Properties of emerging organizations: empirical evidence from Norway

The process of new venture creation is of central importance to entrepreneurship. The effects of initial organizing have a direct effect on survival, yet empirical examination of the dimensions of emerging organizations is limited. Using longitudinal data on 203 nascent entrepreneurs from Norway over the course of four years (1996?C1999), this paper empirically tests four properties of emerging organizations??intentionality, resources, boundary, and exchange??and their effect on the likelihood of continuing the organizing effort (Katz and Gartner, Acad Manage Rev 13(3):429?C441, 1988). Consistent with previous research, our results suggest that organizations which engage in a greater number of organizing activities are more likely to continue the organizing effort. In addition, intentionality, boundary, and exchange are positively associated with organizational emergence, whereas resources are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for organizations to continue organizing. The concentration of organizing activities is also positively associated with the likelihood of continuing the organizing effort.     

The relative influence of industry and corporation on business segment performance: an alternative estimate

Rumelt’s (1991) widely cited paper presents estimates of the relative influence of industry, corporate, business unit, and other influences on business unit profitability. He finds corporations explain almost none of the variability in business unit profitability. Using a simultaneous equation model, we provide alternative estimates of the influence of industry and corporation on business unit performance. We find that both corporations and industries influence business unit profitability but corporations have the larger influence. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward a contingent resource‐based theory: the impact of information asymmetry on the value of capabilities in veterinary medicine

The paper investigates the contingencies which define valuable resources in professional medical services. We identify activities with credence, experience, and search qualities in medical service industries in general, and in veterinary practices more specifically. We propose that different capabilities are needed to deliver different services and test whether the contingent combination of capabilities for particular services is linked to the performance of veterinary practices. For example, we expect that practice capabilities which help to retain clients are necessary for the successful delivery of services with experience qualities. We find evidence of performance benefits of client retention in a sample of 193 veterinary practices. We also find that in markets where competition from a new form of entrant is especially intense, an independent veterinarian’s credence activities combine with its experience and search activities to jointly improve practice profitability. Since the new entrants’ resources are mainly effective in the delivery of services with search qualities, the practice capabilities of the independent veterinarians that allow them to offer services with credence and experience qualities can be seen as a type of isolating mechanism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plant scale in entry decisions: a comparison of start-ups and established firm entrants

This paper examines the competitive advantage enjoyed by established firms over start-up firms in their choice of plant scale when entering industries. We hypothesize that established firms will enter at smaller scale because they have the opportunity to substitute other resources and advantages for the cost disadvantages that result from small scale. We find that established firms enter with lower scale plants which suggests that they have access to resources that allow them to be competitive at lower scales. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pathways to entrepreneurial growth: The influence of management, marketing, and money

Business growth is considered a worthy goal for firms and a measure of entrepreneurial success, as well as important for economic development. Why some firms grow and others do not, though, remains a subject of debate. Of the small proportion of firms that do grow, it is often assumed that they follow a similar growth trajectory and/or encounter certain stage thresholds; however, the evidence base on this is wanting. The new study of business growth presented here provides an in-depth analysis of 19 New England-based firms. Our findings reveal that fast-growing companies exhibit different rates and patterns of growth: some display rapid growth trajectories (Rapid Growth Pattern); some, slower, more measured rates (Incremental Growth Pattern); others, episodic periods of quick growth followed by sharp retrenchment (Episodic Growth Pattern); and, while no firm actively chose to stop growing, some reached points of stagnation (Plateau Growth Pattern). We found that three key factors—management, marketing, and money—affected company growth across these patterns. While not every factor was critical at each moment of growth for each firm, every entrepreneur cited the relative importance of each factor at some time during the growth of their firm. Thus, fast-growing firms do not grow in the same manner, at the same rate, or with the same outcomes. This article has implications for those seeking to understand the processes of development and patterns of fast-growth businesses.     

How agglomeration affects alliance governance and innovation performance: The role of cluster size

We investigate how the size of the geographic cluster in which a firm is located influences its governance choice between equity and non-equity alliances and subsequent innovation performance. We argue that firms located in larger clusters tend to form non-equity alliances rather than equity alliances because the communication and control benefits of cluster membership, which increase with cluster size, reduce in-cluster firms' need to form equity alliances. We also claim that the effect of this preferential use of non-equity alliances on innovation becomes stronger when firms are located in larger clusters. Our arguments are supported by a panel analysis of alliances formed by US-listed semiconductor firms.