A Study On The Effect Mechanism Of Strategic Orientation On New Venture Performance

One of the key factors of whether a new venture can stand firm and grow in the fierce market competition,and even become a leader in the market competition,is whether it maintains the right strategic direction.According to the research of strategic management,as the behavioral direction to guide the operation of new enterprises,strategic orientation is the key factor to determine whether its entrepreneurial performance is excellent.As two key strategic orientation,planned strategic orientation and improvisational strategic orientation have attracted much attention since they were put forward.Start-ups that follow the planned strategic orientation search for reliable information through multiple channels to develop a variety of alternatives and choose the best one to maximize business performance.However,those who oppose the planned strategic orientation believe that the planned strategic orientation will only waste the valuable time and resources of entrepreneurs,which is not conducive to the effective adaptation of new enterprises to the dynamic changes of the external environment.Therefore,entrepreneurs should adopt more valuable improvisational strategic orientation characterized by rapid action,rather than making detailed plans for an uncertain future.Similarly,arguments against improvisational strategic orientation argue that improvisational strategic orientation often puts startups under high time pressure and does not necessarily lead to positive outcomes for startups.It can be seen that the existing studies have not reached a consistent conclusion on the impact of planned strategic orientation and improvisational strategic orientation on the performance of new ventures.The reason is that the realization from planned strategic orientation and improvisational strategic orientation to the performance of new ventures is not necessarily simple and direct,but needs to be realized by some intermediary mechanism.According to the resource-based view,resources are the foundation of enterprise development,and only when enterprises master the resources in line with VRIN can they maintain lasting competitive advantages and improve the performance of new enterprises.According to the resource management theory,the mere possession of these resources is not enough to ensure the acquisition of competitive advantage or the creation of value.To achieve value creation,the key lies in the fact that new enterprises must be able to effectively develop and allocate the resources they have mastered,that is,to achieve the purpose of enhancing the competitive advantage of enterprises through effective resource integration.It is worth noting that strategic orientation itself has the function of guiding the allocation of enterprise resources.According to Zhou et al.(2005),strategic orientation does not automatically lead to better performance,it represents deep-rooted values and beliefs that lead to certain behaviors,which in turn affect corporate performance.For this reason,resource integration is likely to be an intermediate path to open the relationship between strategic orientation and startup performance.As two concrete ways of resource integration,resource optimization and resource bricolage may be affected by the difference in strategic orientation choice between strategic orientation and startup performance.The reason lies in the difference between planned strategic orientation and improvisational strategic orientation in terms of goal-orientation,predictability and immediacy.In addition,the situation of resource shortage of new enterprises leads to the intensification of resource competition between resource optimization and resource bricolage,which makes the resource competition tension between resource optimization and resource bricolage prominent.Therefore,it is necessary to consider the resource allocation and tradeoff between resource optimization and resource bricolage.Based on the research views of Cao et al.(2009),this paper mainly explores the balanced dual resource integration,that is,the relative level of resource optimization and resource bricolage,and explores the impact of dual resource integration on the performance of new ventures under the balanced model.According to the resource dependence theory,enterprises do not operate in a vacuum,and the sustainable and high-quality development of enterprises must depend on the good supply of resources in the external environment.It is concluded that the impact of different types of strategic orientation on resource integration may be strongly related to the environmental background of the enterprise.Therefore,this paper intends to explore the boundary effect of environmental munificence on the relationship between strategic orientation and resource integration,because environmental munificence represents the quantity and value of resources at the disposal of enterprises in the external environment,which will become an important reference for enterprises to choose and implement strategies.Based on this,this paper raises the following research questions:(1)Does the implementation of strategic orientation significantly affect the performance of new ventures?(2)What differentiating role does resource integration play between strategic orientation and the performance of new ventures? How does the balance model of resource optimization and resource bricolage affect the performance of new ventures?(3)What boundary role does environmental munificence play between strategic orientation and resource integration?In order to solve the above research problems,based on classical decision theory,organizational improvisation theory,resource management theory,organizational ambidexterity theory and related research review,this paper carries out the following research contents: First,this paper analyzes the internal relationship between strategic orientation and the performance of start-ups,aiming to answer the research question "whether and how strategic orientation affects the performance of start-ups";Second,based on the perspective of resources,this paper explores the influence mechanism of strategic orientation on the performance of new ventures,aiming to answer the research questions of "What role does resource integration play in the process of strategic orientation affecting the performance of new ventures" and "the influence of the balance mode of resource optimization and resource bricolage on the performance of new ventures".Third,this paper regards environmental munificence as an important contingent variable,explores whether the relationship between strategic orientation and resource integration will be affected by environmental munificence,and aims to answer the research question of "what role environmental munificence plays in the process of strategic orientation affecting resource integration".The innovations of this paper are as follows:(1)Based on the research paradigm of "strategic orientation—resource integration—enterprise performance",this paper innovatively opens the internal micro-mechanism between strategic orientation and the performance of new ventures from the perspective of resource integration,and explores the differentiated mediating role of resource optimization and resource bricolage in the transformation process of strategic orientation to the performance of new ventures.Then it responds to the ambiguity of the relationship between strategic orientation and the performance of new ventures.(2)Based on the organizational ambidexterity theory,this paper further deepens the balance model between resource optimization and resource bricolage based on the study of the impact of resource optimization and resource bricolage on the performance of new ventures in the context of entrepreneurship,namely,the impact of balanced dual resource integration on the performance of new ventures;(3)By introducing environmental munificence,an important situational variable,and establishing a moderated intermediary model,the boundary conditions of the relationship between strategic orientation and resource integration are outlined,which is conducive to a more comprehensive understanding of the indirect effect of environmental munificence on the strategic orientation to mobilize and allocate resources and then on the performance of new startups.