How high-tech entrepreneurial ventures cope with the global crisis: changes in product innovation and internationalization strategies
研究了140家意大利高科技创业企业在2008年全球危机后如何调整产品创新和国际化战略，发现企业规模、前期投资和现金流影响战略调整，且只有产品创新投资能促进短期增长。
The global crisis that began in the second half of 2008 abruptly changed the business context, inducing firms to react by modifying their strategies. This paper examines changes in innovation and internationalization strategies that high-tech entrepreneurial ventures implemented to react to the crisis. Relying on insights from the behavioural theory of the firm and threat-rigidity theory, we explore the antecedents of firms’ investments in development of new products and in expansion in international markets and the consequences of these changes on firms’ growth performance. Econometric results from a sample of 140 Italian high-tech entrepreneurial ventures support the view that the stock of resources accumulated by larger firms, firms’ innovation and internationalization investments in the pre-crisis period and firms’ cash flow determine the extent of the two changes. The effects of these changes on firms’ short-term growth performance are positive only for investments in development of new products.