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Entrepreneurial orientation has been recognised as a key driver for bolstering a firm's core competitiveness and fostering the creation of novel advantages. However, the efficacy of entrepreneurial orientation in enhancing the high-tech firm performance has been a controversial issue. We propose an ‘orientation-learning-innovation-performance’ model, which employs the concepts of ambidextrous learning and business model innovation to explore the effects of entrepreneurial orientation on high-tech firm performance within a dynamic environment. PLS-SEM was used to test data gathered from 291 high-tech firms. The results reveal that entrepreneurial orientation does not exert a direct influence on high-tech firm performance, while the mediation role of exploitative learning is not significant. Entrepreneurial orientation mainly influences high-tech firm performance through exploratory learning, ambidextrous learning and business model innovation. This influence is further amplified in contexts characterised by environmental dynamism. Our findings contribute to the literature on entrepreneurial orientation and organisational learning theory, providing insights that firms can use to enhance efficiency and maintain a competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines two important mediating roles, namely, technology diversity (TD) and intellectual property protection, in the relationship between product innovativeness and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on survey data from 119 Taiwanese SMEs, EO enhances product innovativeness indirectly through TD and IP protection. In addition, market uncertainty moderates three relationships, as follows: TD/product innovativeness positively, and EO/IP protection and IP protection/product innovativeness negatively. Our results improve knowledge of EO and product innovativeness in SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on the dominant employability model by Dacre Pool and Sewell – CareerEDGE model by developing an extended CareerEDGE model for embedding, evaluating and monitoring employability skills relevant to undergraduate students. Drawing on the current literature on employability, the 'Extended CareerEDGE Model' is developed by formulating a measurement framework. Elements of the extended model and framework are discussed and their inclusion is justified on the basis of existing research. The model extends the CareerEDGE model by facilitating the inclusion of entrepreneurship knowledge and skills as student entrepreneurial orientation to engender the requisite entrepreneurial mindset to address the need for intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial skills required to operate in the business environment. The study validates the Extended CareerEDGE Model of graduate employability with responses from 947 students engaged in a core employability-embedded business school undergraduate programme. The study confirms a positive relationship between student entrepreneurial orientation with employability reflection and evaluation. Also, the results confirm a positive relationship between Students' Achievement Orientation with Career Development Learning. A similar positive relationship was established between Students' Achievement Orientation and Degree Subject Knowledge as well as the acquisition of Generic Skills. Additionally, student Learning Orientation positively influences Career Development Learning, Degree Subject Knowledge and Generic Skills acquisition. The extended CareerEDGE model succinctly informs the planning of programmes and structured interventions on employability essentials for students, administrators and academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an expanded view of the E-S-P (Environment-Strategy-Performance) perspective, this study was based on the ESCAPE model to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance under environmental uncertainty in Taiwan's hospitality and tourism start-ups. The findings from 543 entrepreneurs demonstrate that organizational learning mediated between entrepreneurial orientation and that organization performance is also mediated between entrepreneurial orientation and competitive advantage. Moreover, the findings show that environmental uncertainty strengthens the mediation effect on performance and competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to adopt the perspective of organisational ambidexterity to explore the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and innovation performance (IP). Based on the resource-based view and social network theory, this study constructs a theoretical model to investigate the relationship between EO and IP, as well as the mediation of network ambidexterity. The empirical results show that EO has a positive and direct impact on IP. The dimensions of network ambidexterity both mediate the relationships between EO and IP. More importantly, the combined dimension has a stronger effect than the balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvement in social media (SM) platforms and their ability to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reach a large audience has led to changes in how entrepreneurial firms carry out their regular activities. Studies on entrepreneurship and SM adoption are relatively new and fragmented; however, there is scant interest from managers, scholars, and governments for future research work in this area in emerging countries. This study aims to investigate the role of SM adoption and innovation capabilities (IC) in improving SME performance. We employ the resource-based view (RBV) as a basis for the conceptual model and infer relationships between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), SM adoption, IC, and SME performance. A closed-ended questionnaire was administered to collect data through a web-based survey and quantitative analysis was employed to generalise the results. The proposed relationships are tested on a sample of 431 randomly selected SMEs, applying the PLS algorithm, bootstrapping, and blindfolding techniques using SmartPLS 3.0. The findings reveal that SME performance could be improved by EO, SM adoption, and IC. Additionally, SM adoption significantly mediates the EO–SME-performance relationship, and IC moderates the SM-adoption–SME-performance association. This paper also makes several theoretical and practical contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thesis of the affective and emotional origins of entrepreneurial orientation and technological innovation is yet to emerge. This is highly unusual given the origins of a firm-level entrepreneurial orientation in the decision-making styles, methods, process and practices set by the upper echelons (the CEO) of the firm. This research aims to investigate the mediating effect of firm-level entrepreneurial orientation in the connection between the entrepreneurial passion of CEOs and technological innovation in SMEs. Using data collected through a structured survey questionnaire of privately-owned Chinese SMEs mostly operating in manufacturing industries, the findings show that firm-level entrepreneurial orientation significantly mediates the relationship between CEOs' entrepreneurial passion and technological innovation. Our findings suggest that CEOs entrepreneurial passion indeed predicts firm-level entrepreneurial orientation, and CEOs passionate for entrepreneurship can realise