The Impact of Strategic Focus and Previous Business Experience on Small Business Performance

This paper was written by Michael Harris, from East Carolina University, Shanan Gibson, from East Carolina University, and William McDowell, from East Carolina University. This paper was presented at the 2013 Small Business Institute Conference.
Abstract

This study examines whether or not having an internal or external strategic focus interacts with prior experience in the small business realm to impact perceived organizational performance. Utilizing a sample of 237 small business owners from the southeast U.S., a factorial ANOVA and Regression Analysis was used to test hypotheses related to these constructs. Results indicated that utilizing an internal focus was associated with higher performance among both experienced and inexperienced small business owners; however, an external focus was only positively related to performance for inexperienced business owners. No overall difference in performance was found for experience itself.

Full Paper: http://sbaer.uca.edu/research/sbi/2013/2013%20SBI%20National%20Conference%20Proceedings.pdf

(Many thanks to Don Bradley at the Small Business Advancement National Center – University of Central Arkansas for sharing this.)