Inter-Organizational Relationships and Entrepreneurial Orientation: Investigating Their Impact on Firm Performance

The study presented in this chapter focuses on the associations between inter-organizational relationships (i.e., competitive versus collaborative) and the entrepreneurial orientation and performance of a firm. The study reveals previously unknown combinations of the examined factors that can lead to increases in the performances of the surveyed enterprises. Particularly, this study exposes the great importance of a collaborative approach (in combination with innovativeness or proactiveness) and a competitive approach (in combination with innovativeness). Additionally, the findings suggest that innovativeness can improve performance when risk-taking or a competitive approach is absent. These observations underline the role of combining various conditions to improve the performance and show that the role of each condition can vary depending on the accompanying factors. This study contributes to our understanding of the association between entrepreneurship and inter-organizational relationships, and it confirms the significance of research on inter-organizational relationships in the context of entrepreneurship. Additionally, it offers some managerial implications.