Matching Strategic Resources with Strategy and Industry Structure‪.‬

ABSTRACT Although new ventures have provided many benefits to society, the failure rate for new ventures has been extremely high. Entrepreneurship theorists have suggested that strategic resources are a possible determinant of new venture success and that strategic resources should be matched to business strategy and environmental situations. However, few empirical studies have considered strategic resources. Therefore, this exploratory study empirically examined the influence of resources on new venture performance in the presence of certain strategic and industry structure conditions. This study found a significant relationship between distinctive competencies and new venture performance when matched to low-cost strategies and between intellectual resources and new venture performance for firms in industries in the shakeout stage. T h e s e results imply that entrepreneurs should match their strategic resources to the situation. New ventures adopting a low-cost approach should develop administration competencies in order to establish a competitive advantage over rivals. It is possible that adding better and more administrative personnel could pay for itself in a higher return to stockholders.