12722 
8492The rapid economic growth during last three decades in China gives rise to many entrepreneurs and newly founded ventures. However, newly founded ventures last only a short time and have a small survival rate. Why do some newly founded ventures survive and thrive while others struggle and die? What factors determine the survival of newly founded ventures? Firm growing theory considers internal factors as the sources of growth while entrepreneurs have found in practice that technology is the " moat” of a new firm. Under the current background of economic transformation and " mass entrepreneurship and innovation”, it is urgent to study the rules of the survival and growth of new firms in order to improve their survival rate. Newly founded ventures struggle to survive because of the " liability of newness”. The previous literature focuses on the early stage of the life cycle and analyzes the overcoming of the " liability of newness”. The relatively consistent view is that the founding conditions determine the initial survival rate of newly founded ventures, and have a lasting impact on later growth and performance, i.e., the " imprinting” role. Previous studies further examine various types of founding conditions, such as external environmental conditions, internal resource endowments, and strategic choices. Resource-based theory considers an enterprise as a collection of various productive resources, and some scholars have discussed the relationship between resource endowments and the survival of new ventures. In recent years, research based on resource bricolage theory deeply discusses how the new ventures cobble together the existing, scattered, and seemingly useless resources on hand to break through the resource constraints due to initial resource shortage. However, because of the difficulties in obtaining data of founding conditions and measuring resource endowments, there are only a few empirical studies on resource endowments and the survival of newly founded ventures in China. Other scholars have studied the impact of innovative activities on the survival of new ventures. Technological innovation can improve a company’s efficiency and reduce the failure risk. However, there are a few studies that distinguish heterogeneous impacts of different types of innovation. In addition, previous studies have generally discussed only a single aspect of the role of resource endowments or innovative activities. Resources and innovation may be intrinsically linked, so the interactive relationship between innovative behavior and resource endowments is worthy of further exploration. Based on the imprinting role of organizational evolution, this paper uses resource endowments and innovative activities as the objects of the investigation of the founding factors of newly founded ventures. It choses manufacturing firms founded from 2004 to 2006 in Jiangsu province as a sample, investigates the survival of these firms in the first 5 years after their establishment, and analyzes the role of their resource endowments and innovative activities in improving the survival of newly founded ventures. In the empirical analysis, innovative activities are divided into four types to investigate heterogeneity in detail. At the same time, the interaction between resource endowments and innovative activities is analyzed through the introduction of cross items. The results show that on the one hand, newly founded ventures employ resource bricolage by consuming resource endowments to gain the ability to survive; and on the other hand, newly founded ventures gain competitive advantages through innovative activities to consolidate their ability to survive. The survival of newly founded venture depends on the resource endowments while the innovation can increase the survival rate. In the meantime, innovative behavior and resource endowments have a substitution relation. In addition, the different types of innovative activities have different impacts, as the effect of supporting process innovation is stronger than that of productive process innovation, which is, in turn, stronger than the total effect of process innovation, but the effect of product innovation is not significant. From the perspective of resources and innovation, this paper deepens the application of organizational imprinting theory to the evolution of enterprises while providing a new theoretical perspective and new empirical evidence for the interpretation of the survival of newly founded ventures in the Chinese context.
/ Journals / Foreign Economics & Management
Foreign Economics & Management
LiZengquan, Editor-in-Chief
ZhengChunrong, Vice Executive Editor-in-Chief
YinHuifang HeXiaogang LiuJianguo, Vice Editor-in-Chief
Resource Dependence or Innovation Success? On the Survival of Newly Founded Ventures Based on Organizational Imprinting Role
Foreign Economics & Management Vol. 40, Issue 02, pp. 35 - 50 (2018) DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.2018.02.003
Summary
References
Summary
[1] Abdulsaleh A M, Worthington A C. Small and medium-sized enterprises financing: A review of literature[J]. International Journal of Business and Management, 2013, 8(14): 36-54.
[2] Andrews K R. The concept of corporate strategy[M]. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones Irwin, 1971.
[3] Baker T, Nelson R E. Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage[J]. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2005, 50(3): 329-366.
