چگونه سرمایه گذاری های جدید رشد می کنند؟ قابلیت های شرکت، استراتژی های رشد و عملکرد

While new venture growth performance has been studied extensively, little work has been done to examine the complex strategic choices through which growth is pursued and attained. Building on the resource-based view and social capital perspective, this study develops a conceptual framework that links combinations of ventures' (1) technological, (2) financial, and (3) networking capabilities to different growth strategies in terms of organic growth, partnership, and acquisition. We further assess the mechanisms through which a new venture's growth choices affect firm performance. Using data from 238 new high-tech ventures in China, we find that new ventures with different resource combinations follow different growth strategies. While partnership growth leads to greater product diversity, and acquisition is more effective in realizing firm internationalization, both lead to a better chance of survival of new ventures. In addition, the study explicates the role of technological capability in moderating the relationship between growth strategies and new venture performance.

New ventures are an engine for job creation, innovation, and regional development. Yet, it is commonly observed that new ventures exhibit a higher growth rate variance than established firms (Gilbert, McDougall, & Audretsch, 2006). Why do some new ventures grow more than others? Previous research has identified various predictors for new venture growth, such as entrepreneur characteristics, industry dynamics, organizational resources and structures (Baum et al., 2001 and Dean and Meyer, 1996). However, limited attention has been paid to the complex decision processes that produce different strategic choices for new venture growth (Gilbert et al., 2006). This gap in the literature is concerning, especially considering the multiple growth choices that confront new ventures. For example, young firms could focus on acquisition growth at an early stage or choose to pursue both organic (internal) and external growth. As different growth strategies may require different resources and have different performance implications, there is a compelling need to explore how entrepreneurs make strategic choices to achieve growth (Kor, Mahoney, & Michael, 2007). One of the critical resource endowments for new venture growth is technological capability. Firms with technological strength are more easily accepted by the market through low cost (Covin, Slevin, & Heeley, 2000) or differentiated product offerings (Zahra, Sapienza, & Davidsson, 2006). However, technological capability alone is not sufficient to create a competitive advantage (Zahra & Bogner, 1999). New ventures need to combine their existing technologies with other complementary resources or capabilities to compete in the market (Danneels, 2007 and Shelton, 2005). Therefore, a key premise of this study is that combinations of existing resources position new ventures on different developmental trajectories (Gilbert et al., 2006). We argue that a thoughtfully leveraged and carefully managed set of initial endowments that integrates technological capability, financial capital and networking capability can move a new venture far along the road to becoming an established firm. Specifically, technological capability shapes the basis of the growth strategies of new ventures, while the leveraging of technological capability through the use of financial capital and networking competencies further directs the way in which ventures grow. This study also investigates the performance implications of different growth strategies. In general, growth contributes to a higher likelihood of survival because it helps new ventures to overcome liabilities of newness and smallness (Buederal, Preisendoerfer, & Ziegler, 1992). Yet, empirical results suggest that various growth strategies may influence performance differentially. External growth may have a stronger impact on product differentiation than organic growth, whereas the impact of organic growth is more constant but slower than that of external growth (Gilbert et al., 2006 and Penrose, 1959). The lack of a systematic examination of the growth–performance linkage calls for a more fine-grained analysis of the processes and boundary conditions of new venture growth strategies. Using data from 238 new high-tech ventures in China, this study aims to (1) explore how combinations of different capabilities drive the choices of growth strategies, (2) investigate the effects of different growth strategies on product diversity and internationalization, two important outcomes that eventually contribute to firm survival, and (3) assess the role of technological capability in moderating growth–performance linkages. Our focus on Chinese high-tech firms provides both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the topic of new venture growth has been extensively studied in developed economies, but has received limited attention in transition economies (Bruton, Ahlstrom, & Obloj, 2008). Despite the critical role that technological capability plays in new venture growth, other critical factors, such as financial capital (Pissarides, 1999) and networks (Park & Luo, 2001), have yet to be explored in transition economies like China. Practically, as new high-tech ventures are booming in China, entrepreneurial managers must develop effective strategies to integrate their technological capabilities with appropriate resource bundles. The study thus contributes to both researchers and practitioners managing new venture growth in emerging economies.

This research has important implications for academics and managers alike. Foremost, by categorizing new ventures into high and low levels of technological capability, financial capital, and networking capability, we found that the levels of resources and capabilities that new ventures possess are associated with different growth strategies, which in turn affect overall performance in different ways. Built on the resource-based view of the firm and the social capital theory, we investigated these drivers within an integrated framework and specifically studied the three important resource endowments: technological capability, networking capability and financial capital, which have been identified as the most relevant resources in new venture growth. Although previous studies argue that new ventures with a strong resource position are capable of seeking growth opportunities and gaining an edge over rivals in the market (McDougall, Robinson, & DeNisi, 1992), few studies have investigated how the different resource positions that new ventures take impact their strategies. With high levels of technological capability, there is a strong tendency for new ventures to leverage their technology by combining it with other capabilities, such as networks and financial capital. If a new venture has limited technological capability, however, it has to acquire more externally, possibly through acquisition or partnership, which may not result in a superior or competitive resource position in the market because of the firm's limited absorptive capacity (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990). While we provide further evidence to support the postulations of the resource-based view and social capital theory that financial capital and networking relationships (Cooper et al., 1994 and Gilbert et al., 2006) are two fundamental engines that lead to future growth, we add technological capability as a third important driver. Typically, in China, business behavior revolves around dependable personal relations, or Guanxi. Networking with various strategic partners contributes to the 'reduction of innovation uncertainty (Ramachandran & Ramnarayan, 1993), legitimacy (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001), information exchange and coordination (Larson, 1991), increasing the speed of know-how and technology transfer and acquiring core human resources (Zahra et al., 2000) and providing an effective means to strive for competitive advantages for new ventures. Financial capital facilitates new ventures' continuous R&D and product upgrades as well as market expansion. It supports a strategy of ambitious growth through acquisitions to gain quick establishment in new geographical markets, to acquire the latest technology from existing players or to provide fast investment returns. Earlier studies in the strategic management and entrepreneurship literature have established the direct strategy–performance link while recognizing the contingent effect on the relationship (Lu and Beamish, 2006 and McDougall et al., 1992). This study delineates the processes through which growth strategies increase the likelihood of survival for new ventures. In particular, product diversity and internationalization are two important vehicles that mediate the impacts of organic, partnership, and acquisition growth strategies. Our results highlight the important role of partnership growth in driving product diversity and that of acquisition growth in influencing the internationalization of new ventures. The results suggest that in addition to resource considerations, firms with different performance aims should focus on different growth strategies. Moreover, technological capability, the core element in the firm's resource pool, reduces the need for partnership in increasing product diversity but increases the impact of acquisition on internationalizing the business scope.