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We advance a configurational perspective that assumes a new venture's performance, operationalized as profitability in this study, is determined by interdependencies among its founder(s)'s resources (i.e., human, social, and financial capital), its strategy, and environmental munificence. Using Rule Ensembles, a semiparametric set-theoretic method, we conduct an abductive investigation using a sample of 853 new ventures. The Rule Ensembles technique identifies five multivariate interdependencies (rules) that enhance new venture profitability and two that reduce it. Indicators of business founder resources are involved in all of the seven model rules. Four configurational rules, including a strategy and/or environmental component, equally emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding the impact of entrepreneurial team composition on new venture performance. Different types of entrepreneurship motivation among founding team members are defined. Using a relatively recent theory as a framework (i.e. self-determination theory), the authors group these motives into two categories: autonomous and controlled motivation. The business impact of the level of each type of motivation within the team, as well as the impact of having team members with different motivational drivers, is examined. New venture performance is modelled in two different ways: financial performance (i.e. return on assets) and innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach: The analyses are based on 66 founding teams active in diverse activity sectors. The teams represent a total of 142 business founders. Data was collected through structured interviews, a company questionnaire and a secondary data source (i.e. certified financial statements). Findings: The results confirm that the level of autonomous motivation within the team contributes to start-up financial performance, whereas the level of controlled motivation hampers innovation performance. No direct effects of diversity of team member motivation on start-up performance were discovered. Originality/value: This is one of the first papers to study multiple firm performance effects of the composition of entrepreneurial founding teams in terms of motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to suggest that different start-up motivations make entrepreneurs pursue different kinds of new business performance, which in this study are expressed in financial terms (i.e. return on assets). The authors posit that so-called extrinsic motivation urges entrepreneurs to be more short-term oriented, while their intrinsic motivation encourages a longer-term business vision. Additionally, this paper explores how intrinsic and extrinsic entrepreneurship motivations combine and produce financial dilemmas for entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach: The analyses are based on 300 entrepreneurs across diverse industries in Belgium. Data was collected for this study through structured interviews with entrepreneurs combined with a company questionnaire. Financial data was obtained through a government database. Findings: Results confirm that extrinsic entrepreneurship motivation boosts new business short-term financial performance, whereas intrinsic motivation contributes to the firm's longer-term financial returns. This paper also shows that a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations directs entrepreneurs toward different profitability levels during the organization's survival and early-establishment phase. Originality/value: Research on entrepreneurship has not yet corroborated that motivations can be personally conflicting, thereby saddling the entrepreneur with dilemmas that may manifest into different levels of business performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research deals with the capacitated, multi-item, multi-stage lotsizing problem for serial systems by examining the performance of heuristics found effective for the capacitated multiple-product, single-stage problem. The items have proportional processing requirements across stages; that is, if item 1 requires twice the processing time of item 2 at one stage, it requires twice the processing requirements at all other stages. The single-stage heuristics included in the study are: Dixon/Silver, Lambrecht/Vanderveken, the Dogramaci, Panyiotopoulos and Adam (both single and multi-pass), and different versions of the ABC heuristic of Maes and Van Wassenhove. These heuristics have been altered in two ways. First, they allow for the inclusion of the cost modification procedures developed by Blackburn and Millen. Second, the feasibility routines have been modified to work in multi-stage environments. Both modifications attempt to coordinate decisions made across stages concerning lotsizes. Experiments were conducted to determine the relative performance of these methods. The experimental design factors include: the TBOs (or time between orders), the coefficient of variation of demand, the capacity available at each stage, the number of products, and the number of stages.

Multilevel lotsizing is one of the most challenging subjects in production planning, especially in the presence of capacity constraints. In this paper we investigate lotsizing heuristics for assembly production systems with a bottleneck. More specifically, we discuss heuristics based on Linear Programming (LP), and compare the performance of these heuristics with the performance of approaches based on simulated annealing and tabu search techniques. A comparison of the three heuristics on a set of test problems shows that simulated annealing and tabu search perform well compared to pure LP-based heuristics, but the effectiveness of the latter heuristics can be improved by combining them with elements from simulated annealing and tabu search.

This paper deals with multi-item capacitated lotsizing in a serial production environment under dynamic demand conditions The primary objective of this research is to investigate the performance of simple level-by-level heuristics. A problem classification is proposed to distinguish between easy problems and harder ones for which no simple heuristics can be developed. It is shown how simple algorithms can be constructed for the easier problems using a level-by-level approach. These heuristics are the first of their kind for this problem. They are compared with the optimal solution for a set of test problems. The results show that for some problem classes strategies which are frequently used in practice may result in rather poor schedules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of business owner experience (management/start-up) and professional networking on start-up export intensity. In addition, we assume networking to mediate the experience - export intensity relationship. Flemish start-ups form this study's empirical setting. Our results indicate that start-up export intensity is directly driven by professional networking. Management experience is a positive antecedent of networking while start-up experience is negatively related to professional networking. All in all, management and start-up experience connect only indirectly to export intensity, fully mediated by networking. Implications and opportunities for future research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how a business owner’s human and social capital affects start-up absorptive capacity under different environmental conditions. From an analysis of a sample of 199 Flemish start-ups, the study observes that the owners’ start-up experience and bridging social capital are positively and significantly related to the new venture’s ability to acquire, assimilate and exploit external information. In addition, the findings reveal a positive but decreasing effect of owner-specific human capital as a function of environmental turbulence. Furthermore, the study finds that management experience significantly stimulates start-up absorptive capacity within highly dynamic environments, whereas it hinders it within stable environments. Finally, implications of the study and opportunities for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the Italian Serie A football league as an example, we analyse the unresolved relationship between pay structure and individual performance in organizational golden team settings, namely, groups of interdependent high-skilled, high-paid employees. We contribute to existing compensation literature by focusing on individual (rather than collective) performance, considering both absolute and relative (within team-within role) pay structures, and investigating the moderating role of pay dispersion in the relationship between pay level and performance. Our analysis confirms the complexity of the understanding of the effects of pay structures on individuals. Specifically, both (absolute and relative) pay level and pay dispersion have a positive impact on the individual performance. However, when absolute and relative pay levels are jointly considered, only the latter displays a significant impact. Moreover, because of its direct positive relationship with individual performance, absolute (and relative) pay dispersion shows to have a partial substituting effect on the impact of absolute (and relative) pay on individual performance. The theoretical and managerial implications of our results and the issue of the extendibility of the findings to non-sport organizations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role and contribution of specific internally (knowledge diversity and sharing capabilities) and externally oriented knowledge-related capabilities (exploratory, transformative, and exploitative learning processes of absorptive capacity) to radical product innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It extends the current literature on the topic by considering both types of knowledge-related capabilities and by hypothesizing and testing connections between both. Our path analysis results, based on a sample of 194 SMEs in dynamic environments, indicate that radical innovation is positively affected by exploitative learning and by the knowledge sharing capability. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most business education institutions ( BEIs) try to hire good researchers for teaching. However, it is controversial to say that excellent researchers are always excellent instructors. This paper explores the students' perception of the teaching delivered by both researchers and non-researchers. Our data suggests that the pure possession of a PhD is negatively related to measured aspects of students' satisfaction with classes. However, the instructor's publication record is positively related to most - but not all - aspects. Having more teaching experience, another element that is typically considered in an instructor's job interview, is not positively related to the students' satisfaction, but rather it is the specific teaching experience in that specific BEI that counts. Moreover, smaller group sizes, a key element in a BEI's cost structure, are appreciated by students. Finally, compulsory and optional classes are perceived to be equally useful, although the latter seem to overall better satisfy and entertain students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between new venture team composition and start-up performance, measured as value added. We consecutively introduce the level and heterogeneity of team industry experience, intrinsic and extrinsic entrepreneurship motivation as potential drivers of venture value added. Using a sample of 66 teams representing 142 business founders, we observe that a team's level of industry experience and extrinsic entrepreneurship motivation significantly contribute to start-up value added, whereas intrinsic entrepreneurship motivation exhibits a negative association with value added. Additionally, our findings reveal that teams with high industry experience exert a stronger influence on start-up value added when the team's experience heterogeneity is high, whereas teams with low experience benefit from low experience heterogeneity. There appears to be no significant impact of a team's motivation heterogeneity on start-up value added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of empirical studies on the HRM-performance link report a positive story. The costs associated with the productivity rise due to high performance work practices (HPWP) have been largely neglected. The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework that maps both the value-enhancing and cost-raising impact of HPWP. In addition, we want to pronounce upon their overall effect on financial performance. To test our model, we rely on a sample of small businesses. Understanding both performance and cost-related effects of the implementation of HPWP is particularly valuable for small businesses since they often lack financial resources to implement HPWP and benefit less from economies of scale compared to their larger counterparts. Study results indicate that although greater use of HPWP is associated with increased productivity, this effect is offset by increased labour costs. However, we find an overall positive effect of HPWP on firm profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of this study, which assesses the influence of HRM on financial performance, is fourfold. (1) We assess the relative contribution of different HR domains to organizational performance. By controlling for the overall HRM intensity in all analyses we try to meet one of the most striking shortcomings of 'single HR practice research', namely the neglect of the potential simultaneity that might exist with other HR practices, (2) By studying small Belgian companies, we focus on the importance of HRM for small business management. (3) Relying on bankruptcy prediction models, we optimize the conceptualization of financial performance, (4) Using structural equation modelling, we try to capture the mediating effect of operational performance on the relationship between HRM and financial performance. The analyses indicate mixed results for different HR domains with regard to their impact on operational and financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi item single level capacitated dynamic lotsizing problem consists of scheduling N items over a horizon of T periods. Demands are given and should be satisfied without backlogging. The objective is to minimize the sum of setup costs and inventory holding costs over the horizon subject to a constraint on total capacity in each period. Three simple heuristics from literature (Lambrecht and Vanderveken, Dixon and Silver, Dogramaci, Panayiotopoulos and Adam) are compared on a large set of test problems and their difference in performance is analyzed for various problem parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss the behavior of three well-known heuristics for capacitated dynamic lotsizing (Lambrecht-Vanderveken, Dixon-Silver, Dogramaci, Panayiotopoulos and Adam) on a rolling horizon. Extensive computational results are presented for various problem parameters. For a detailed discussion of the heuristics and their behavior under static conditions, the reader is referred to Part I of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]