No description available.

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.

Over the next 25 years the world is likely to see the largest shift in economic and political power for more than a century. Many of today's so-called industrial economies will be dwarfed by emerging markets due to the latter's faster economic growth rates. China is by far the most important emerging market, but as a result of its relatively recent opening to western investment, its vastness, diversity and its distinct culture, among other factors, it has been a particularly troublesome market for western companies to enter and succeed in. Companies wishing to invest in China have arguably not been particularly helped by the corporate strategy literature. This literature has been, to a great extent developed upon evidence derived from developed countries which may not relevant for the very different business terrain and context of emerging markets. Moreover, the China strategy literature has tended until recently to focus on the joint venture vehicle as corporate strategy and with much of this literature producing unclear or conflicting findings. Furthermore, there has been considerable corporate dissatisfaction with the investment results achieved by the more traditional forms of China corporate strategy, like the joint venture and the wholly foreign owned enterprise. / This thesis argues that China, by virtue of its particular environment and market characteristics, has generated a corporate strategy which can be defined as multiventuring (the setting up of a cluster of coherent, inter-related set of ventures) to enter and/or develop business in China. This thesis's exploration of an actual case study of multiventuring provides new insight and knowledge on this new form of corporate strategy for China, and possibly for other emerging markets. / This thesis is concerned with how a western company enters and/or develops its business in the large but complex emerging market of China. It examines the new corporate strategy of multiventuring and argues that under certain conditions, it could be an attractive China corporate strategy, and better able to deal wtih China's complex environment and particular market characteristics than the more traditional corporate strategies, which to date have yielded mixed results. / Thesis (MPhD)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Thesis (MEd)--University of South Australia, 2001.

Thesis (MEd)--University of South Australia, 2001.

Mémoire (G.O.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1997. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (M.U.P.)--Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science. Dept. of Landscape Architecture, 1956. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-82). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 22, 2009). "College of Business." Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-152).

Thesis (MA--Social Science) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (97 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 331.620993 LEE)

Dissertation, Universität München, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.