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.     

监督机制、企业家创业能力与绩效关系研究

基于制度理论和动态能力观点,建立了一个分析监督机制、企业家创业能力与绩效关系的理论框架,并提出了3条假设。基于195家企业样本的实证分析表明：董事长与总经理两职分离与企业家创业能力发挥正相关,股权集中度与企业家创业能力发挥负相关;企业家创业能力发挥有助于提升企业绩效。     

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.     

Internationalization of Chinese Entrepreneurial Firms

This article uses the resource‐based and internationalization theories to explain the export behavior of Chinese entrepreneurial firms. Based on multiyear data on Chinese firms from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), we show that contextualized resource‐based theory can adequately explain some of the variation in export behavior among young Chinese firms. Exports by small Chinese firms are driven by the social and intellectual capital of the entrepreneur and their entrepreneurial proclivity, and the innovativeness/uniqueness of the product/offering. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Target Costing,Business Model Innovation,and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Firms

Market orientation theory was used to relate the implementation of target costing systems and business model innovation to firm performance using a sample of 189 electronics and information industry manufacturers in China. As expected, the implementation of target costing was positively associated with both business model innovations and firm performance. Further, the diversity of product development teams was also crucial. It positively moderated the association between target costing and business model innovation. Finally, the business model innovation was positively related to firm performance. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managerial Behavior, Entrepreneurial Style, and Small Firm Performance

Considerable effort has been devoted to identifying the general characteristics of entrepreneur; however, much of this has been conducted from a trait–based rather than from a behavioral perspective. In this study of small firms in the United Kingdom, we explored the relationships among managerial behaviors (based upon a competence model), entrepreneurial style (based on Covin and Slevin's theory), and firm type (in terms of sales growth performance). Principal components analysis of a management competence inventory identified six broad categories of managerial behavior. Regressing a measure of entrepreneurial style on these six behaviors suggested that managing culture and managing vision are related to an entrepreneurial style, while managing performance is related to a nonentrepreneurial style. Entrepreneurial style—but not managerial behavior—was associated positively with the probability that a firm would be a high–growth type. The results are discussed from the perspective of a model of small firm management that posits separate entrepreneurial, nonentrepreneurial, and generic management behaviors derived from a global competence space.     

Self-Limiting Dominant Logic: An Exploratory Study of Chinese Entrepreneurial Firms

Previous research has found that cognitive frame, mental models, and schema embody a dominant logic of firms that structure the behavioral routines of managers and can become a central force shaping a firm's decisions and actions. This exploratory study seeks to provide insight into an emerging dominant logic among recently established private-sector Chinese enterprises. Using multiple case studies of Chinese entrepreneurial firms, we identify convergence on a surprisingly similar dominant logic based on closely aligned concepts and accompanying behaviors: a defensive perspective of business environment; a conservative strategic decision-making process; and full involvement of owners and top managers in daily operations that substitute for development of elaborate routines and systems. Although a dominant logic may facilitate decision making and growth, it may also act as a perceptual blinder limiting opportunity search as firms seek to minimize risk in an uncertain environment.     

Corporate Entrepreneurship, Informal Ties, and Firm Performance: Evidence from China

How can a firm achieve superior performance through corporate entrepreneurship in a transition economy? To address this question, we draw upon the resource-based view and the institutional theory to explore distinct roles of business ties and political ties in fulfilling resource needs confronted by different corporate entrepreneurial activities (i.e., internal innovation, venturing and strategic renewal). Using data of 228 firms from the Pearl River Delta area in China, our empirical findings reveal that corporate entrepreneurial activities do not always positively lead to performance in transition economies. Furthermore, the possession of high levels of business ties is more beneficial to the success of internal innovation and strategic renewal, while the possession of high levels of political ties contributes more to the success of venturing.     

家族社会资本、创业导向与初创期企业成长绩效关系研究

文章以135家企业为样本,运用多元回归分析与结构方程模型对家族社会资本、创业导向及企业成长绩效三者之间的关系进行了实证研究。结果表明,结构资本对创新性具有显著的正面影响,关系资本对风险承担性具有显著的正面影响,而创新性和先动性受到认知资本的影响。同时,结构资本能够提高企业的竞争绩效,关系资本有助于企业竞争绩效和潜力绩效的提高,而认知资本对企业潜力绩效具有显著的促进作用。在家族社会资本、创业导向和初创期企业成长绩效的关系链中,创业导向具有显著的中介作用。     

Small Firms,Social Capital and the Enhancement of Business Performance Through Innovation Programmes

The paper explores the extent to which social capital is advantageous to small and medium enterprise (SME) growth. Social capital is a communal property involving civic engagement, associational membership, high trust, reliability and reciprocity in social networks. It is capable of being identified in social, political and economic contexts, often associated with strong communities. However, not all strong communities exert the effects of social capital in respect of business activities. This paper assesses government programmes to promote collaboration amongst SMEs for improving innovation capacity by increasing social capital through networking. It shows that, for a sizeable proportion of programme-funded firms in Denmark, Ireland and Wales (U.K.) social capital building was associated with enhanced business, knowledge and innovation performance. Of particular importance was the opportunity afforded to firms for linkage with external innovation networks, and the build-up of embeddedness, or the institutional basis for the enhancement of social capital. As a consequence of discovering the advantages of social capital, over a third of respondents planned to continue to develop it in future, in many cases funding such activities privately rather than calling on the public purse.     

