Outsourcing and Performance in Entrepreneurial Firms: Contingent Relationships with Entrepreneurial Configurations*
基于组织与生命周期特征，将创业企业分为五种构型，发现外包对财务绩效的影响因构型而异，匹配构型特征的外包能提升绩效。
ABSTRACT This article develops and examines an empirical typology of entrepreneurial firms, based on organizational and life cycle characteristics. Results indicate five entrepreneurial configurations representing the essential contingent features of age, size, innovation, and governance structure (Elders, Giants, Innovators, and Owners) and one configuration representing a mix of all features (Balanced). We found that (i) outsourcing affected financial performance in entrepreneurial firms and (ii) configurations moderated this relationship. Results support the use of salient contingent features of age, size, innovation, and governance structure to predict outsourcing effectiveness in the entrepreneurial configurations. That is, entrepreneurial firms that aligned their configurational characteristics with outsourcing tended to have greater gains in financial performance. From a resource dependency perspective, managing these alignments has important implications for entrepreneurial firm performance.