Technical Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Experience

Abstract

DR. DYLAN JONES-EVANS IS European Union postdoctoral research fellow at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College, Dublin, Ireland. The increasing contribution of technology- based small firms to both employment and innovation within high-technology industries has led to considerable interest in their growth and development, especially in the identification of factors which may influenceithe future management and strategy of these ventures. Evidence from qualitative interviews with thirty-eight technical entrepreneurs suggests that three main factors affect the strategy of the small technology-based firm, namely the age of the venture, the novelty of the technology used within the venture, and the previous management and technical competence of the entrepreneur. In terms of the future strategy of their businesses, approximately half of the entrepreneurs questioned were reluctant to grow their businesses beyond a certain size, preferring instead to remain small. Although age and size of the firm had minimal influence on growth orientation, the majority of technical entrepreneurs possessing a high degree of technical competence and those using radical technologies in their ventures demonstrated a major reluctance to grow their businesses beyond a certain size. This result, if confirmed by a larger, more comprehensive study, may have considerable implications with regard to policy towards small technology-based firms.