Entrepreneurial postures: a configuration study

While most researchers test explanatory models of the effect of entrepreneurship on firm performance, this paper uses a configuration approach to highlight the shared characteristics that are collectively meaningful to explain performance in small firms. Organizational form taxonomies are constructed to include structure (external and internal environment) and conduct (strategy process and entrepreneurial orientation) as related to performance; using cluster analysis and ANOVAs for a sample of 320 small firms. The results identify entrepreneurial, simple and consolidator configurations. Interestingly Entrepreneurial firms exhibit higher levels of formalization, indicating informal structures may not be ideal for small firms intending to reap rewards from entrepreneurial behaviors.