Deconstructing the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance at the embryonic stage of firm growth

Studies of entrepreneurial orientation tend to examine its three most common features only (risk-taking, innovativeness, and proactiveness), merging these into a gestalt construct of entrepreneurial orientation and then analyzing its effect on business performance. This is in contrast to Lumpkin and Dess who stressed an entrepreneurial orientation is best characterized by five dimensions which can vary independently and may not be equally valuable across performance metrics or at different stages of development. We rectify these problems by examining the independent impact of risk-taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy on performance of young high-technology firms at an embryonic stage of development. Our results support the concerns of Lumpkin and Dess. Only proactiveness and innovativeness have a positive influence on business performance while risk-taking has a negative relationship. Competitive aggressiveness and autonomy appear to hold no business performance value at this stage of firm growth. From these results, we offer implications for managers in addition to guidance for future research.     

The impact of purchase situation on salesperson communication behaviors in business markets

This research addresses the impact of purchase situation on sales communication behaviors used by the salesperson in business markets. We hypothesize that different sets of sales communication behaviors will be needed and vary for different purchasing situations. Measures of a salesperson's communication behaviors were tested for different types of purchase situations. Differences were found in the persuasiveness of the salesperson's getting, giving, and using information, depending on the type of purchase situation. These findings help support the value of salesperson adaptability, providing an important variable on which to adapt.     

Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets

Business groups—confederations of legally independent firms—are ubiquitous in emerging economies, yet very little is known about their effects on the performance of affiliated firms. We conceive of business groups as responses to market failures and high transaction costs. In doing so, we develop hypotheses about the effects of group affiliation on firm profitability: affiliation could either boost or depress firm profitability, and members of a group are likely to earn rates of return similar to other members of the same group. Using a unique data set compiled largely from local sources, we test for these effects in 14 emerging markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey. We find evidence that business groups indeed affect the broad patterns of economic performance in 12 of the markets we examine. Group affiliation appears to have as profound an effect on profitability as does industry membership, yet strategy scholars have a much clearer grasp of industries than of groups. Moreover, membership in a group raises the profitability of the average group member in several of the markets we examine. This runs contrary to the wisdom, conventional in advanced economies, that unrelated diversification depresses profitability. Overall, our findings suggest that the roots of sustained differences in profitability may vary across institutional contexts; conclusions drawn in one context may well not apply to another. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of SME internationalization on innovation: The mediating role of market and entrepreneurial orientation

In today's highly competitive global environment, even small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to make product and process innovations in order to outperform the competition and satisfy global customers. Investigating the success factors of innovation performance has become critical for the survival and competitiveness of SMEs. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of the degree of internationalization (DoI) on innovation performance through the mediating factors of market and entrepreneurial orientation in the context of emerging-market SMEs. We tested our model and hypotheses with 235 SMEs in the United Arab Emirates, which is an emerging market. The results obtained from partial least squares estimates indicate that the degree of internationalization positively affects innovation performance and, more importantly, that this relationship is indirect and fully mediated by market and entrepreneurial orientation for SMEs. These results shed light on the mechanism of the effect of DoI on innovation performance in the emerging-market SME context.     

A literature review and future agenda for B2B branding: Challenges of branding in a B2B context

The existing body of research knowledge on brand management has been predominantly derived from business-to-consumer markets, particularly fast moving consumer goods and has only recently started to expand in other contexts. Branding in business-to-business markets has received comparatively little attention in the academic literature due to a belief that industrial buyers are unaffected by the emotional values corresponding to brands. This paper provides a critical discussion of the fragmented literature on business-to-business branding which is organized in five themes: B2B branding benefits; the role of B2B brands in the decision making process; B2B brand architecture; B2B brands as communication enablers and relationship builders; and industrial brand equity. Drawing on the gaps and contradictions in the literature the paper concludes by proposing an agenda for future research.     

The impact of CEO core self‐evaluation on the firm's entrepreneurial orientation

Although much has been attributed to a CEO's personality, one particularly intriguing, and as yet unexplored, investigation is its impact on the firm's entrepreneurial orientation. Additionally, despite calls from the upper‐echelon literature, CEO personality research has been hobbled by the absence of a unifying construct that captures core dimensions of personality, and by the difficulty in obtaining such intimate assessments from executives. Building on recent advances in personality research, in particular the identification and validation of the core self‐evaluation construct that captures the core facets of an executive's sense of self‐potency, we develop and test a model of the impact of CEO core self‐evaluation on entrepreneurial orientation. Then, consistent with upper echelons and personality theory, we specify the contingent role of environmental dynamism. Using multisource data from a sample of CEOs and their top management teams from 129 firms, including a time‐lagged assessment of the firm's entrepreneurial orientation, we find evidence to suggest that CEOs whose personalities reflect higher core self‐evaluations have a stronger positive influence on their firms' entrepreneurial orientation. In addition, we find that this influence is particularly strong in firms facing dynamic environments, but negligible in stable environments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Firm growth,adaptive capability,and entrepreneurial orientation

Research summary: This paper posits adaptive capability as a mechanism through which a firm's prior growth influences the exhibition of future entrepreneurial action. Defined as the firm's proficiency in altering its understanding of market expectations, increased adaptive capability is a consequence of the new resource combinations that result from expanding organizational boundaries. Increased adaptive capability in turn corresponds to expansion of entrepreneurial activity, as firms increase their entrepreneurial orientation as the strategic mechanism to capitalize on their improved understanding of market conditions. We find support for our research model in a two‐study series conducted in South Korea and the United Kingdom. Managerial summary: Most would agree that entrepreneurially oriented firms—being innovative, entering new markets, and taking risk—grow faster. But how a firm becomes entrepreneurial is a complicated question. In this study, we flipped the growth relationship around and found support for growth contributing to a firm's entrepreneurial orientation. But between growth and being more entrepreneurial is the firm's ability to recognize changes in market expectations. We argue that as a firm grows, it acquires new resources and new knowledge of how to use those resources. These new resource combinations increase its ability to recognize changes in market expectations—its adaptive capability. This capability uncovers new entrepreneurial opportunities for value creation. To capture this potential value, firms expand their entrepreneurial orientation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Network actors' participation in B2B SME branding

This study explores how network actors participate in branding in the context of SMEs operating in business markets. Branding is conventionally seen as an internally governed process and its exposure to external influences has been generally overlooked. By using narrative interviews this study analyzes the branding actions of network actors which impact on an SME's brand image. This article shows that social and business network relationships influence the SME's brand image, as does the nature of the company's internal branding decisions and identity. The findings propose and define the concept of a branding pool, expanding the focus of branding beyond the boundaries of an individual organization into the context of nets. An SME cannot manage its branding pool, but it can mobilize stakeholders in branding to improve the brand performance in the market.     

The impact of transactional and relational strategies in business markets: An agenda for inquiry

The impetus for the special issue of Industrial Marketing Management is the importance of understanding the implications of transactional and relational strategies in business-to-business contexts. The objective of the special issue is to integrate conceptual and empirical research in this area. We highlight research that extends current thinking in the area to ensure that this special issue serves an impetus for future research on this important topic.     

Business model innovation: The effects of exploratory orientation,opportunity recognition,and entrepreneurial bricolage in an emerging economy

Business model innovation takes shape through a process of experimentation. This study holds that exploratory orientation is a key initiating factor of the experimentation process, and opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial bricolage both are actions constituting this process and thereby serve as conduits between exploratory orientation and business model innovation. Based on a survey data of Chinese firms, this study finds the positive relationship between exploratory orientation and business model innovation is mediated by opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial bricolage. The findings not only enrich the discipline’s knowledge on the antecedents of business model innovation but also extend the implications of exploratory orientation, opportunity recognition, and entrepreneurial bricolage to business model innovation.     

The business model in entrepreneurial marketing: A communication perspective on business angels' opportunity interpretation

Entrepreneurial marketing has emerged as a recent perspective within the marketing field, taking the challenges and characteristics of small firms and founding teams into account. Specifically, in the early stages of entrepreneurial marketing, besides potential customers a variety of other stakeholders tend to be in the center of attention. Among these stakeholders, business angels as early-stage investors represent a vital target group. In this paper, we aim to shed light on entrepreneurial marketing in the early phases of new venture creation, in which entrepreneurial firms have an inherent need to market the value of a business opportunity toward potential investors. In particular, we contribute to the literature by introducing the business model as a narrative device for the marketing of early-stage new ventures toward potential business angels. In this regard, the business model is suggested as playing a critical role through making the inherent economic value of a technology explicit. Building on narrative theory, we investigate the role that the business model plays in the decision-making process of 17 business angels. Based on our findings, we propose a model that links the business model to a business angel's interpretation of an investment opportunity and discuss implications for theory and practice.     

