[Abstract]
Many previous studies have recognized, corporate entrepreneurship (hereafter CE) activities as important factors that contribute to a firm¡¯s performance and the improvement of its competitive advantage. However, few studies, whether theoretical or empirical, have examined CE activities. While most previous work has focused on large firms¡¯ activities, little is known about high-tech based venture firms.
There are two major objectives of this study : First, to identify the types of CE activities in Korean venture firms. Second, to examine the relationship between the clusters of CE and main antecedent variables of venture performance. In order to identify the types of CE activities in Korean venture firms, cluster analysis was conducted based on collected 247 data and three firm clusters were developed. To explore the relations between CE clusters and variables (e.g. as human, environmental, strategic, and organizational), ANOVA and ¥ö2 analyses were used. Based on the these analyses, several implications were drawn as follows :
First, there were significant differences between the clusters for entrepreneurs¡¯ education and experience. It means that the more knowledge and experience an entrepreneur/manager has had in technology or business the more likely the entrepreneur will perform CE activities. Second, perceived environmental munificence and uncertainty were predicted to be associated with greater use of CE. Thus, it should be expected that the more opportunities or risks the firm perceives the environment to be, the more likely the firm is to engage in CE activity. Third, the more innovative, external-oriented, and speed-based venture firms tend to perform better in CE activities. This means that more entrepreneurial firms tend to seek creative or unusual solutions to problems and needs. Fourth, venture firms that are more proactive in CE activities tend to exhibit better R&D and commercialization than others do. Fifth, the results of this study support the possibility that CE activities in Korean venture firms can improve the firms¡¯ performance.