Personal strategies of owners/founders of small business startups are related to performance and to environmental uncertainty. This is done using a longitudinal data set of some 50 Dutch startups. The results suggest a dynamic process between strategy and performance. A discrimination is made between four strategies (reactive, critical point, complete planning and opportunistic). The role of uncertainty is discussed. The dynamic process is embedded in the PERSUADE model. 5001-6182 Business 5546-5548.6 Office Organization and Management Library of Congress Classification (LCC) 62.5 New Business enterprises, Entrepreneurship M Business Administration and Business Economics L 20 Firm Objectives, Organization and Behavior: general Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) M 13 Entrepreneurship 85 A Business General 270 A 100 G Strategic Management Organizational Growth European Business Schools Library Group (EBSLG) 85 B Small Business Management, Entrepreneurship Gemeenschappelijke Onderwerpso...

The completion of this dissertation is the end of one very educational era in my life. I am full of gratitude for many inspiring moments with interesting people during these years. I would like to thank the following people for their contribution to the production of this research. First of all, Professor Teija Laitinen, my supervisor, who guided me into the academic world. Our discussions gave me a lot of encouragement that was needed to conduct this research. I will always appreciate the freedom she gave me to take my own way and her great faith in my skills to survive. Profound gratitude also goes to the official pre-examiners Professor Norman Macintosh and Professor Lars Hassel for their review and very thoughtful feedback on the manuscript. The final version of this dissertation has benefited immensely from their efforts. Many professors gave valuable comments on my manuscript during the research process. Erkki K. Laitinen, Robert Chenhall, David Cooper, Tom Groot, Jan Mouritsen and Michael Shields are to be thanked. I am thankful for Adebayo Agbejule for guiding me into the interesting world of structural equation modeling. Professor Esko Leskinen is gratefully acknowledged for his valuable suggestions and guidance on the quantitative analysis whenever it was needed. The expertise of Professor Ilkka Virtanen, Professor Seppo Pynnönen, Pentti Suomela, Hannu Hirvonen and Tommi Lehtonen in various fields likewise improved this research. There are many professors, colleagues, administrative staff and friends at the University of Vaasa who supported me during the dissertation process. I appreciate their help and effort to create an inspiring research environment. I specially wish to thank Professor

for under contract number SBAHQ-07-Q-0012 Release Date: February 2009 This contract was developed under a contract with the Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, and contains information and analysis that was reviewed and edited by officials of the Office of Advocacy. However, the final conclusions of the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Advocacy. February 2009 No. 339

The present study aims at investigating the existence of gender differences in entrepreneurship. The focus is on differences in strategy and human resource management (HRM) between male and female entrepreneurs in the Dutch real estate brokerage. Several propositions are explored using data from in-depth interviews. The present study shows that gender differences in entrepreneurship do exist. In particular, there are gender differences with respect to the path to entrepreneurship, growth-levels, degree of diversification and type of leadership. Version: May 2002 JEL-code: J16 (economics of gender), L21 (business objectives of the firm), L85

This paper examines the relationship between organization contextual variables and human resource management (HRM) practices in small firms. The proposed model is based on an integration of theoretical perspectives, including the resource-based approach, institutional theory, transaction cost economics (TCE), and concepts from strategic management. The model is explored empirically, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of data collected from a sample of sixteen small Dutch firms. Specific contextual variables examined include company size, the presence of a collective labor agreement, having a large firm associate, either as supplier, purchasing group or franchiser, and the company’s strategic orientation toward growth (growth strategy). An important finding is the significance of having a large firm associate. Companies with a large firm associate are more likely to report having employer-based training programs. As predicted, company size is associated with more formal HRM practices, including greater regularity of performance appraisal and greater

We extend the Western strategic management literature on environmental scanning to the entrepreneurial context by surveying business owners in two countries. Specifically, using the framework of Daft, Sormunen and Parks (1988), we test how perceived environmental uncertainty in seven environmental sectors and information accessibility influence scanning frequency of venture owners in the U.S. and India, two dissimilar entrepreneurial settings. Overall, entrepreneurs in India scan more frequently than do U.S. entrepreneurs, and the perceived rate of environmental change and accessibility of information are associated with their scanning. In the U.S., only perceived information accessibility prompts scanning. These results, which depart from inferences drawn from samples of managers in the Western literature, offer potential for extending scanning theory by cross-culturally broadening the theoretical nexus between organization theory, strategy and entrepreneurship in more fully understanding scanning behavior. Key Words: entrepreneurship, scanning, strategy 2 The literatures of organization theory and strategic management are replete with discussion of the influences of environmental complexity and volatility on organization decision-making, structure and

Development of an information-based approach to self-regulation of health and safety in small firms

Firms often have imperfect information about demand for their products. We develop an integrated econometric and theoretical framework to model firm demand assessment and subsequent pricing decisions with limited information. We introduce a panel data discrete choice model whose realistic assumptions about consumer behavior deliver partially identified preferences and thus generates ambiguity in the firm pricing problem. We use the minimax regret criterion as a decision-making rule for firms facing this ambiguity. We illustrate the framework’s benefits relative to the most common discrete choice analysis approach through simulated and field data empirical examples.

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In any given year, approximately 7 percent of the working age population in the United States is actively engaged in efforts to start new businesses. 1 Usually, within a period of two years, about a third of all these entrepreneurial efforts will either result in the creation of new businesses (approximately six million new businesses), or not. 2 Given the millions of people involved in starting businesses, as well as the billions of dollars they invest in the entrepreneurial process, insights into ways that entrepreneurs could improve their chances of business success, as well as minimize their losses for opportunities that are not viable, would have important benefits. There is much anecdotal speculation that writing a business plan is a critical activity for enhancing entrepreneurial successes and minimizing failures. But does writing a business plan actually provide the benefits suggested? Professors William B. Gartner and Jainwen (Jon) Liao provide compelling evidence that engaging in business planning can significantly improve an entrepreneur’s chances of successfully starting a business. They base their findings on research from a unique survey of people in the process of starting businesses in the United States: the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED). The PSED surveyed 64,622 working age adults to identify a sample of 830 individuals who were currently in the process of starting businesses. These individuals were surveyed each year over a three-year time frame to identify the kinds of activities these entrepreneurs undertook and whether their efforts resulted in the creation of new businesses. By finding individuals in the process of starting new businesses, the PSED avoids a common problem with many studies that analyze only businesses that were successfully started: survivor bias. The PSED has information about both 1 This chapter was prepared under contract with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy,