Open AccessThe Influence of Entrepreneurial Learning in New Firms' Performance: A Study in Costa Rica
Author(s) -
Juan Carlos Leiva,
Joaquı́n Alegre,
Ricardo E. Monge
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
revista innovar journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.156
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2248-6968
pISSN - 0121-5051
DOI - 10.15446/innovar.v24n1spe.47563
Subject(s) - multinational corporation , business , sample (material) , work (physics) , control (management) , industrial organization , marketing , knowledge management , business administration , management , economics , engineering , mechanical engineering , chemistry , finance , chromatography , computer science
The creation of new firms is important for the economy, and entrepreneurial learning is essential for the performance of new firms. We contribute to existing knowledge by combining these two topics and considering a third one: The role of multinational companies (MNCs) as a source of learning for the entrepreneur. This approach has rarely been taken in the literature. We investigated the performance of a group of young companies created by former employees of MNCs and their relationship with entrepreneurial learning in such companies. The study was based on a sample of 175 former employees of MNCs in Costa Rica, who founded their own firm between 2001 and 2007. The control group was formed in the same sectors and over the same time period, but contained people who were not former employees of MNCs. We found a positive linear relationship between post-start-up entrepreneurial learning and performance. No relationship was found between pre-start-up entrepreneurial learning and performance. We did not find significant differences in entrepreneurs with work experience in MNCs. This poses interesting questions for future work.