The effect of social conflict on relationship loyalty in business markets

This study examines the impact of perceived social conflict on existing buyer-seller relationships. The results indicate that as the level of social conflict increases, perceptions about the loyalty of the relationship decrease. Perceived importance of the relationship had no impact on conflict or relationship loyalty. Ramifications of these findings for selling, sales management, and sales training are discussed.     

The role of Internet auctions in the expansion of B2B markets

In the wake of the advent of the World Wide Web, businesses are scrambling to take advantage of changes in their markets. While the consumer side of the Web explosion has been much touted, it is the business-to-business (B2B) market that has quietly surpassed expectations. An important business model that is responsible for this new market expansion is the Internet or Web auction. Businesses are adapting traditional auctions to the instantaneous “real-time” advantage of the Net to reach new markets that were previously cost-prohibitive by reducing transaction costs. Advantages such as the size and scope of the audience are giving Internet auctions a major role in the emerging global economy. This article examines the enormous impact of Internet auctions on B2B markets. We look at the kinds of auctions being conducted and their relevance to emerging business paradigms. We examine the circumstances under which you choose to conduct Web auctions and their impact on pricing mechanisms, information asymmetries, and channel relationships.     

Service inside: The impact of ingredient service branding on quality perceptions and behavioral intentions

Extant literature on ingredient branding is directed at tangible products but does not account for the role of services as ingredients. For B2B suppliers, however, service is emerging as the dominant route to achieving competitive advantage. The purpose of this research is to investigate how ingredient service brands impact customer preferences on B2B markets. We specifically assess how ingredients might impact industrial buyers' quality perceptions of the end product. By conducting a within-subjects scenario-based experiment among industrial buyers, we find a positive effect of the presence of an ingredient service brand on buyers' perception of the end product's service quality, whether the host brand is of higher or lower quality. The effect is stronger when the quality of the host brand is lower. Furthermore, results indicate that the host brand generally has a stronger impact on the quality evaluation of the end product meaning that an ingredient service brand cannot fully compensate for a lower-quality host brand. For managers, our findings indicate that ingredient service brands provide a cue to product quality of the end product, indirectly improving purchase intentions. As a result, branded service ingredients offer host service brands as well as ingredient service brands a potentially powerful strategy for improving competitive position in B2B markets.     

Are emerging economies less efficient? Performance persistence and the impact of business group affiliation

By drawing a theoretical distinction between the persistence of superior and poor performance, we reconcile the conflicting predictions of the ‘revisionist’ and accepted views on the persistence of firm performance in emerging economies. Using a sample of manufacturing firms in the United States and India, we show that superior firm performance in emerging economies persists only as much as developed economies in line with the revisionist argument. We also provide evidence consistent with the accepted view that poor firm performance persists longer in emerging economies compared to developed economies. Further exploration of the latter shows that, contrary to predictions of extant theories, firms in emerging economies that are affiliated with an MNC or a business group have a greater persistence of poor performance than firms that are unaffiliated with these intermediate governance structures, and hence would be better off operating at arm's length. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Entry-timing,business groups and early-mover advantage within industry merger waves in emerging markets: A study of Indian firms

Merger waves are periods of intense and concentrated merger activity which exhibit a wave-like pattern. Drawing upon the resource-based view, we examine the timing of entry and early-mover advantage within merger waves. Following a robust simulation-based methodology of wave analysis, we identify merger waves in eight industries during the time period 2000–2014. Firms affiliated to business groups were found to be early movers. A higher degree of internationalization is also associated with early movement of a firm. Within business groups, their multi-entity character is positively associated with early entry whereas their board interlock was negatively related with entry-timing. Further, early moving acquirers reap superior post-acquisition performance, thereby suggesting that early-mover advantages exist within merger waves.     

The measurement of e-marketing orientation (EMO) in business-to-business markets

The adoption of e-marketing has been associated with an array of potential benefits such as market expansion and cost reduction. Nevertheless, the degree of involvement in B2B markets has been patchy, with many organizations not involved in it at all. This article examines the variations in e-marketing adoption from an organizational orientation perspective and introduces empirical measurement with the ‘Electronic Marketing Orientation’ (EMO) construct. Based upon a web-survey of senior managers and marketing/sales directors the findings suggest that EMO is made up of both philosophical and behavioral components. By conceptualizing EMO and facilitating its measurement, marketers will be able to benchmark their activities towards adoption, evaluate their efforts and be able to assess where to focus their resources to improve their e-marketing processes. A number of specific recommendations are made for companies in relation to the successful adoption of e-marketing.