Capital Subsidies and the Performance of Firms

In many countries, governments grant different capital subsidies to the business sector in order to promote growth. Also the EU, provides this type of subsidies. As De Long and Summers (1991) suggest there may be market failure justifications for public subsidisation of firms. However, because the use of subsidies may cause problems, it is far from clear how they affect long-run economic growth. This study examines the effects on total factor productivity of public capital subsidies to firms in Sweden between 1987 and 1993. Panel data which distinguish between subsidised and unsubsidised firms in the manufacturing industry are used. The results suggest that subsidisation can influence growth, but there seems to be little evidence that the subsidies have affected productivity.     

The Location of Markets,Perceived Entrepreneurial Risk,and Start-up Capital of Micro Rural Firms

It is argued that when founders of SMEs perceive the probability of a successful and lucrative venture to be greater, they are more likely to provide a greater proportion of the start-up capital. This paper provides an empirical examination of two concurrent hypotheses. Firstly, that the size of the debt or equity is affected by factors influencing perceived entrepreneurial risk. Secondly, that the location of the market for the firm’s output is a major factor reducing perceived entrepreneurial risk and increasing equity of the start-up capital. A statistical analysis based on the simultaneous tobit model is used. Results show that significant factors influencing risk perception include the size of the new business and the sector of economic activity, as well as entrepreneurial experience and the location of the markets for the firm’s output. The results highlight implications for the design and implementation of rural development policies and especially for the instruments supporting rural business creation.     

Microfinance Performance and Social Capital: A Cross-Country Analysis

In recent years, the microfinance industry has received a substantial amount of cross-border funding from both public and private sources. This funding reflects the increasing interest in microfinance as part of a more general trend towards socially responsible investments. In order to be able to secure sustained interest from these investors, it is important that the microfinance industry can show evidence of its contribution to reducing poverty at the bottom of the pyramid. For this, it is crucial to understand under what conditions microfinance institutions (MFIs) are able to reduce poverty. This paper contributes to this discussion by investigating the relationship between the extent to which social capital formation is facilitated within different societies and the financial and social performance of MFIs. This focus on social capital formation is important, because in many cases MFIs use group loans with joint liability to incentivize asset-poor borrowers to substitute the lack of physical collateral by their social capital. Hence, the success of a large part of the loan relationship between MFIs and their borrowers depends on the social capital those borrowers can bring into the contract. We carry out a cross-country analysis on a dataset containing 100 countries and identify different social dimensions as proxies for how easy social capital can be developed in different countries. We hypothesize that microfinance is more successful, both in terms of their financial and social aims, in societies that are more conducive to the development of social capital. Our empirical results support our hypothesis.     

Origin of Foreign Direct Investment and Firm Performance: Evidence from Foreign Acquisitions of Chinese Domestic Firms

Using a newly created panel of domestic Chinese firms who receive foreign direct investment (FDI), this paper finds that Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)‐acquired firms outperform those acquired by investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan (HMT). To control for possible endogeneity of the FDI decision, I employ propensity score matching combined with a difference‐in‐differences approach. The results indicate that relative to HMT‐acquired firms, OECD‐acquired firms experience significantly higher productivity in the initial year of acquisition and this productivity differential persists in subsequent years, reaching 27.8 per cent by the third year. Further, OECD‐acquired firms exhibit higher profits, average wages and capital per worker compared to HMT‐acquired firms. These results suggest that the origin of the foreign investor differentially affects target firm performance.     

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.     

金融市场化、融资约束与企业成本加成:来自中国制造业企业的证据

融资约束和成本加成亟需提升是中国制造业企业面临的双重难题,在经济转轨的宏观背景下,能否藉由中国金融市场化改革来破解这一困境?本文以2001—2007年中国制造业企业为样本的实证研究显示:融资约束阻碍了企业成本加成提升,而金融市场化能够有效缓解融资约束对企业成本加成的抑制效应;以工具变量、分样本及替代变量回归等方法进行的稳健性检验进一步证明了本文结论的稳健性。本文的研究结论为进一步推进金融市场化改革,以此作为融资难背景下中国制造业企业成本加成提升的有效路径提供了理论支撑。     

Firm R&D,Processing Trade and Input Trade Liberalisation: Evidence from Chinese Firms

This paper examines the impact of input trade liberalisation on firm R&D activity by taking China's accession to the WTO as a quasi‐natural experiment. Different from ordinary imports, processing imports in China enjoy zero tariffs and are not affected by input trade liberalisation due to the WTO accession. The paper uses disaggregated firm‐level production data and transaction‐level trade data to perform difference‐in‐difference analysis by taking processing import firms as a control group. An intensive empirical search shows that after China's accession to the WTO, input trade liberalisation fostered firm R&D significantly. The findings are robust to different measures and various empirical specifications.