech industries. Results from a survey of 252 Chinese high-tech firms demonstrate： （1） entrepreneurial orientation is positively related to firm performance; （2） organizational learning is also positively related to firm performance; （3） organizational learning partly mediates the positive impact of entrepreneurial orientation on firm performance; and （4） high-tech companies in the start-up and growth stage are likely to demonstrate stronger linkages in the EO-OL-performance relationship than in mature stage, which shows that the EO-OL-performance relationship is moderated by firms＇ life cycle.     

The Long‐Term Impact of Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Venture Performance

We collected multi‐wave survey data to assess the lagged effects of entrepreneurial self‐efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on firm performance over a five‐year period. The results of our study indicate that ESE and EO are both positively associated with firm performance but in different, and interesting, ways. Entrepreneurially self‐efficacious founder/managers may help improve the performance of very young firms but such benefits dissipate over time. An EO, on the other hand, does not appear to be particularly beneficial to very young firms. However, our results suggest an EO may play an increasingly valuable role as new firms mature.     

Do Entrepreneurial SMEs Perform Better Because They are More Responsible?

Many scholars have investigated the direct impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on performance, but this direct association seems both spurious and ambiguous because many parameters may have an indirect influence on this relationship. The present study thus considers sustainable practices—environmental practices, social practices in the workplace (SPW), and social practices in the community (SPC)—as three probable mediators in the relationship between EO and performance, which is considered in terms of its financial and non-financial dimensions. We seek to show to what extent small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) sustainable practices are useful assets, which are supported by EO, to improve performance. Using a structural equation modeling approach, data collected from 406 French SMEs were tested against the model. Our findings reveal that EO has a positive impact on the implementation of sustainable practices and that SPW partially mediate the link between EO and performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that EO plays a role in indirectly promoting performance by enhancing certain human resource management practices.     

Impact of market orientation on firm’s customer-based performance: the moderating role of employee orientation

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we examine the influence of employee orientation (EO) on converting constituent dimensions of market orientation (MO) into customer-based performance (CBP) and consider the robustness of these relationships in the context of firm age and size. Based on a sample of 410 mid-to-senior-level managers working in UK service industries, we find that all three dimensions of MO positively influence CBP. While highlighting the utility of employing a multidimensional approach to evaluate the customer-based outcome of MO implementation we highlight the nuanced role of EO in strengthening the MO–performance relationship and emphasise the crucial role employees play in implementing different strategic orientations in a perceivable way to customers.     

CEOs’ regulatory focus and firm internationalization: The moderating effects of CEO overconfidence,narcissism and career horizon

While the international business literature has mainly focused on the firm- or industry-level antecedents of internationalization strategies, scholars have recently advocated a greater focus on the microfoundations of firms’ strategic decisions. Building on the regulatory focus theory, this study focuses on how CEO promotion and prevention foci impact firm internationalization. Looking into dispositional and situational attributions, this study also theorizes how these factors moderate the relationship between a CEO’s psychological motivations and firm internationalization. Using data from publicly traded US firms listed in the Fortune 500, the findings of this study show that a CEO’s promotion focus is positively associated with the extent of a firm’s internationalization, whereas a CEO’s strong prevention focus limits the extent of a firm’s internationalization. The findings also reveal that the relationship between a CEO’s regulatory focus and the extent of a firm’s internationalization is moderated by a CEO’s overconfidence, narcissism, and career horizon. These findings have important research and managerial implications for firms engaged in international business.