Pat H. Dickson

Cultural Influences on Entrepreneurial Orientation: The Impact of National Culture on Risk Taking and Proactiveness in SMEs

This study utilizes data from 1,048 firms in six countries to assess the impact of national culture and certain institutions that are representative of national culture on two key dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation: risk taking and proactiveness. Eight hypotheses are developed specifying the expected relationships between four cultural dimensions and levels of risk taking and proactiveness within SMEs. Additionally, two hypotheses are developed to explore between–country differences in the relationship between risk taking and proactiveness and a range of institutional variables. Uncertainty avoidance and power distance are both found to have a significant negative influence on risk taking; uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and power distance are found to negatively influence proactive firm behaviors. A number of institutional factors are also found to be significantly linked to between–country differences in both risk taking and proactive behaviors. This research contributes to existing theories of national culture by suggesting that the various dimensions of cultural values and several of the institutions that are representative of national culture impact the willingness of entrepreneurial firms to display risk taking and proactive behaviors.

Entrepreneurial selection and success: does education matter?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between general education, specific forms of entrepreneurial education and a range of entrepreneurial activities.Design/methodology/approach – The relationships were investigated through an analysis of peer‐reviewed research published in a wide range of journals and proceedings between 1995 and 2006.Findings – Findings suggest strong evidence supporting the relationship between levels of general education and several entrepreneurial success measures. The findings are less clear in regards to the link between general education and the choice to become an entrepreneur. The findings linking specific programs of entrepreneurship education to entrepreneurship, although ambiguous, suggest a positive link between such education and both the choice to become an entrepreneur and subsequent entrepreneurial success.Research limitations/implications – The review of research suggests four implications for existing research: a need for increased researc...

Institutional Readiness and Small to Medium-Sized Enterprise Alliance Formation

The focus of this study, in contrast to research that explores the strategic choice by small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to form strategic alliances, is a characterization of the institutional attributes that enable alliance formation. This enabled state is defined as “institutional readiness,” which is the capacity of the institutional environment to support the formation of SME‐based strategic alliances. Utilizing institutional theory as a lens, this study sets forth a theoretical framework for institutional readiness and tests the framework using a survey of 2,054 SMEs from eight countries. Though it has been speculated for some time that institutional forces might have an important effect on firm behavior, to date, in contrast to the current research, there has been little research exploring these effects that is based upon multiple country settings and large samples of SMEs. Additionally, in contrast to the present study, few studies have been designed to rigorously test a broad set of institutional factors and in so doing provide a clear conceptualization of the interplay of institutional and firm attributes in the formation of interfirm alliances. The findings of this study suggest that in the case of SME‐based alliance formation, institutions do matter and in some cases, in unexpected and surprising ways.

BEING UNCERTAIN: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY

The manner in which the key managers of entrepreneurial firms perceive the environment of the firm has important implications for decisions regarding organizational structure, processes and performance. Entrepreneurial behavior has traditionally been characterized as one type of strategic response to uncertain environments. This research takes a unique position in exploring how the entrepreneurial orientation of the firms key manager may in fact influence managerial perceptions of the environment. Utilizing survey data drawn from more than 800 key managers in three countries this study proposes and tests a model of perceived uncertainty. The results suggest that the greater the entrepreneurial orientation of the key manager the more likely he or she is to characterize the environment of the firm as uncertain. Although this relationship holds true in general the results also suggest that there are strong differences in the relationship across countries and industries and that certain firm characteristics have a potential impact on managerial perceptions.

Entrepreneurial Orientation: The Dimensions' Shared Effects in Explaining Firm Performance

We shed new light on the structure of the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance and how this relationship varies across contexts. Using commonality analysis, we decompose the variance in performance—in terms of the effects of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking—into parts that are attributable to unique variations in these dimensions (unique effects) and those attributable to covariation between these dimensions (shared effects). By demonstrating the empirical relevance of unique, bilaterally shared, and commonly shared effects in a heterogeneous sample of low–tech, high–tech, and multi–sector firms, we consolidate existing conceptualizations of EO and propose an extension of the extant theoretical views of the construct.

Developing an exit readiness index: a research note

A proactive and viable exit strategy is a key influence on the ability of firms to raise equity capital. Investors in firms with such an exit strategy will improve their prospects of achieving a successful exit. However, the issue of ‘exit readiness’—especially in the context of trade sales, which account for the majority of exits of venture capital-backed firms—has attracted limited attention. Based on interviews with business angels, venture capitalists and others, this paper develops an ‘exit readiness index’ for trade sales that can be used by investors to identify firms that are exit ready and demonstrate to entrepreneurs what is required to build a viable exit strategy. The paper proposes that the ‘exit readiness index’ should be tested on longitudinal panels of start-up and nascent firms in various countries in order to determine its predictive ability.

SME supply chain portfolios: firm satisfaction and organization resources

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the combination of relational and organizational resource factors that influence small‐to‐medium‐sized firm satisfaction with their supply chain portfolio performance.Design/methodology/approach – This research employs two complementary theoretical lenses frequently used in the explanation of relationship performance, resource‐based view of the firm and strategic behavior theory. The authors then used an international survey based in three Northern European countries to test their hypotheses with hierarchical linear regression.Findings – The quantitative analysis supports all three hypotheses indicating that supply chain portfolio flexibility is an important determinant for small‐to‐medium‐sized firm satisfaction with supply chain portfolio performance. Additionally, firm alliance orientation and entrepreneurial orientation both significantly influence the relationship between supply chain flexibility and performance satisfaction.Research limitation...

The Value of Organizational Ambivalence for Small and Medium Size Enterprises in an Uncertain World

Prior literature suggests two competing mechanisms for how organizations respond to environmental forces – absorption and reduction – but there is no consensus on which mechanism is more effective. We solve this puzzle by analysing one underlying dimension of these two mechanisms – organizational ambivalence – in a small and medium size enterprise context. Specifically, we believe that because of the difference in consuming resources, organizational ambivalence can be divided into latent and active, which exhibit different uses in dealing with environmental forces and improving firm performance. We conducted two studies in four countries to test our hypotheses. These two studies yield unanimous support for our hypotheses regarding the impact of organizational ambivalence on organizational performance and mixed support for our hypotheses concerning environmental impacts on organizational ambivalence.

Intending to Frame Entrepreneurship Research: Thirty Years After Bird (1988)

Barbara Bird, in her seminal 1988 article “Implementing Entrepreneurial Ideas: The Case for Intention,” broke from existing research in strategic management and entrepreneurship. She did so by setting forth a behavioral framework for entrepreneurship that connects ideas with outcomes through the agency of intentionality. This retrospective explores the impact of Bird’s work on the field of entrepreneurship research through bibliometric analysis and a review of her seminal ideas that have become central to the field. In 1988 and today, Bird challenges entrepreneurship scholars to move beyond traditional and accepted methods by embracing novel new theoretical speculations. Bird’s groundbreaking focus on the psychological basis for venture creation embodied entrepreneurial thinking and has emboldened a generation of researchers to become academic entrepreneurs.

Social Enterprise Academy: Enhancing the Impacts of the Non Profit Sector on Leadership and Job Creation Thru Research Models

The Social Enterprise Academy (SEA) is a new unit in the existing Melton Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of South Alabama. SEA is focused on capacity building and developing new leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset. These entrepreneurial leaders are the future job creators and provide services to sectors that are underserved or omitted from government programs. A research project focusing on measures of entrepreneurial self efficacy, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial intent are used to develop a baseline for leaders of nonprofit organizations in mid market cities in the United States.