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Innovation strategy is critical for firms to achieve success in the market. However, relatively little is known about what factors promote the development of innovation strategy in high-tech new ventures. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by developing and examining the theoretical model that links effectuation to innovation strategy through opportunity shaping in high-tech new ventures.

The proposed theoretical model is developed by integrating the effectuation theory, innovation strategy literature and opportunity literature. Empirical data were collected from 212 entrepreneurs and top executives in Chinese high-tech new ventures through a survey. Baron and Kenny’s (1986) mediation and moderation model assessment procedures are used to analyze the data.

The empirical results indicate that effectuation has a positive effect on innovation strategy and opportunity shaping. Opportunity shaping has a positive effect on innovation strategy, and its effect is positively moderated by competitive intensity. The author also finds that opportunity shaping plays a fully mediating role in the relationship between effectuation and innovation strategy.

These findings enrich innovation strategy research and advance the effectuation theory by providing empirical evidence of the impact of effectuation on innovation strategy in high-tech new ventures. The findings also contribute to a growing stream of research on opportunity and integrating opportunity shaping into a more complete framework of innovation. Moreover, this research provides deeper insight into the missing links between effectuation and innovation strategy in high-tech new ventures by uncovering the mediating role of opportunity shaping.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how institutional voids influence high‐tech ventures' innovation, and what strategies high‐tech entrepreneurs deploy to cope with the institutional environments they encounter.

A qualitative research approach was taken. In‐depth interviews were conducted with nine high‐tech entrepreneurs. In addition, governmental officials, overseas associations, and professional investors were interviewed for more/further observations.

Institutional voids may negatively influence high‐tech ventures' innovation. They might be moderated by guanxi and government active involvement. On the contrary, institutional voids can offer high‐tech entrepreneurs the opportunity to create innovative business models. The co‐evolution of institutional developments and high‐tech ventures illustrates the particular characteristics of Chinese entrepreneurial environment.

Qualitative study cannot simply be generalized, albeit this explorative study provides illustrative insights. Quantitative research (e.g. surveys), which is applied to test the propositions, calls for further scholarly inquiry.

Overseas entrepreneurs are presented with the opportunities to pursue an entrepreneurial career. SMEs from developed economies may join the movement with technology entrepreneurs to enter the Chinese market and co‐shape the market development.

Institutional voids were conceptualized from a multi‐dimensional perspective, namely national, regional, and individual. By providing qualitative evidence, different mechanisms to fill the institutional voids are explored.

High technology entrepreneurs have received increased attention over the past decade as it is now recognized that these entrepreneurs are able to build companies that generate high wage employment and high levels of wealth. While much anecdotal evidence has been offered as to who these entrepreneurs are, little is known about their early efforts to launch a high technology company. Based on the most recent data that specifically profiles nascent entrepreneurs throughout the United States, we extrapolate and discuss implications of our findings. Specifically, we identify who, where, when, and why these entrepreneurs are engaged in this important form of business launch. We conclude by suggesting how decision-makers and institutions can better facilitate and nurture the launch of high technology firms.

The purpose of this paper is to locate those entrepreneur human capital elements which significantly influence an enterprise's growth performance, within both high‐tech and traditional enterprises, thereby helping entrepreneurs understand that human capital elements will provide different impacts within different industries.

Under some necessary research assumptions, the statistical analysis described in this paper uses data collected from a questionnaire survey and is performed under the SPSS16.0 Program.

An enterprise growth model is built from the perspectives of entrepreneur human capital. Analysis shows that human capital elements of the same entrepreneur have different impacts on the performance of business growth in different industries. The theoretical model provides a better explanation of the high‐tech enterprises' growth performance. Innovation and business growth performances from a high‐tech enterprise have greater reliance on human capital of entrepreneurs than the traditional industries.

Most current studies of the human capital of entrepreneurs focus on the analysis of background characteristics, but inadequate attention has been given to the relationship between human capital and the enterprises' growth performance, as well as to the comparative analysis of entrepreneurs' human capital in high‐tech enterprises and traditional enterprises. This paper, however, compares and analyzes such relationships between high‐tech enterprises and traditional enterprises.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the development of high‐tech international new ventures as an acting process by individuals in relationship networks.

The study cross‐fertilizes research on internationalization of international new ventures, opportunity development of entrepreneurs and innovation development in technology‐based firms. A longitudinal case study on the development process of an international new venture operating in the software business is used as a base for analytical generalization and theory development.

The study illustrates events at three intertwined levels of acting on the development of an international new venture. It defines internal problem solving, external solution creation, opportunity selling and opportunity organizing as the behaviors driving the emergent, multi‐level process and embedding the venture in various networks.

Statistical generalization based on common patterns experienced by several firms was not sought in this study. Using the process research approach with event‐based analysis, the study, however, provides an in‐depth analysis of international new venture development through the actions of individuals at the level of key events. The methods for examining a complex development process over time can be utilized by other process researchers.

The complexity of building high‐tech international new ventures is, to a great extent, due to the necessity of handling the process at three levels simultaneously and in connection with one another. Since international new ventures are often based on business opportunities that have a short window of opportunity, the timeline creates further challenges. Embedding the business into various resourcing, legitimizing and otherwise assisting networks is crucial.

The study provides an insight into the ways of acting in networks that intertwines the internationalization, opportunity and technology development with development of a high‐tech international new venture. The study follows the development process in real time, something that is quite rare in previous international entrepreneurship research.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how high‐tech firms from China internationalize and to determine whether they follow the gradual internationalization model suggested by the Uppsala school and/or the rapid internationalization model as suggested by the “born global” stream of researchers.

