Effects of Opportunity, Resources and Team Profiles of Small Firms on Growth in Economic and Non-economic Value

It is generally suggested in the entrepreneurship literature that quality of opportunity (O), management of resources (R) and quality of team (T) play important role in determining firms sustained growth of firms. While prior researchers recognize O, R and T as drivers of firm performance, they examine each element in isolation. That “one at a time approach ”may not quite fit the mental model that entrepreneurs follow in managing their firms. In contrast, entrepreneurs take a holistic approach and manage O and R and T rather simultaneously as if the three elements are integral part of one large portfolio. The study reported in this paper examines the effect of different combinations of O and R and T (referred to O-R-T Profiles) on the economic and non-economic growth rates of the firm. The results show that O-R-T Profiles of firms that do well are different from the O-R-T Profiles of the firms that do less well. Also, the findings show that O-R-T Profiles change as the firms evolve indicating that owner-managers actively balance and re-balance O and R and T to sustain firm performance. Managerial implications of the findings are also discussed.