Cited by 369Entrepreneurship Studies and InfluencesFirm Innovation and GrowthInnovation and Knowledge Management

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Pre-Entry Knowledge, Learning, and the Survival of New Firms

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Dencker, John C., Gruber, Marc, Shah, Sonali K.·2009·Organization Science

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Abstract

New firms are endowed with knowledge and experience at birth through the human capital of their founder(s). Existing empirical research suggests that this pre-entry knowledge and experience will influence the firm's chances of survival; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship have yet to be investigated. We seek to better understand and unpack this relationship. Specifically, we study the extent to which a founder's pre-entry knowledge of the business activity and pre-entry management experience influence the effectiveness of two subsequent learning activities—namely, early-stage business planning and product-line change. Our findings suggest that pre-entry knowledge and management experience increase firm survival through moderating the effects of these subsequent learning activities. We also find that learning activities are not always beneficial; in our sample, early-stage business planning is associated with decreased firm survival, and product line change is associated with increased firm survival. We examine these patterns using survey data collected from 436 individuals in the Munich region who founded their own firms as an alternative to continued unemployment. Our results have theoretical implications for the entrepreneurship, evolutionary economics, and organizational learning literatures.

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“On the other hand, speci ﬁ c human capital is a non-transferable stock typically measured in terms of prior experience and speci ﬁ c training (Boden and Nucci 2000; Chrisman and Ed McMullan 2004; Cooper, Javier Gimeno-Gascon, and Woo 1994; Dencker, Gruber, and Shah 2009).”
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Block, J., & Petty, J. S. (2020) · Journal of Small Business Management · doi:10.1080/00472778.2020.1794655 · Cited by 8
“…of different approaches to business planning have not only been the subject of longstanding research interest but also of major debate in the entrepreneurship literature (e.g., Brinckmann et al., 2019, 2010; Castrogiovanni, 1996; Chrisman et al., 2005; Dencker et al., 2009; Gruber, 2007).”
Background
Business continuity, motivation, and social conditions of young entrepreneurs
Rahmatiah, R., Wiroto, D. W., & Taan, H. (2019) · doi:10.14254/2071-789x.2019/12-4/10 · Cited by 9
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Les dérives des systèmes d’accompagnement sur la prise de décision et de risque dans la création d’entreprise : réflexions pour la recherche et pour la pratique
Barbosa, S. D., & Duquenne, L. (2016) · Revue internationale P M E Économie et gestion de la petite et moyenne entreprise · doi:10.7202/1038337ar · Cited by 12
How do the determinants of firm survival change in the course of the industry life cycle? A fuzzy-set analysis
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“When the growth of the market stagnates many firms are forced to exit, and a shakeout in firm numbers follows.”
Background
Imprinting effects of exposure to the Indian independence movement on export intensity of firms
Banerjee, S., Karna, A., & Sharma, S. K. (2022) · Journal of business research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.05.033 · Cited by 9
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“We controlled for several industry-and firm-level factors that can influence the revenue of venture firms (Dencker et al., 2009).”
Unraveling the effect of pre-entry knowledge of founders on experimentation in nascent industries: A configurational approach
Lee, H. (2023) · Journal of business research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114155 · Cited by 8
The survival of bike-sharing startups in China: an empirical analysis of the influencing factors
Zhou, Y., Park, S., Wang, Q., Zhang, Z., & Behl, A. (2022) · Kybernetes · doi:10.1108/k-12-2021-1378 · Cited by 8
The Influence of Entrepreneurial Learning in New Firms' Performance: A Study in Costa Rica
Leiva, J. C., Alegre, J., & Monge, R. E. (2014) · Innovar · doi:10.15446/innovar.v24n1spe.47563 · Cited by 17
