Title: Technology-oriented new ventures and entry timing

Authors: Maria Jose Ruiz-Ortega, Pedro Manuel Garcia-Villaverde

Addresses: University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain. ' University of Castilla-La Mancha, 16071 Cuenca, Spain

Abstract: In this paper, we develop an empirical study on the factors that influence entry timing for technology-oriented new ventures. In this sense, we analyse a sample of 104 new ventures of a high technology industry, the Information and Communications Technology sector in Spain. We demonstrate that in highly hostile environments, the availability of marketing capabilities will encourage a pioneer behaviour by technology-oriented new ventures. By contrast, the availability of managerial and technical capabilities will encourage technology-oriented new ventures to develop a follower behaviour. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that when the level of imitation in the environment is high, the availability of managerial capabilities will encourage technology-oriented new ventures to develop a pioneer behaviour. With regard to the implications for managers, we consider that new ventures| managers must evaluate whether their firms have the suitable capabilities to take advantage of first mover advantages, given unfavourable environmental conditions.

Keywords: entry timing; technology-oriented new ventures; environmental conditions; marketing capabilities; follower behaviour; pioneer behaviour; high technology; high tech firms; ICT; Spain; information technology; communications technology; managerial capabilities; technical capabilities; market entry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2010.035855

International Journal of Technology Management, 2010 Vol.52 No.1/2, pp.46 - 68

Published online: 12 Apr 2013 *

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