| Summary: | This thesis is comprised of three essays dealing with the survival and growth of business
enterprises. The first paper (Chapter 2) explores a long-standing question in corporate venture
management: How closely should a corporate parent link itself with its own venture? We
challenge the conventional view that autonomy is best for venture growth by arguing that access
to the parent's resources and capabilities (i.e., a "tight fit") is essential if a venture is to
demonstrate competitive advantage. Data from 97 Canadian corporate ventures generally support
the "tight-fit" hypothesis. We also find empirical support for the proposition that the relationship
between a corporate parent and its venture(s) evolves over time; economic ties diminish with
venture maturity, relational ties remain intact.
The next paper (Chapter 3) models the growth and decline of young firms as a function of
their initial asset stocks, initial capabilities, rate of capability development, rate of asset
depletion, and failure threshold. Data from 246 Canadian corporate bankruptcies confirm that
young firms fail due to insufficient organizational capital at start-up and inadequacies in
managerial knowledge, financial management skills, and marketing abilities. Older firms, on the
other hand, are more prone to failure due to environmental change.
The final paper (Chapter 4) utilizes detailed survey data from a proportionally stratified,
representative sample of 3,000 Canadian firms to evaluate industry- and firm-level determinants
of young firm growth. The competitive environment is found to be a poor predictor of the growth
of young firms. In general, growth of the seven to ten year old firms in our study did not follow
the growth trends of the industries in which they operated. Among firm strategies, innovation
was the strongest predictor of revenue growth. Also of note was the finding that different types
of managerial experience were significant in different sectors. For service firms, general
management experience was positively associated with growth, while for goods-producing firms
industry experience was a more important factor. === Business, Sauder School of === Graduate
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