The impacts of entrepreneurial strategies and organizational learning on firm performance in transitional environments: An empirical study in China and Vietnam

Firms operating in transitional environments often face a number of challenges and opportunities that their counterparts in developed countries environments do not. Turbulent environments are those in which firms face changing economic and social conditions such as liberalization and immature market opportunities, and the ability to control and dominate the market to their own advantages. This dissertation examines whether firms using entrepreneurial strategies in such environments are able to compete effectively and also better understand the role of organizational learning and knowledge management in this process.; Data were collected from existing firms operating in economies in transition. In all, 168 samples from the People's Republic of China and 74 samples from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam were collected from managers enrolled in executive MBA (EMBA) programs. Organizations from the two nations were comparable in terms of their size and general industry affiliation. Factor analysis was used to examine the psychometric properties of scales related to entrepreneurial orientation, organizational learning, and environmental hostility that were originally developed in Western nations. Results indicate that these measures appear to be valid and reliable in these emerging economies.; Structural equation models were created to explore the relationship among the constructs. Organizational learning was found to have a positive and significant influence on entrepreneurial orientation and also had the greatest impact on firm performance. As expected, environmental hostility had a negative effect on performance, although it did not significantly affect either entrepreneurial orientation or organizational learning. Chinese managers perceived their environment to be more threatening, while Vietnamese executives indicated that entrepreneurial strategic postures and organizational learning were more prevalent in their economy. Possible reasons for these country differences are discussed.; This dissertation makes a number of contributions to theory and practice. First, it examines the viability of Western metrics and of commonly used constructs. Business educators can integrate the results of this study into their discussion of how various strategic postures may be used in emerging economies. Policymakers can gain a better understanding of the nature of firm-level entrepreneurship and the extent to which potential competitors operating abroad use organizational learning.