ISBN:  Unavailable

Category: Unavailable

Page count: 206

Why do some high-tech start-ups succeed and others do not ? This question on the performance of high-tech start-ups has received much attention in recent literature and practitioners' discussions. Prior literature has treated the question mainly in two ways: (1) by building holistic qualitative frameworks and (2) by building partial quantitative models. However, in order to make performance predictions these two approaches need to be brought together in a holistic and quantitative framework. The present study addresses this gap by exploring alternative mathematical methods for the prediction of the global prospects of high-tech start-ups, as well as for their investment readiness. For this purpose, prior literature on new venture performance is reviewed. The present study integrates the diverse prior results by the proposition of an alternative integrative framework. It is furthermore proposed that such a framework should integrate non-linear relationships. Three alternative research methods - linear multiple regression, cluster analyses, and Fuzzy Theory analyses - were carried out on a sample of 124 European high-tech start-ups. Comparison of the three methods suggests that an integrative framework is quantified best by Fuzzy Theory. First, the fuzzy models show substantially superior accuracy of the performance predictions over regression and cIuster analyses. Second, their generalizability and predictive power exceed those of the statistical methods. It is therefore shown that alternative analytical methods may improve the predictive power of entrepreneurial models. The results of the present study confirm that performance can be explained best by a holistic view. ln fact, performance is predicted best by models (1) involving salient factors from ail high-tech start-up domains; (2) involving interactions between ail salient factors; and (3) involving non-linearities of the performance relationships. The results are transferred onto the practical terrain by the development of a hightech start-up diagnostic tool- the Venture Coach. The study advances entrepreneurship theory and has important implications for the practical terrain.