This is an inductive and exploratory study that tries to understand questions of how and why. A multiple case study method is used to find empirical evidence for the a priori assumptions derived from the literature.

It was found that the gradual internationalization model is still valid although high‐tech firms from China internationalize much faster than suggested by earlier studies and they do not follow the process suggested by born global studies.

The authors develop a number of propositions that can be empirically tested in pursuit of theory building for the internationalization of smaller firms from emerging markets.

The paper compares and contrasts the models suggested by Uppsala studies and by researchers in the field of born global studies and provides concrete propositions that can be tested to develop a theory for emerging market firms.

The purpose of this study is to explore knowledge absorptive capacity (ACAP) (both potential and realized) and new product development (NPD) in bipolar entrepreneurial small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In response to recent calls for research on knowledge ACAP and NPD in entrepreneurial SMEs, particularly in different contexts, this research aims to answer a specific question: What are the characteristics of ACAP (both potential and realized) and the salient issues concerning working complementarily between both types of ACAP to foster NPD in bipolar entrepreneurial SMEs (in this case, three new low-tech and three established high-tech cases)? The authors conduct case study research based on cross-case and within case analyses to answer the question.

The findings show that, in the established high-tech cases, realized ACAP plays an outsized role in developing new products and prior-related knowledge acts as a precondition for capturing useful knowledge from external sources (potential ACAP). On the contrary, in the new low-tech cases, potential ACAP is the key driver of NPD, so external knowledge from network ties becomes a crucial source of acquiring new knowledge, along with entrepreneurs’ level of skill at applying useful knowledge (realized ACAP) to achieve NPD.

On the basis of the bipolar entrepreneurial SMEs (i.e. established high-tech and new low-tech ventures), the characteristics of entrepreneurial SMEs (i.e. firm’s age, size and level of technology) affect the different roles of realized and potential ACAP in driving NPD successes. Realized ACAP plays a critical role for NPD in established high-tech SMEs, whereas potential ACAP is the main driver of NPD in new low-tech SMEs. This research has some limitations that future research should conduct quantitative research in other industries’ context as well as in other countries.

For new ventures, they should be aware that to strengthen their network ties with customers and suppliers can be an important tool for not only overcoming their limitations of existing knowledge but also acquiring tacit knowledge from the external sources. For established high-tech ventures, they should focus not only on the short-term NPD (the achievement of current NPD) but also the long-term NPD (e.g. series of new products and new strategic alliances) that can help avoid a not-invented-here syndrome situation.

The government should customize the policy to suit each targeted SME. Policymakers should play a crucial role of a linking pin among key external sources (e.g. R&D national and international institutions, SME banks and marketing agents) in different stages of the business cycle.

This research contributes to the literature of knowledge ACAP in SMEs to the understanding of the distinction roles of potential and realized ACAP as a mechanism in the different natures of entrepreneurial SMEs.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in explaining high-tech entrepreneurs' psychological ownership (PO) and, in turn, how their PO influences venture growth.

This study is based on data collected from 106 high-tech Israeli entrepreneurs.

The findings indicate that using emotions for problem-solving is positively associated with PO sense of efficacy, and that appraisal of emotions of others is negatively associated with PO sense of territoriality. Moreover, PO sense of efficacy is positively associated with growth, whereas sense of territoriality is negatively associated with growth. Finally, sense of territoriality has a curvilinear effect on venture growth.

Understanding of the antecedents of entrepreneurs' PO and its influence on firms' growth is scant. The findings contribute to the psychology of entrepreneurship and PO literature by showing the influence of affective-based processes on high-tech start-up growth.

The findings of this study suggest the entrepreneurs' EI indirectly affects other affective behaviors such as PO, which in turn influence venture growth. It highlights the need of entrepreneur to regulate their emotions and manage the emotional- and cognitive-based processes for the sake of firms' growth.

The findings expand the knowledge pertaining to the psychology of entrepreneurship by showing how EI as an affective dimension is interrelated with affective-based process and entrepreneurial firms' growth.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of capability and alliance arising from the internet of things (IoT), specifically in the relationships between strategic orientations (entrepreneurial and market foci) with product and process innovations. In addition, it investigates the direct relationship between IoT capability and alliance. Improving these relationships assist in ensuring that new knowledge from the IoT can be translated into tangible business innovations that contribute to economic development.

Data from 207 new high-technology IoT ventures in China were obtained after three-wave mailing (i.e. two reminders). Following a rigorous process to purify and validate the measurement scale items, the study used structural equation modeling to test the conceptual model.

Findings demonstrate that an IoT capability only enhances product innovation, however, with the addition and support from IoT alliance, both product and process innovation can be achieved in new high-tech IoT ventures. This nuanced insight suggests that new high-tech IoT ventures should focus on building their IoT capability, and at the same time, develop IoT alliances with value chain partners in order to fully take advantage of IoT and gain a better position to formulate more novel offerings.

The study is first to contribute with a much needed framework of IoT and entrepreneurship by examining the role of IoT capability further in the relationships between: entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation with product and process innovations arising from IoT; and the role of IoT alliance (interfirm relations, partnerships, etc.) on the relationship above.

Beyond the widely acknowledged importance of new business, the role of young exporting high-tech business in Israel and many other small economies is seen as vital for economic growth. Israel is small and geographically isolated from the main markets, suffers from security difficulties, but fosters a culture, which promotes knowledge rich new technologies. Thus, new ventures with leading edge technologies and prospects of high growth and profitability offer a means to achieve the national goal of economical independence. Internationally however, the high-technology sector has recently suffered badly from the bursting of the dot.com bubble and the crash of the Nasdaq.