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Outsourcing and Performance in Entrepreneurial Firms: Contingent Relationships with Entrepreneurial Configurations *
Author(s) -
Salimath Manjula S.,
Cullen John B.,
Umesh U. N.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
decision sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.238
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1540-5915
pISSN - 0011-7315
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5915.2008.00196.x
Subject(s) - outsourcing , typology , business , industrial organization , corporate governance , entrepreneurship , salient , perspective (graphical) , marketing , resource (disambiguation) , resource dependence theory , microeconomics , economics , finance , computer network , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science , history
This article develops and examines an empirical typology of entrepreneurial firms, based on organizational and life cycle characteristics. Results indicate five entrepreneurial configurations representing the essential contingent features of age, size, innovation, and governance structure (Elders, Giants, Innovators, and Owners) and one configuration representing a mix of all features (Balanced). We found that (i) outsourcing affected financial performance in entrepreneurial firms and (ii) configurations moderated this relationship. Results support the use of salient contingent features of age, size, innovation, and governance structure to predict outsourcing effectiveness in the entrepreneurial configurations. That is, entrepreneurial firms that aligned their configurational characteristics with outsourcing tended to have greater gains in financial performance. From a resource dependency perspective, managing these alignments has important implications for entrepreneurial firm performance.