increases in their firm's technological innovation when they can first set in place a strategic posture and set of behaviours commensurate with entrepreneurial orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a conceptualization of entrepreneurial marketing approaches that wineries can adopt in internationalization. Bringing together literature on marketing, entrepreneurship, internationalization, networks and serendipity, we argue that adopting an entrepreneurial marketing orientation (EMO) is appropriate for the wine industry and offer a set of propositions based on networks and serendipity literature to support an EMO and internationalization framework. EMO allows the wine industry to navigate the competitive and turbulent nature of the industry and overcome the challenges during the early stage of the internationalization journey. The paper offers a foundation to better understand the internationalization process of the wine sector and the benefits of EMO to wineries entering international markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal distinctiveness perspective argues that firms face competing pressures to be both 'like' and 'different from' their peers. On the one hand, institutional scholars assert that firms need to be similar to peers in order to gain legitimacy. On the other hand, strategy scholars insist that firms need to strive to be different to gain competitive advantage. In order to enrich the optimal distinctiveness perspective, the present study builds a conceptual model that addresses the relationships among organisational regulatory legitimacy, entrepreneurial orientation, and SME innovation under the context of China's transition economy. Our empirical results show that organisational regulatory legitimacy has an inverted-U relationship with SME innovation. Further, entrepreneurial orientation strengthens this inverse-U shaped relationship. That is, entrepreneurial orientation magnifies both the positive and the negative effect of organisational regulatory legitimacy on SME innovation. This study echoes to the call to conduct broader optimal distinctiveness research by integrating institutional theory and strategic management. Furthermore, our findings provide new evidence for the strategic balance perspective of optimal distinctiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines how human capital combines with and influences organizational orientations to determine performance. Specifically, this study investigates small restaurant businesses’ ability to effectively exploit intangible resources and capabilities, rather than tangible resources, in order to produce sustainable competitive advantage. A structured questionnaire was used to survey owners/managers of small independent restaurants in the United States. The results demonstrate that human capital, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation serve as intangible resources and capabilities that can augment the competitive position of independent restaurants, and thereby improve performance. Human capital also combines with and influences the adoption of market orientation and subsequent performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm growth and the moderating role of business environment for Russian and Finnish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For hypothesis testing, structural equation modeling is applied to the data set of 104 Russian and 117 Finnish privately owned SMEs. Results show that while in the Finnish market context EO dimensions are directly associated with firm growth, in the emerging Russian market the relationship is moderated by the dynamic and hostile environment. The results also provide evidence of the nature of EO for SMEs operating in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the South African government’s strategic policy interventions and huge investments into small business development over the past two decades, solid evidence of the transition of informal businesses to the formal sector is hard to encounter. Furthermore, the high rates of unemployment in the country point to the growing incapacity of small-scale, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) to address the chronic social ills of poverty, inequality and social deprivation ravaging the country. Building on mainstream literature on the government interventions designed to promote growth without equity among SMMEs and Sen’s capabilities approach, this theoretical study advances a poverty-reduction approach to entrepreneurship underpinned by a systematic integration of multiple-level conversion factors, sustainable resourcing (especially seed funding and managerial capacity development), commercialization of business activities, a strong entrepreneurial orientation and solid managerial capabilities. Such an integrated approach was deemed to strengthen the capacity of SMMEs to survive the competition from established commercialised enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study's main objective was to assess value co-creation and new product success among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia by incorporating cultural orientations and relationship marketing perspectives. The samples were purposely selected in two sectors: handcraft and food and drink. They were approached through a door-to-door distribution of the questionnaires. The findings indicated that relationship quality can enhance value co-creation and new product success when SMEs have a favorable combination of learning, market, and entrepreneurial orientations. However, this study suggests that SMEs do not utilize their relationships as arenas for learning and learning orientation can affect relationship quality only when it is supported by the other orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and learning orientation (LO) in the financial success of forest contracting firms. Both EO and LO have previously been understood to positively affect a firm's financial performance, but extant literature has not considered those links in a transition economy. Partially addressing this gap, we execute this study in a Polish context. Using data obtained through a mail survey of 101 owners of forest contracting firms (34% response rate), we found that both EO and LO have a positive and significant effect on financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors sought to assess the entrepreneurial behavior of the organic vegetable farmers in the Badulla District of Sri Lanka. The primary data were collected through use of a structured questionnaire that was used to interview 231 farmers. The study found that there are three main agribusiness models operating in the district. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of the farmers fitted into three business models was measured following the method suggested by Covin and Slevin and by Lumpkin and Dess. The study revealed that the highest EO was exhibited by the Member Farmers of Organic Association (2.4 of 5) followed by the Contract Organic Farmers (2.24 of 5), and the lowest EO was exhibited by the Independent Organic Farmers (1.8 of 5). The analysis of variance revealed that the EO is significantly different across the three business models, and mean separation revealed that the Member Farmers’ of Organic Organizations model exhibited the highest EO followed by the Contract Farmers model and then the Independent Farmers’ model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]