Journal of Enterprising Culture

This exploratory research utilised the Lumpkin and Dess (1996) Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) construct, as a means of characterising the extent to which Australian music recording companies were entrepreneurial. Utilising the five EO dimensions, the study found those record companies that had a moderate to high entrepreneurial rating tended to be high export performers. Best practice companies were identified and a profile of some key export success factors developed. Overall, this study provides a sound starting point for business practitioners wanting to review the impact of their entrepreneurial orientation in an international setting.

This research compares business start-ups in two neighboring countries in Central Europe: Austria, with its traditional market economy, and the Czech Republic, with its recently developed market economy. A joint questionnaire (derived from the Vienna Entrepreneurship Studies) which was only marginally modified for the specifics of the two countries allowed a number of comparisons between 627 newly established businesses in Austria and 778 such businesses in the Czech Republic. The concept for these comparisons was based on a comprehensive view of configurations consisting of the entrepreneur's personality, resources, environment, and the start-up process. For both countries, a typically successful configuration of these dimensions was pre-defined and used as a reference for the measurement of deviations (effect sizes). On the basis of these effect sizes, it was then possible to detect clusters of configurations in both countries. The cluster solutions show remarkable similarities on an aggregated level, bringing to light at least two easily comparable clusters for each country. However, they do indicate many significant differences at the individual aspect level. In addition, an overall comparison of the Austrian and Czech clusters revealed clear differences in the characteristics of start-ups in a traditional market economy and a young market economy.

Abstract Virtual enterprise exists in a higher organizational form when economy develops to some stages. This paper analyzes the operational characters of organization and behavior between traditional enterprise and virtual one. Based on the special features, a close-loop system model of culture innovation for virtual enterprise is established from point of view in System Science. It is recognized that culture force is the most powerful and significant core competence in virtual enterprise. The key five steps of culture innovation are presented and three situations on flexible culture management of virtual enterprise are stated in the paper. In addition to the survey research, we conducted an in-depth case study of China. The successful reasons for the enterprise culture innovation in virtual enterprise and their alliance are finally discussed with the actual case "New Era" in China. Our case study validates some of these findings in small- and medium-sized virtual enterprise. Implications for practice as well as study are provided.