Entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations and international entrepreneurial business venture performance in South African firms

Abstract

Purpose -This study examines the interrelationships between aspects of entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations, and international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV) performance. Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected from 396 entrepreneurs and 143 senior managers from early stage, growth-oriented firms in the Republic of South Africa. These firms had an international focus in that 20 per cent began exporting from their inception and the remaining 80 per cent either began exporting within three years of inception or planned to export within three years of inception. Given the multidimensional nature of IEBV performance, structural equation modeling (AMOS) was used to test the measurement and substantive models. Findings -Results indicate that IEBV performance is positively related to the innovativeness component of an entrepreneurial orientation (EO), a market orientation, and a learning orientation. Contrary to expectations, the communications aspect of EO is inversely related to objective performance measures. Research limitations/implications -By design, only successful IEBVs in South Africa were studied, potentially limiting generalizability. Practical implications -Financiers can enhance the probability of success by assigning a greater weight to an entrepreneur's creativity. Originality/value -This is the first examination of the role of all three orientations and multidimensional measures of objective and subjective performance. It examines South Africa, a more dynamic, changing and hostile business environment. Managers and financiers can enhance their probability of success by developing the different orientations.

Sustainable Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Business Strategic Approach for Sustainable Development

“…However, the versatility of today's markets implies that organizations must build their strategy according to multiple strategic orientations, instead of solely one [11,70,78,[104][105][106]. They should constitute an overall strategic orientation that collects the different strategic orientations within the organization [140].…”

“…This paper follows the multiple orientation approach recommended by several authors [11,70,78,[104][105][106], stressing the importance of companies adopting multiple orientations instead of solely one to avoid an undermining of responsiveness to the environment. Thus, we propose a configuration of the SEO construct as an integration of the two strategic orientations of EO and SO into the overall strategic orientation, as shown in Figure 1, in order to more effectively respond to the current environmental demands and instabilities through the combination of flexible adaptation and emerging opportunities discovery and exploitation capabilities.…”

Strategic orientation, innovation and performance in new SMEs: the role of marketing

“…Para estar orientada al mercado la empresa debe de orientarse a sus clientes, a sus competidores y presentar una coordinación entre todas sus funciones (Narver y Slater, 1990). Diversos autores han sostenido que la OM es una capacidad clave en cualquier organización empresarial (Bhuian, et al, 2005;Kropp et al, 2006;Hunt y Morgan, 1995).…”

“…La OA implica la adopción de tres actitudes diferenciadas: compromiso con el aprendizaje, mentalidad abierta y visión compartida (Sinkula et al, 1997). Varias investigaciones recientes han postulado que la OA es una relevante capacidad empresarial (Farrell et al, 2008;Kropp et al, 2006). La OE se define como la capacidad de afrontar los riesgos del entorno, identificar de forma proactiva las oportunidades de desarrollo tecnológico y perseverar en la obtención de los recursos necesarios para el crecimiento de la empresa (Lumpkin y Dess, 2001).…”

“…Con todo, para que la organización aprenda y así pueda obtener unos mejores resultados, dado que la complejidad organizativa es mayor en las empresas medianas y grandes que en las pequeñas, la OA (especialmente por lo que respecta al componente "visión compartida") será más importante en las primeras que en las segundas (Wang et al, 2008). A pesar de que la mayoría de evidencias empíricas sobre los efectos de la OA en los resultados se obtuvieron entre empresas grandes (Farrell et al, 2008;Grinstein, 2008), disponemos también de estudios que demuestran la existencia de una relación positiva entre la OA y los resultados tanto en PYMES (Wang, 2008) como en empresas de nueva creación (Kropp et al, 2006), por tanto postulamos que:…”