[4] Bao Zongke. Innovative behavior and survival risk of Chinese enterprises: An empirical research[J]. Finance & Trade Economics, 2016, (2): 85-99, 113.
[5] Barney J. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage[J]. Journal of Management, 1991, 17(1): 99-120.
[6] Becker G S. Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education[M]. New York: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
[7] Bi Kexin, Ding Xiaohui, Feng Yingjun. The construction of index system of technological innovation ability for small and medium enterprises in manufacturing industry[J]. The Journal of Quantitative & Technical Economics, 2002, (12): 104-107.
[8] Bi Kexin, Huang Ping, Li Wanhong. The influential factors of knowledge flow coupling between product innovation and process innovation based on manufacturing enterprises[J]. Science Research Management, 2012, (8): 16-24.
[9] Boeker W. Strategic change: The effects of founding and history[J]. Academy of Management Journal, 1989, 32(3): 489-515.
[10] Cai Li, Yin Miaomiao. The interaction between the resource construction and dynamic capacity of newly-established enterprise[J]. Jilin University Journal Social Sciences Edition, 2008, (6): 139-144.
[11] Chen Chuang, Lei Jiasu, Wu Xiaohui. Resource or strategy—Evidence from privately-hold firms in China[J]. China Industrial Economics, 2009, (2): 15-24.
[12] Chen Zhen, Wang Xue. Innovation, sunk cost and firm survival: An empirical analysis using China's micro-level data[J]. Science of Science and Management of S.& T., 2014, (10): 142-149.
[13] Child J, Chung L, Davies H. The performance of cross-border units in China: A test of natural selection, strategic choice and contingency theories[J]. Journal of International Business Studies, 2003, 34(3): 242-254.
[14] Cooper A C, Gimeno-Gascon F J, Woo C Y. Initial human and financial capital as predictors of new venture performance[J]. Journal of Business Venturing, 1994, 9(5): 371-395.
[15] Dai Weiqi, Liu Yang, Liao Mingqing. The imprinting of danwei system and “making fast bucks”: Evidence from China's private enterprises[J]. Management World, 2016, (5): 99-115.
[16] Delmar F, Shane S. Does experience matter? The effect of founding team experience on the survival and sales of newly founded ventures[J]. Strategic Organization, 2006, 4(3): 215-247.
[17] Dertouzos M L, Lester R K, Solow R M. Made in America[M]. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989.
[18] Desa G, Basu S. Optimization or bricolage? Overcoming resource constraints in global social entrepreneurship[J]. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2013, 7(1): 26-49.
[19] Dong Baobao, Li Quanxi. A review of research context of competitive advantage and the construction of integrated research framework: From the angles of resources and capabilities[J]. Foreign Economics & Management, 2013, (3): 2-11.
[20] Duymedjian R, Rüling C C. Towards a foundation of bricolage in organization and management theory[J]. Organization Studies, 2010, 31(2): 133-151.
[21] Eisenhardt K M, Schoonhoven C B. Organizational growth: Linking founding team, strategy, environment, and growth among U.S. Semiconductor ventures, 1978–1988[J]. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1990, 35(3): 504-529.
[22] Fatoki O O. The impact of human, social and financial capital on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa[J]. Journal of Social Sciences, 2011, 29(3): 193-204.
[23] Fontana R, Nesta L. Product innovation and survival in a high-tech industry[J]. Review of Industrial Organization, 2009, 34(4): 287-306.
[24] Garud R, Karnøe P. Bricolage versus breakthrough: Distributed and embedded agency in technology entrepreneurship[J]. Research Policy, 2003, 32(2): 277-300.
[25] Geroski P A, Mata J, Portugal P. Founding conditions and the survival of new firms[J]. Strategic Management Journal, 2010, 31(5): 510-529.
[26] Han Wei, Xue Hongzhi. An analysis on recent researches of new ventures’ growth based on liability of newness[J]. Foreign Economics & Management, 2008, (5): 14-21.
[27] Han Wei, Yang Jun, Bao Fengnai. Initial resources, social capital and speed of entrepreneurial activities[J]. Nankai Business Review, 2013, (3): 149-160.
[28] Hargis M B, Bradley III D B. Strategic human resource management in small and growing firms: Aligning valuable resources[J]. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 2011, 10(2): 105-125.
[29] Heirman A, Clarysse B. How and why do research-based start-ups differ at founding? A resource-based configurational perspective[J]. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2004, 29(3-4): 247-268.
[30] Hua Lei, Wang Wenping. Efficient innovation network structures for different kinds of innovations[J]. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, 2014, (3): 110-119, 90.
[31] Johnson V. What is organizational imprinting? Cultural entrepreneurship in the founding of the Paris opera[J]. American Journal of Sociology, 2007, 113(1): 97-127.
[32] Judge W Q, Hu H W, Gabrielsson J, et al. Configurations of capacity for change in entrepreneurial threshold firms: Imprinting and strategic choice perspectives[J]. Journal of Management Studies, 2015, 52(4): 506-530.
[33] Lévesque M, Shepherd D A. Entrepreneurs' choice of entry strategy in emerging and developed markets[J]. Journal of Business Venturing, 2004, 19(1): 29-54.
[34] Liang Qiang, Luo Yingguang, Xie Shunlong. A review of studies of value creation of entrepreneurial resources from a bricolage perspective and future prospects[J]. Foreign Economics & Management, 2013, (5): 14-22.
[35] Marquis C, Tilcsik A. Imprinting: toward a multilevel theory[J]. The Academy of Management Annals, 2013, 7(1): 195-245.
[36] McDougall P P, Robinson Jr R B, DeNisi A S. Modeling new venture performance: An analysis of new venture strategy, industry structure, and venture origin[J]. Journal of Business Venturing, 1992, 7(4): 267-289.
[37] Penrose E T. The Theory of the growth of the firm[M]. New York: John Wiley, 1959.
[38] Petty J W, Bygrave W D. What does finance have to say to the entrepreneur?[J]. Journal of Small Business Finance, 1993, 2(2): 125-137.
[39] Pieper T M, Smith A D, Kudlats J, et al. The persistence of multifamily firms: Founder imprinting, simple rules, and monitoring processes[J]. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2015, 39(6): 1313-1337.
[40] Rouvinen P. Characteristics of product and process innovators: Some evidence from the Finnish innovation survey[J]. Applied Economics Letters, 2002, 9(9): 575-580.
[41] Schumpeter J A. The theory of economic development: An inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest, and the business cycle[M]. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1934.
[42] Shinkle G A, Kriauciunas A P. The impact of current and founding institutions on strength of competitive aspirations in transition economies[J]. Strategic Management Journal, 2012, 33(4): 448-458.
[43] Simsek Z, Fox B C, Heavey C. “What's past is prologue”: A framework, review, and future directions for organizational research on imprinting[J]. Journal of Management, 2015, 41(1): 288-317.
[44] Singh J V, Lumsden C J. Theory and research in organizational ecology[J]. Annual Review of Sociology, 1990, 16: 161-195.
[45] Stinchcombe A L. Social structure and organizations[A]. March J G. Handbook of Organizations[M]. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1965.
[46] Su Fang, Mao Jiye, Xie Weihong. The Bricolage Process of Resource-poor Firms in Response to Environment Changes[J]. Management World, 2016, (8): 137-149.
[47] Sun Xiaohua, Tian Xiaofang. Market power and technological innovation: An empirical research based on simultaneous equation model[J]. R&D Management, 2010, (1): 26-33.
[48] Sun Xiaohua, Zheng Hui. Heterogeneity influence of buyers’ power on process innovation and product innovation: Model and empirical test[J]. Journal of Management Sciences in China, 2013, (10): 25-39.
[49] Tian Li. Founding conditions and the organizational imprinting mechanism on new ventures: key research questions and the theoretical model[J]. Chinese Journal of Management, 2012, (12): 1800-1809.
[50] Tian Li. The analysis on recent researches of the relationship between initial conditions and new ventures’ survival and growth[J]. Foreign Economics & Management, 2010, (8): 27-34, 41.
[51] Tian Zhilong, Li Chunrong, Jiang Qian, Wang Hao, Liu Lin, Zhu Li, Zhu Shoutuo. The operation strategy of the weak late comers in China’s auto markets: A study based on the cases of China’s auto companies such as Jili, Qirui, Huacheng, BYD and Hafei[J]. Management World, 2010, (8): 139-152.
[52] Utterback J M, Abernathy W J. A dynamic model of process and product innovation[J]. Omega, 1975, 3(6): 639-656.
[53] Van de Ven A H, Hudson R, Schroeder D M. Designing new business startups: Entrepreneurial, organizational, and ecological considerations[J]. Journal of Management, 1984, 10(1): 87-108.
[54] Vanevenhoven J, Winkel D, Malewicki D, et al. Varieties of bricolage and the process of entrepreneurship[J]. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2011, 14(2): 52-66.
[55] Wang Shubin, Xu Yingzhi. Trust, entrepreneurial expansion and market exit risk in start-up stage[J]. Finance & Trade Economics, 2016, (4): 58-70.
[56] Wood M S, Michalisin M D. Entrepreneurial drive in the top management team: Effects on strategic choice and firm performance[J]. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 2010, 17(3): 222-239.
[57] Wu Jiebing, Xu Mengzhou. Industrial cluster’s competitive advantage from the perspective of inter-firm network: Theoretical model and empirical research[J]. Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Sciences), 2008, (4): 163-172.
[58] Wu Liang, Zhao Xinglu, Zhang Jianqi, Liu Heng. How innovation ambidexterity lead to firm performance: the perspective of resource bricolage[J]. Science of Science and Management of S.& T., 2016, (5): 75-84.
[59] Wu Xiaohui, Ye Ying. The progress of marketization, resources acquiring and new venture’s performance–Empirical evidence from China’s industrial enterprises[J]. China Industrial Economics, 2009, (5): 77-86.
[60] Wu Yanbing, Mi Zengyu. Innovation, imitation and technical efficiency in Chinese non-state-owned manufacturing enterprises[J]. Social Sciences in China, 2011, (4): 77-94.
[61] Xiao Xingzhi, He Wentao, Guo Xiaodan. The capability accumulation, the expansion behaviors and the period of time of the firm survival[J]. Management World, 2014, (2): 77-89.
[62] Xu Hong, Lin Zhonggao, Rui Chen. Product market competition, asset specificity and horizontal merger[J]. Nankai Business Review, 2015, (3): 48-59.
[63] Yin Huafang, Pan Zhen, Lu Minghong. Can the hard stone from other mountains attack jade? –The effect of the experience of other firms on the performance of foreign-funded firms[J]. Management World, 2011, (4): 69-83.
[64] Yu Miaojie. Processing trade, productivity, and tariff reductions: evidence from Chinese products[J]. China Economic Quarterly, 2011, (4): 1251-1280.
[65] Yu Xiaoyu, Li Yajie, Tao Xiangming. Literature review on entrepreneurial bricolage and a research agenda[J]. Chinese Journal of Management, 2017, (2): 306-316.
[66] Zahra S A, Ireland R D, Hitt M A. International expansion by new venture firms: International diversity, mode of market entry, technological learning, and performance[J]. Academy of Management Journal, 2000, 43(5): 925-950.
[67] Zhang Zongqing, Zheng Jianghuai. The innovation behavior of firms under the condition of unlimited technology supply: A case study based on the questionnaire about the innovation in China’s manufacturing firms[J]. Management World, 2013, (1): 115-132.
[68] Zhu Xiaohong, Chen Hansong, Zhang Yuli. Interaction among heterogeneous resources, entrepreneurial opportunity and entrepreneurial performance[J]. Chinese Journal of Management, 2014, (9): 1358-1365.
[69] Zhu Zhenduo, Li Xinchun. A growth strategy for new ventures: A literature review of resource bricolage and prospects[J]. Foreign Economics & Management, 2016, (11): 71-82.
Cite this article
Li Ben, Wu Lihua. Resource Dependence or Innovation Success? On the Survival of Newly Founded Ventures Based on Organizational Imprinting Role[J]. Foreign Economics & Management, 2018, 40(2): 35-50.
Export Citations as:
For
ISSUE COVER
RELATED ARTICLES
