Entrepreneurial success among start-ups is one of the topics on which very few elaborate and in-depth studies have been made. Furthermore, these studies have been exploratory in nature and adequate empirical evidence has not been provided, especially in measuring entrepreneurial success. Current literature on entrepreneurial success emphasizes the role of entrepreneurial attributes as the primary factor for the success of start-ups. There are a few researchers who have proposed that the individual competence of the entrepreneur and regulatory support are also important factors for the success of start-ups. This study was conducted in four districts of Andhra Pradesh with a sample size of 200 SMEs. Personal interviews were conducted with the founders of 200 SMEs using a standardized questionnaire. All the 200 entrepreneurs were measured on four entrepreneurial attributes, viz., Industry Knowledge (IK), Street Smartness (SS), Tolerance for Ambiguity (TFA) and Impact of Personal Selling on Start-up Success (IPSS). The entrepreneurial success of the 200 SMEs has been measured using both financial and non-financial parameters. The contribution of the study is three-fold: First, this study has developed instruments to measure IK and SS; Second, it identifies non-financial parameters to measure entrepreneurial success; Third, it measures entrepreneurial success using both financial and non-financial parameters. The study found that none of the four entrepreneurial attributes are possitively associated with entrepreneurial success. Overall, there is a negative correlation between industry knowledge and entrepreneurial success. However, in the moderately successful category of entrepreneurs, TFA and IPSS have contributed to a little extent for the success of the firms.
Success
in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is one of the few
topics in entrepreneurship on which very few in-depth and
elaborate studies have been conducted. The early studies
in entrepreneurship focused on the industry characteristics
and personal traits of entrepreneurs. Over the past two
decades, the entrepreneurship field has seen considerable
expansion into disparate arenas as corporate entrepreneurship,
macro environment linkages and international entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship research is exceedingly difficult because
of the complex nature of the field. |
