We focus on the design of an organization's set of boundary-spanning transactions---business model design---and ask how business model design affects the performance of entrepreneurial firms. By extending and integrating theoretical perspectives that inform the study of boundary-spanning organization design, we propose hypotheses about the impact of efficiency-centered and novelty-centered business model design on the performance of entrepreneurial firms. To test these hypotheses, we developed and analyzed a unique data set of 190 entrepreneurial firms that were publicly listed on U.S. and European stock exchanges. The empirical results show that novelty-centered business model design matters to the performance of entrepreneurial firms. Our analysis also shows that this positive relationship is remarkably stable across time, even under varying environmental regimes. Additionally, we find indications of potential diseconomies of scope in design; that is, entrepreneurs' attempts to incorporate both efficiency-and novelty-centered design elements into their business models may be counterproductive.

/pdf/insead-wharton-alliance-center-for-global-research-4nucts4pri.pdf

INSEAD-Wharton Alliance Center for Global Research & Development Business Model Design and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms

/pdf/business-model-design-and-the-performance-of-entrepreneurial-1tuz8s8r5i.pdf

Business Model Design and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms

The present article seeks to advance the theoretical knowledge of entrepreneurial learning by reviewing and synthesizing available research into a conceptual framework that explains the process of entrepreneurial learning as an experiential process. The framework identifies three main components in the process of entrepreneurial learning: entrepreneurs' career experience, the transformation process, and entrepreneurial knowledge in terms of effectiveness in recognizing and acting on entrepreneurial opportunities and coping with the liabilities of newness. Based on the arguments in the article, five major propositions were developed to refine our understanding of entrepreneurial learning. Finally, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

The Process of Entrepreneurial Learning: A Conceptual Framework

SUMMARY
There has been little empirical investigation of a relationship between market orientation and performance, which is assumed to exist in the strategic management and marketing literatures. This limited empirical evidence is equivocal, and is dominated by only two US studies. The overall aim of the study reported in this article was to build on this limited empirical evidence about a relationship, by achieving new insights from another national business culture, namely the UK. Unlike the US evidence, the results from this study suggest that the influence of market orientation on performance is moderated by environmental variables. They suggest that market orientation may not be advantageous in highly turbulent markets, and in conditions of low customer power and high technological change.

Market Orientation and Company Performance: Empirical Evidence From UK Companies

The impact of the family and the business on family business sustainability

Environmental dynamism, complexity, and munificence as moderators of strategy-performance relationships

Entrepreneurial and established firms need different contracting strategies because they operate in different environments. Established firms operate in an environment of economic equilibrium, whereas entrepreneurial firms operate in an environment of economic disequilibrium. A general contracting model is developed that takes into account risk, environmental context, governance structure, safeguards, transaction costs, and transaction justice. The model is used to develop hypotheses about how entrepreneurial and established firms’ contracting strategies differ and how contracting strategies lead to firm success or failure.

Contracting Strategies in Entrepreneurial and Established Firms

Handbook of career theory: Propositions linking organizations and careers

Postcards was an innovate venture that brought together students and faculty from business and graphic arts to design, produce, and sell university postcards. In this experiential course, students learned and applied management skills and worked in cross-functionally integrated teams. More than 34,000 postcards were sold, resulting in a $1,700 profit. The students were overwhelmingly positive about the course and its learning opportunities. Suggestions for others who might teach a course like postcards include selecting a challenging project with clear-cut external validation of success or failure, designing early opportunities for team building and shared success, and providing sufficient instruction to allow students to succeed.

Angeline W. McArthur

Papers

Environmental dynamism, complexity, and munificence as moderators of strategy-performance relationships

Contracting Strategies in Entrepreneurial and Established Firms

Handbook of career theory: Propositions linking organizations and careers

Creating and Selling Postcards: An Integrative Project Class: