A comparative analysis of the entrepreneurial orientation/growth relationship in service firms and manufacturing firms |
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| Authors: | JP Coen Rigtering Fabian Eggers Søren H Jensen |
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| Institution: | 1. Chair of Entrepreneurship, Utrecht University, School of Economics, Utrecht, The Netherlands;2. Chair of Family Business, Department of Economics, Management and Law, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands;3. Department of Marketing, Menlo College, Atherton, CA, USA;4. Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Abstract: | This article builds on the recently increasingly mentioned notion that entrepreneurship in the service sector is a worthwhile, but clearly underresearched topic. Using a sample of 1,612 small- and medium-size enterprises from the four German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, and using structural equation modeling, this article finds that service firms have a significantly higher entrepreneurial orientation (EO) than manufacturing firms – both on the overall level as well as for each of the three sub-categories proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk-taking. With regards to the positive relationship between a firm's EO and its growth aspirations, nevertheless, no significant differences could be identified. Accordingly, this study shows that EO is a strategic orientation of highest value for service firms as well, under the premise of growth-orientation. |
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| Keywords: | entrepreneurship growth entrepreneurial orientation |
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