Weathering the storm: the benefit of resources to high‐technology ventures navigating adverse events

Abstract

Technology ventures must often navigate through difficult times during their existence. In the entrepreneurship literature, however, relatively little research explores the question of how ventures weather the more acute adverse event. Analogous to captains who prepare their vessels for tumultuous waters, entrepreneurs establish the organizational characteristics to enable the survival of the initial shock of an adverse event. Thus, in this article we address the research question of what firm characteristics mitigate the impact of an adverse event based on the resource‐based perspective and organizational slack literature. Our findings point to the importance of building capabilities to enable a venture to navigate difficult times. Copyright © 2009 Strategic Management Society.