Nancy M. Carter

Exploring Start-Up Event Sequences

This research investigates which specific behaviors and the number and sequences of behaviors by nascent entrepreneurs are likely to result in the creation of a successful business. The primary objective is to answer these questions: (1) What activities were undertaken? (2) How many activities were undertaken? (3) When were these activities undertaken? Data were drawn from secondary analysis of two representative samples: 683 adult residents in Wisconsin and 1,016 adult residents in the United States. From these, 71 nascent entrepreneurs were identified and their activities tracked across two interviews. Forty-eight percent set up a business operation; over 20 percent gave up trying; and almost one third were still trying. From the analysis of results, activity profiles of the three types of nascent entrepreneurs were developed:(1) Started a business. Entrepreneurs who started a business early on undertook activities to make the business tangible; they undertook more activities; they quickly put themselves into the day-to-day process of running a business. (2) Gave up. Those who gave up starting a business discovered their initial idea would not work. (3) Still trying.Those still trying seemed not to be undertaking enough activities to determine whether to give up or start the business; they had undertaken fewer activities than those in other groups, and fewer that would make the business real to others. Concludes that kinds of activities, numbers of activities, and sequence of activities significantly affect ability of nascent entrepreneurs to create businesses.(TNM)

Discontinuance among new firms in retail: The influence of initial resources, strategy, and gender

Abstract Women-owned businesses represent one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. economy. Their rate has increased more than six-fold since 1970. Despite this growth rate, the number of firms owned by women still lags behind that of men, and the sales and income of women-owned firms are significantly lower than those of men-owned firms. The discrepancy between the number of businesses owned by women and men and their economic success has been a popular theme among researchers. Some have suggested that performance differentials result from disparate structural positions women and men occupy in work and society, whereas others attribute the differences to deep rooted interpersonal orientations. This study examines whether the performance differences can be explained by variations in initial resources and founding strategy. We test whether women have fewer start-up resources, and if they do, whether they can compensate for these deficiencies through their founding strategy. Recent work in social psychology argues that strategic choice is shaped by experiences to which individuals have been subjected, and that women and men have fundamentally different socialization experiences. We test the assumption that if the strategy that women-owners adopt exploits the unique capabilities they derive from their socialization, they can improve the performance of their firms and ward off discontinuance. We examine the discontinuance pattern of 203 new firms in the retail industry. This industry was selected because women entrepreneurs often choose to operate in this industry, giving us a basis for comparing women-owned and men-owned firms. We classify the firms into six strategy archetypes. The arche-types range from a broad focus where founders emphasize multiple strategic foci simultaneously to narrowly targeted differentiation strategies. We assume that the experiential base of women entrepreneurs limits their successfully executing pricing strategies. We hypothesize that women-led firms decrease the odds of discontinuing by adopting one of two strategy types: (1) narrow differentiation strategies that seek to satisfy a narrow segment of the market and that do not rely on “pricing,” or (2) broad “generalists” strategies that emphasize service and quality but not pricing, and take advantage of womens capability for handling multiple stakeholders simultaneously. The results offer support for using an integrative model to explain the performance of women-owned firms. Women-owned firms have higher odds of discontinuing than men-owned firms, and women appear to have fewer resources to start their businesses. Women owners were less likely to have instrumental experience from working in the retail industry and start their businesses on a smaller scale then men but were no less likely then their male counterparts to have access to credit from formal financial institutions, or to be disadvantaged by starting fewer other new businesses. Despite some apparent situational disadvantage, resource deficiencies do not appear to affect the odds of women-owned businesses discontinuing as much as they do men-owned initiatives. The findings indicate support for the supposition that women owners can use founding strategy to decrease the odds of discontinuing business. A broad generalists strategy that represents a multi-focused approach was found to benefit women-owned businesses most. Overall, the results suggest that men use prior business experience and human capital to affect the survival status of their businesses. Women appear to find strategic choice more beneficial. Future research is recommended to further elaborate the integrative model. Special attention should be given to developing alternatives to measures traditionally used in gender research. Many researchers charge that those typically used reflect male derived measures. Similarly, greater attention should be given to understanding why the scale of women-owned businesses at start-up is substantially smaller than that of men, since scale has been shown to be related to subsequent growth and survival.

