Entrepreneurial environment, market-oriented strategy, and entrepreneurial performance A study of Chinese automobile firms

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the correlations among entrepreneurial environment, market-oriented strategies, and entrepreneurial performance. Design/methodology/approach - Entrepreneurial environment is measured by institutional environment and industrial environment. A survey of 176 large Chinese automobile firms is conducted. The structural equation model is applied to perform analysis. Findings - The uncertainty of the institutional environment is positively related with market-oriented strategies and market-oriented strategies are positively related with firms' performance. The stronger the uncertainty of the industrial environment is, the larger impact that market-oriented strategies have on firms' performance will be. There is no distinct positive relationship between the uncertainty of industrial environment and firms' market-oriented strategies. The hypothesis, that the stronger the uncertainty of institutional environments is, the larger the impact that market-oriented strategies will be on firms' performance, is not supported. Research limitations/implications - In terms of research design, this paper does not select survey samples randomly. This paper only takes institutional and industrial environments into consideration while the environmental characteristics are omitted. Originality/value - This paper expands entrepreneurship research by integrating previous studies. Findings in this paper are helpful for firms in emerging countries to implement "going abroad strategies," to start up new businesses in other countries, and to achieve the goals of improving competitiveness and integrating with international firms.