Action Strategies of Start-ups

Abstract

There are quite a lot of opinions and little knowledge about the strategies of start-ups. The notions on this topic are inconsistent and with little agreement. Hypothetical works predominate and, although logically consistent, there is no empirical research that would provide verified scientific knowledge. Business strategies of start-ups should be a systematic object of research because start-ups have to compensate for a number of their natural limitations (weaknesses) with practical conduct that has the nature of an action strategy. The goal of the research is to identify a typology of start-up strategies that would clarify and specify the strategizing of start-ups based on their actual action. The research was conducted on a sample of 147 start-ups. Methods of descriptive statistics, factor analysis, hierarchical clustering, and ANOVA were used to analyse the research sample. The criteria describing the action of start-ups were divided (reduced) into two strategic dimensions using factor analysis, the combination of which, using clustering by the Ward method, there were identified four types of action strategies of start-ups: proactive leader, waiting leader, proactive follower, waiting follower.  The main knowledge contribution of the research lies in the fact that the seemingly disorganized, spontaneous, and even chaotic action got clear contours that will allow a better understanding of the behaviour of start-ups. The research also included an assessment of the performance of the identified types of strategies.