Strategies, Uncertainty and Performance of Small Business Startups

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.entrepreneurship;strategy;uncertainty;performance;small business startups

Encountered Problems and Outcome Status in Nascent Entrepreneurship

The relationship is investigated between outcome status and encountered problems in the business start-up process. Contrary to expectations, we find that starters do not differ from quitters in number and type of problems encountered, and that problems encountered generally do not affect outcome status. This Dutch research uses a design that is comparable to the U.S. PSED (Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics) in which a sample of 414 nascent entrepreneurs were followed over a three year period.encountered-problems;nascent-entrepreneurship;outcome-status

Setting Up a Business in the Netherlands

Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second gives up, and a third is still trying? To answer this question, a longitudinal study was set up in which 330 nascent entrepreneurs (people setting up a business) were followed over a one-year period. After one year, 47% actually started a business, 27% was still organizing, and 26% gave up the effort. In comparison to the two other groups, starters are different in terms of gender, industry experience, start-up capital, use of third party loans, sector and current activity.survival;performance;nascent entrepreneurs;start-ups

Learning Opportunities And Learning Behaviours Of Small Business Starters: Relations With Goal Achievement, Skill Development, And Satisfaction

Learning is a vital issue for small business starters, contributing to short term and long term business performance, as well as to personal development. This study investigates when and how small business starters learn. It specifies the situations that offer learning opportunities, as well as the learning behaviours that small business starters can employ in order to learn from these opportunities. In a cross-sectional, quantitative study of recently started small business founders, learning opportunities and learning behaviours are related to three outcome measures: a performance outcome (goal achievement), a personal growth outcome (skill development), and an affective evaluation outcome (satisfaction). The results show the importance of learning opportunities and learning behaviours in influencing these outcome variables, albeit not always in the directions we hypothesized

Setting Up a Business in the Netherlands

Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second gives up, and a third is still trying? To answer this question, a longitudinal study was set up in which 330 nascent entrepreneurs (people setting up a business) were followed over a one-year period. After one year, 47% actually started a business, 27% was still organizing, and 26% gave up the effort. In comparison to the two other groups, starters are different in terms of gender, industry experience, start-up capital, use of third party loans, sector and current activity

Success and risk factors in the pre-startup phase

Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second person gives up? In order to answer this question, a sample of 517 nascent entrepreneurs (people in the process of setting up a business) was followed over a three year period. After this period, it was established that 195 efforts were successful and that 115 startup efforts were abandoned. Our research focuses on estimating the relative importance of a variety of approaches and variables in explaining pre-startup success. These influences are organized in terms of Gartner's (1985) framework of new venture creation. This framework suggests that start-up efforts differ in terms of the characteristics of the individual(s) who start the venture, the organization which they create, the environment surrounding the new venture, and the process by which the new venture is started. Logistic regression analyses are run for the sample as a whole as well as for subgroups within the sample, namely for those with high ambition vs. low ambition and for those with substantial vs. limited experience. The results point to the importance of perceived risk of the market as a predictor of getting started vs. abandoning the startup effort

Strategies, Uncertainty and Performance of Small Business Startups

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

Encountered Problems and Outcome Status in Nascent Entrepreneurship

The relationship is investigated between outcome status and encountered problems in the business start-up process. Contrary to expectations, we find that starters do not differ from quitters in number and type of problems encountered, and that problems encountered generally do not affect outcome status. This Dutch research uses a design that is comparable to the U.S. PSED (Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics) in which a sample of 414 nascent entrepreneurs were followed over a three year period

The biological nature of human language

Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic