Entrepreneurial orientation and performance in micro-sized firms : comparing agricultural and non-agricultural firms

This study investigates the importance of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and unique resources to performance in micro-sized firms. Previous studies indicate that these relationships may depend on type of industry and be different in very small firms. Micro-sized firms in an agricultural and a general firm context are therefore compared to investigate these issues. The analyses are based on longitudinal data of 258 Norwegian firms employing less than 10 persons. Comparing means shows that agricultural firms have a significantly lower score on EO compared to non-agricultural firms. Regression analyses show further that EO and change in EO have significant influence on long-term performance in both firm groups. However change in EO is found to have a stronger impact on performance in agricultural firms compared to non-agricultural firms. Unique competence seems to be influential only on performance in agricultural firms, whereas the network resource did not yield significant effect on performance in any of the groups. To politicians and practicians this signals that entrepreneurial efforts and skills should be encouraged in all micro-sized firms and particularly in agricultural firms.