Entrepreneurial orientation of Russian firms: the role of external environment

Foresight and STI Governance. 2015. Vol. 9. No. 3. P. 6–25.

Shirokova G., Bogatyreva K., Beliaeva T.

The paper investigates a relationship between theentrepreneurial orientation (EO) dimensions — innovativeness,proactiveness, and readiness to risk —and firm performance of Russian SMEs. We assessEO effects on firm performance in the context of anemerging market taking into account environmentalcontingencies.Our findings are underpinned by the results of thesurvey which covered managers of 104 Russian smalland medium firms. The data were processed by thestructural equation modeling. The analysis has revealedthat EO structure in the context of Russianmarket differs from the traditional three-dimensionalconceptualization of entrepreneurial orientation,typical to western countries. Emerging markets i.a.Russian are characterized by the two-dimensionalEO structure: innovativeness and proactiveness areperceived as a single dimension, while the and readinessto risk is a separate component.Moreover, a positive relationship between theunited dimension of entrepreneurial orientation– innovativeness and proactiveness – and firm performanceis manifested only in dynamic or hostileexternal environment. The features of Russian institutionaland cultural environment may serve as abase to explain the research findings.

Keywords: structural equation modeling, emerging markets, firm performance, Entrepreneurial orientation, external business environment