New firm survival: Industry, strategy, and location

Investigates three factors that reflect resource commitment based on decisions made during a startups gestation phase: (1) the firms physical location as a place of business; (2) the firms strategic focus as a method of competing for environmental resources; and (3) industry affiliation that defines the firms core technology. After a discussion of these three contextual conditions, six hypotheses are offered: (1) new firm survival chances are higher in urban locations and are lower in rural locations; (2) survival chances will be improved for new firms upstream in the industry chain, whereas new firms downstream will have a decrease in survival chances; (3) survival chances will be improved for new firms with a broad strategic focus, whereas new firms with a narrow strategic focus will have a decrease in survival chances; (4) survival chances will be improved for new firms with narrow strategic focus in downstream industries, whereas new firms with broad strategic focus will have a decrease in survival chances in downstream industries; (5) new firms survival chances will be significantly influenced by the dual attributes of location and strategy; and (6) industry-location interaction will be significant--i.e., new firms located downstream will have survival chances greater in urban locations and lesser in rural areas, whereas upstream new firms, such as in manufacturing, will not be significantly affected. Data were gathered from 2,653 responses to surveys sent out to new firms in Pennsylvania and Minnesota in 1986, with subsequent phone interviews completed in 1991 to verify the status of the initial survey respondents. Findings indicate that, contrary to the hypothesis presented, firms in rural areas have an increased chance of survival whereas firms in urban areas have a decreased chance of survival. Also, the introduction of the measure for industry was not found to be significant and, subsequently, two other hypotheses are rejected: survival chances are not improved for new firms upstream in the industry chain and new firms downstream do not have a decrease in survival chances. In addition, strategy was found to be significantly related to survival chances, though support for each of the hypotheses presented were mixed. Broad strategies of new firms were not found to be associated with higher survival chances, but narrow strategies were found to have a decrease in survival chances. Support was not found for the hypothesis that new firms located downstream in the industry chain will have survival chances greater in urban locations and lesser in rural locations, or for the idea that upstream new firms will not be significantly affected. However, support was found for the hypotheses that new firms with broad strategic foci in downstream industries will have decreased survival chances and new firms with narrow strategic foci in downstream industries will have increased survival chances. Finally, no relationships in urban locations were found to be significant, but significant contrasts were found in metro and rural locations (except in the distribution industry). (SFL)

SMALL FIRM ADAPTATION: RESPONSES OF PHYSICIANS' ORGANIZATIONS TO REGULATORY AND COMPETITIVE UNCERTAINTY

This study addressed the pattern of small organizations adaptation responses to uncertainty in the regulatory and competitive sectors of their environment using data from physicians in solo practice. An existing general model of adaptation was modified to reflect small-firm work processes. The result is a four-cell model that distinguishes adaptive strategies in terms of their functional orientations and how firms pursue them--whether alone or in collaboration with other firms. Data analyses supported the propositions that adaptation in small firms is a multicomponent construct and that regulatory and competitive uncertainty differentially influence the adaptation process. Although individual relationships found among the sets of adaptation activities supported the contention that adaptation choices follow a hierarchical cost pattern, the overall fit of the model suggests modification of the theory in subsequent research efforts.

Alternative Methods for Measuring Organization Fit: Technology, Structure, and Performance

Using data from 68 newspaper organizations, this article examines the substantive and methodological implications of using two popular perspectives of measuringfit: moderation and matching. The strengths and weaknesses of these and other related methods are discussed. Based on this discussion, we use the multiplicative model (multiple regression with product terms) to test the moderation perspective and the deviation score model to test the matching perspective. After consideration of both relevant literature and the empirical results, the moderation approach was considered most viable, provided that proper interpretation methods are used.

The Effect of Lag-structure Identification when Testing for Fit:

The concept of fit is a central thrust for middle-range theories in many man agement disciplines. In this context, fit refers to the match between two or more factors. Several recent studies involving the concept of fit have examined how variables, both internal and external to the firm, combine to affect organ izational performance. When doing this type of research, a key decision must be made regarding the selection of research designs appropriate for testing the fit between variables. This study tests the fit concept and examines whether the identification of proper lag-structures associated with the fit relationship improves the effectiveness of the research design. Findings suggest that when testing models involving fit, the identification of proper lag-structures is an important research-design issue.

The effects of computer technology and decision-making structure on organizational performance: a dual-core model approach

Abstract This study advances Dafts (1978) dual-core model by investigating the role that computer technology and decision structures in organizations play in enhancing organizational performance. Through the use of a longitudinal research design, we examined whether the overall performance effects of technology and decision making arise from the same conditions in different cores of the organization. Findings support contingency theory and suggest that, in the administrative core, changes in computer use and more centralized decision making predict increases in market share. Whereas, in the technical core, overall levels of these attributes predicted a growth in market share.