“As for entrepreneurial learning, there are several scholars that address the issue from a theoretical perspective (Minniti & Bygrave, 2001; Politis, 2005; Rae, 2006), while others address the issue empirically (Dencker et al., 2009; De Clercq & Arenius, 2006; Voudouris, et al., 2010).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
When teams of employees spin-off partnerships: matching-technology, information structure, and the “pure” incubator effect
Fabel, O., Hopp, C., & Weber, T. (2013) · Journal of Business Economics · doi:10.1007/s11573-013-0655-7 · Cited by 8
“The original PSED 2 scale is inverted so that higher values indicate higher levels of self-efficacy.11 A growing body of research in entrepreneurship suggests that the nature of the opportunity which is pursued influences organizational actions (Shane 2003; Dencker et al. 2009).”
Entrepreneurs' use of imagination in pivot decision: Toward a conceptual model
Gabay-Mariani, L., Flechas, X. A., & Blank, T. (2024) · Strategic Change · doi:10.1002/jsc.2595 · Cited by 7
Spawned by opportunity or out of necessity? Organizational antecedents and the choice of industry and technology in employee spinouts
Bahoo‐Torodi, A. (2024) · Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal · doi:10.1002/sej.1511 · Cited by 7
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Jiang, H., & Murmann, J. P. (2022) · Management and Organization Review · doi:10.1017/mor.2021.77 · Cited by 11
“…businesses tend to source more technical knowledge from incumbent firms (Chatterji, 2009), and their fates hinge more on technical innovativeness (Dencker, Gruber, & Shah, 2009), the current literature may be skewed toward overstating the effects of technical knowledge passed from incumbents…”
Influence of national and regional level social capital on entrepreneurial activity
Cox, K., Lortie, J., & Dheer, R. J. S. (2021) · Cross cultural & strategic management · doi:10.1108/ccsm-07-2021-0129 · Cited by 7
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Mackiewicz, M., & Kurczewska, A. (2020) · BRQ Business Research Quarterly · doi:10.1177/2340944420976652 · Cited by 10
“In this article, we follow the reasoning that companies are endowed with knowledge and experience through the human capital of their founders (Dencker et al., 2009).”
Background
University spin-off firms’ struggle with openness in early knowledge relationships: in search of antecedents and outcomes
Taheri, M., Ye, Q., & van Geenhuizen, M. (2018) · Technology Analysis & Strategic Management · doi:10.1080/09537325.2018.1459539 · Cited by 7
“…other studies indicate that prior start-up experience leads to a negative impact, because of emerging ‘lock-in’ situations based on increasing self-confidence and self-reliance, providing constraints in developing openness (Beckman, Burton, and O’Reilly 2007; Dencker, Gruber, and Shah 2009).”
Background
The Challenging Dynamics of Nascent Entrepreneurship
França, A., Vilares, A., Frankenbach, S., Veréb, V., & Moreira, A. (2018) · Advances in business strategy and competitive advantage book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-2936-1.ch001 · Cited by 7
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“He attributes this result to the greater opportunities to gain entrepreneurially relevant managerial experiences and knowledge provided by smaller and younger firms (see also Dencker et al., 2009).”
Background
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Huang, Y.-C., Wu, S., Chen, C., & Zou, C.-X. (2024) · Baltic Journal of Management · doi:10.1108/bjm-08-2023-0319 · Cited by 6
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Employee spinouts along the value chain
Adams, P., Bahoo‐Torodi, A., Fontana, R., & Malerba, F. (2023) · Industrial and Corporate Change · doi:10.1093/icc/dtad073 · Cited by 6
Cultural learning process: lesson from microhistory
Yu, T., & Mills, A. J. (2021) · Journal of Management History · doi:10.1108/jmh-12-2020-0075 · Cited by 6
How Valuable is Experience? Examining the Impact of Founder Experience on Nonprofit Start-Up Success
Andersson, F. (2020) · Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs · doi:10.20899/jpna.6.2.233-247 · Cited by 6
Different strategies for different fields? Exploration, exploitation, ambidexterity, and the performance of self-employed musicians
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DECIDING TO DISCOVER ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES: A MULTI-LEVEL INVESTIGATION BASED ON INFORMATIONAL ECONOMICS AND RESOURCE DEPENDENCE THEORY
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Los emprendedores surgidos de las empresas multinacionales de inversión extranjera directa: un estudio exploratorio en Costa Rica
