AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND SME PERFORMANCE

Abstract

While the strategic management literature has yielded numerous studies examining the relationship between strategic orientation and firm-level financial performance, relatively few studies have looked at this relationship in the entrepreneurship literature. In this study, we use three samples to first develop an operationalization of strategic orientation in a small-firm context. Moreover, in the final sample of 857 respondents from 21 SMEs, we empirically demonstrate a significant positive relationship between strategic orientation and SME performance. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.