Influence of organizational configurations on startup performance

ABSTRACT This article aimed to investigate the influence of organizational configurations on startup performance. The gap addressed by the article involved analyzing factors simultaneously, considering the possibility of equifinality with regard to the understanding about startup performance. A survey was conducted of 112 southern Brazilian startups. To compose the configurations, the cluster analysis technique was used. The chi-squared and covariance analysis (ANCOVA) tests were used to identify the effect of organizational configurations on startup performance. The results reinforced the assumptions of the configurational approach, highlighting the relationship of interdependence of imperatives in explaining organizational performance. The main distinctive characteristics of the three startup configurations found were: size; characteristics of the information from the management control system (MCS); entrepreneurial orientation (EO); cost leadership strategy (CLS); acceleration; and entrepreneurial source of investment (ESI). The results showed that differences in the characteristics of the information from the MCS and in the level of EO represent a deviation from the ideal configuration and are related with a drop in performance. The paper extends the knowledge on the imperatives investigated for the context of startups and on how these interact to compose the configurations. The results were shown to be relevant in explaining performance, corroborating the idea of equifinality, in which two distinct configurations presented similar performance. By analyzing the configurations that presented the best performance, managers can evaluate in which configuration they find themselves so as to guide actions to improve the startup success rate.

摘要 本文旨在探究组织构型对初创企业绩效的影响。本研究弥补了现有研究的不足：在探析初创企业绩效的影响因素时，同时分析多项要素，并考虑等终局性（equifinality）的可能性。本研究针对巴西南部的112家初创企业开展了问卷调查。为构建组织构型，本研究采用了聚类分析技术。通过卡方检验与协方差分析（ANCOVA），验证了组织构型对初创企业绩效的影响效应。研究结果验证了构型研究范式的理论假设，凸显了各类运营要件间的相互依存关系对解释组织绩效的作用。本次研究识别出三类初创企业构型，其核心差异化特征包括：企业规模、管理控制系统（MCS）的信息特征、创业导向（EO）、成本领先战略（CLS）、加速孵化情况以及创业投资来源（ESI）。研究结果显示，管理控制系统的信息特征与创业导向水平的偏离，均会偏离理想构型，并与绩效下滑存在关联。本研究拓展了初创企业情境下相关运营要件的研究认知，以及此类要件如何相互作用以形成组织构型的相关认知。研究结果对解释初创企业绩效具有实际参考价值，验证了等终局性（equifinality）理论：即两种截然不同的构型可实现相近的绩效水平。管理者可通过分析表现最优的组织构型，评估自身企业所处的构型类别，以此制定行动方案以提升初创企业的成功率。