Leiva, J. C., Alegre, J., & Monge, R. E. (2014) · doi:10.1016/j.estger.2013.12.004 · Cited by 6
“…fue por antigüedad, mercados atendidos al inicio de sus operaciones (Kantis et al., 2004), sector comercial, cambios en los productos y servicios (Dencker et al., 2009), realización de investigación y desarrollo (I + D) (Alegre y Chiva, 2008) así como similitud de conocimiento (West y Noel,…”
BackgroundInfluential
Inherited Agglomeration Effects in Hedge Funds
de Figueiredo, R. D., Meyer-Doyle, P., & Rawley, E. (2011) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1553412 · Cited by 6
Failure to advance: resource logic for early venture failure
Saxton, M., Saxton, T., Steen, J., & Verreynne, M. (2010) · doi:10.1080/08109021003668620 · Cited by 6
“( 2009 ) for a more recent review of this literature], including individual factors such as prior knowledge, regional economics and demographics (education of the local workforce and so on).”
Background
The institutional-ideological matrix: how freedom and ideology shape opportunity-to-necessity entrepreneurship
Hechavarria, D. M., & Terjesen, S. A. (2025) · Small Business Economics · doi:10.1007/s11187-025-01083-6 · Cited by 5
“In other words, necessity entrepreneurship is driven by meeting basic needs (i.e., material, physiological, and safety), and opportunity entrepre-neurship is driven by meeting higher-level needs (i.e., well-being, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization) (Dencker et al., 2019; Maslow, 1954).”
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Brazo, P., Velicia-Martín, F., Palos-Sanchez, P., & Roldán, J. L. (2024) · European Business Review · doi:10.1108/ebr-03-2024-0097 · Cited by 5
Impact of entrepreneurs' prior experience on their new ventures' early-stage performance: the mediation effect of entrepreneurial mindset level
Chen, S., Zhong, L., Wang, X., & Chen, B. (2024) · Frontiers in Organizational Psychology · doi:10.3389/forgp.2024.1435134 · Cited by 5
Personal factors and innovative training as influential elements in the intrapreneurial trend
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Park, U. D., Rha, Y., Shah, S., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2023) · Industrial and Corporate Change · doi:10.1093/icc/dtad072 · Cited by 6
Self-citation
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Investigating the Relationship Between Export Antecedents and Export Performance of Handloom Industry
Singh, V., & Gautam, A. (2022) · FIIB Business Review · doi:10.1177/23197145221082853 · Cited by 5
“…market, which leads to the effective utilization of organizational capabilities for achieving the export performance and reflects the importance of proactive learning considering the capacity of organizational capability for performing export activities (Dencker et al., 2009; Wyer et al., 2010).”
Structural Relation of Export Assistance Programme and Export Performance Determinants: A Study of Handloom Industry
Singh, V., & Gautam, A. (2021) · PARADIGM · doi:10.1177/09718907211027071 · Cited by 5
“The firms having significant knowledge related to the international market and that leads to the effective utilization of organizational capabilities for achieving the export performance, and that reflects the importance of proactive learning considering the capacity of organizational capability for performing export…”
Background

Authors: Dencker, J. C., Gruber, M., & Shah, S. K.
Affiliations: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
University of Washington (US)
ORCID: Dencker, John C.
Gruber, Marc
Shah, Sonali K.
Venue: Organization Science
Publisher: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Published: 2009-06
Volume: 20
Issue: 3
Pages: 516-537
ISSN: 1047-7039 (ISSN-L)
1526-5455
DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1080.0387
OpenAlex: W2166346994
Cited by: 369
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 11
FWCI: 14.18
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
infoscience.epfl.ch
Locations: Organization Science (publishedVersion)
Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics: Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences
Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Firm Innovation and Growth
Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Innovation and Knowledge Management
Keywords: new firm survival, founder human capital, managerial experience, organizational learning, entrepreneurship, moderating effect, self-employment

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Pre-Entry Knowledge, Learning, and the Survival of New Firms

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