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New ventures contribute to the competitiveness of the United States in global markets, creating jobs and wealth. Understandably, public policy makers and researchers alike have shown an interest in understanding the factors that spur these ventures’ growth, which is also an important research issue in the field of entrepreneurship. Researchers have highlighted the role of owners’ needs and aspirations and industry conditions as determinants of new ventures’ growth. This study proposes that new ventures’ resource endowments influence their growth in domestic and international markets. Using the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, the study examines the effect of select technological resources on the domestic and international sales growth of 419 new ventures. Start-ups (5 years or younger) benefit from using a different set of technological resources in achieving growth than those of adolescent firms (6–8 years old). These differences persist in low vs. high technology industries, reflecting the maturation of these ventures.

The purpose of this research is to explore, through the lens of a resource‐based view and dynamic capability theory, how new ventures in high‐technology industries accumulate resources to survive and sustain competitive advantage.

This study used the multiple case study approach completed for three integrated circuit (IC) design companies in Taiwan by conducting in‐depth interviews with senior executives in each case. Through the aforementioned case studies, the paper was able to summarize and verify the key elements and steps to find the customer and achieve the firm growth.

It was found that three core elements, technology, networking and legitimacy are necessary. In addition, there are emerging and embedding steps adopted by each case in this study for new ventures to successfully penetrate the market and sustain the competitive advantage.

The findings are focused on one country, and three cases of a specific industry in Taiwan. Future research can be conducted in different cultural contexts and different industries.

New ventures in high‐technology industries can follow the elements and steps suggested in this research paper to accumulate their initial resources. The strategy has been proven by the case studies therein and can be considered highly applicable.

The paper concludes that three key resources for sustaining a company's competitive advantages are necessary. Moreover, a well‐orchestrated management is especially essential for new ventures in high‐technology industries to succeed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how ventures manage the negative returns associated with higher levels of internationalization. Many new ventures are internationalizing to fully exploit new innovations and/or gain access to larger markets. Yet at some point the rising costs associated with internationalization outweigh any benefits, resulting in an inverted U-shaped relationship between internationalization and performance.

New ventures are theorized to better manage high levels of internationalization by limiting exposure to other sources of risk. This can be achieved by leveraging greater size and/or limiting simultaneous diversification efforts on product innovation. To test the hypotheses, a regression using Heckman selection was run using a sample of 210 US-based, publicly held ventures in high-technology industries.

The results confirm that when higher levels of internationalization are coupled with either a low emphasis on product innovation or larger size, the negative returns are mitigated and actually become positive.

A key implication lies in recognizing the role of risk management for internationalizing ventures. Future research could benefit by testing for generalizability in other countries as well as among privately held ventures.

To manage the trade-offs associated at higher levels of internationalization, ventures need to maintain a low emphasis on product innovation or meet a threshold in terms of size.

The value of this research lies in better understanding how ventures are able to overcome rising costs at higher levels of internationalization.

This research aims to deal with the interdisciplinary field of teamwork in entrepreneurial ventures. Its purpose is to advance the knowledge of investors' perspective with regard to high technology entrepreneurial teams. Prior studies suggest that teamwork affects new venture performance. However, only little evidence with conflicting conclusions was found in prior research regarding the importance investors lend to founders' teamwork as part of their evaluation criteria of founders' human capital.

The importance of the teamwork factor on new venture performance was measured by meta‐analysis of 27 previous studies which shows that founders' teamwork takes the fourth place among the 11 measured founders' human capital factors. Are investors' views coherent with these findings? The author interviewed five venture capitalists (VCs) and five business angels with investment experience in early stage high technology ventures.

Findings unexpectedly show that most interviewees did not prefer team‐starts to single‐starts new ventures and did not highly consider the teamwork factor in their investment evaluation criteria. There were no major differences between VCs and business angel investors interviewed.

The findings of this qualitative study need validation. Also investors' espoused criteria may differ from their actual in‐use criteria. Avenues for further research are suggested.

Practitioners may reconsider their evaluation criteria regarding new ventures while lending more weight to the team factor.

The paper contributes to the knowledge of investors' perspective on team‐starts and teamwork in new ventures. This evaluation criterion has been under‐explored, though it affects new venture performance.

