Entrepreneural efforts and performance in micro-sized firms

The purpose of this study is to investigate the importance of entrepreneural efforts and firm specific resources to the performance in micro-sized firms. In particular, it compares two business contexts; ordinary micro-sized firms and micro-sized firms in a regulated industry. Even though these firms may operate in different contextual environments, they are also likely to share many challenges that follows from the liability of smallness. These two business contexts have received little attention in previous literature. Analyses are based on longitudinal data of 306 Norwegian firms participating in a regional innovation programme. Results indicate that the highly regulated firms have a significantly lower score on EO compared to firms in other sectors. EO and change in EO were found to have significant influence on a sustained performance in all firms. However, a structural difference in factors influencing performance was also detected between the two groups: financial position and unique competence was also detected between the two groups; financial position and unique competence seem to have different impact in the two firm contexts. In addition, change in EO seems to have a stronger impact on performance in regulated firms compared to ordinary firms.