Considers six entrepreneurial education and training programmes and in particular the development of high‐technology/knowledge‐based venture entrepreneurs. Examines the design features of entrepreneurial programmes and the outcomes which accrued in terms of new projects, new ventures and employment. Suggests a number of predictive hypotheses.

The purpose of this paper is to explore both the strategy types and strategic growth trajectories of new ventures and examine the relationship between these trajectories and new venture performance.

The paper uses evidence from six case studies of Greek high technology new ventures over a lengthy time frame. The longitudinal research design of the study allowed for the complexities of the growth phenomenon to be captured in an effective and efficient manner.

Based on an integrative three‐dimensional framework of new venture strategies, four strategy types are identified. At a static level, evidence suggests that the more strategic dimensions are emphasised in a venture strategy, the more balanced the venture's strategic position and thus, the higher its performance. With respect to the venture's dynamic trajectories, among all possible alternatives, it was found that two are the most successful. The first secures growth through focusing first on a specific innovative product/service in the domestic market and then expanding in the global market. The second secures growth through focusing first on a specific innovative product/service in the global market and then expanding the venture product scope.

The findings imply that the product and geographic dimensions of new venture strategies are the main performance differentiators, while the innovativeness dimension is a sine qua non of new ventures growth and performance. Implications for theory, business practice and policy making are discussed.

The paper contributes to knowledge in the area of new venture growth by developing a strategic typology in a catching‐up economy, where little research can be found.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how geographic diversification affects the performance of international new ventures.

This study develops hypotheses about the individual and joint effects of geographic diversification and industry life cycle on the performance of international new ventures. This paper also introduces industry technology characteristics as a contingent factor for the above relationships and tests the hypotheses on a large panel data set.

Based on the analyses of the strategies and performance of 699 listed Chinese international new ventures between 1991 and 2014, this study finds that the impact of geographic diversification on performance is contingent on the stage of the industry life cycle and that the moderating effect differs across high-technology and low-technology industries. The results suggest that it is fruitful for international new ventures in high-technology industries to undertake geographic diversification in earlier stages of the industry life cycle, but international new ventures in low-technology industries are better off undertaking geographic diversification during the later stages of the industry life cycle.

The study contributes to the literature on international entrepreneurship by identifying the industry life cycle conditions under which the learning advantages of international new ventures are effective and facilitate the achievement of better performance. This paper also shows that industry technology type matters for geographic diversification strategies of international new ventures.

How does career boundary-crossing affect an entrepreneur’s new venture? When entrepreneurs cross industry or functional boundaries to lead startups, they may lack specific experience needed for performance. Conversely, the diverse experiences they carry can enhance exploration and lead to the emergence of innovation in startups. We highlight important consequences of career boundary-crossing, using a multi-industry longitudinal sample of high-technology firms. We find that entrepreneurs who cross functional boundaries are more likely to lead their startups into new product areas. We also find that entrepreneurs’ industry boundary-crossing is associated with startup failure, but it also increases the probability of an IPO.

Network structures are critical in the acquisition of resources; however, their impact on innovative performance remains unclear, especially in an uncertain environment. This study aims to advance research on network research by investigating how the configuration of the industrial environment shapes the relationship between network structures of a new venture and its innovative performance.

Empirical support was derived from entrepreneurial survey data. Data were collected through a survey of 1,510 new ventures in Taiwan for this research study.

The authors find that innovative performance is impacted by different aspects of the network structure, and that environmental uncertainty contributes to this impact. Overall, the authors find that network structure, innovative performance and environmental uncertainty together contribute to a contingent view of the conditions under which network boundary conditions impact innovative performance.

Given the contradictory role of network centrality and the cooperative network on innovativeness, managers need to focus on acquiring a critical position in the industrial network rather than expecting to obtain resources and information from strong relationships with cooperators, especially in an uncertain environment.

This research contributes to network theory in two ways. First, it provides descriptive data on different aspects of the network structure and how these aspects impact innovative performance. Second, it sheds light on the configuration of resources and allocations for new ventures, which must compete with rivals in an uncertain environment.

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.