Does Start-Up Founding Strategy Increase or Decrease the Effects of Strategic Capabilities on New Venture Performance?

Abstract Many studies have provided evidence of a positive relationship between strategic capabilities and new venture performance. This study applies the resource-based view and strategic fit theory to develop a model that investigates how startup founding strategy affects the strength of the strategic capabilities–performance relationship in new ventures. We conduct an empirical study of 146 U.S. new ventures and 425 Chinese new ventures to test the proposed model. The results show that, for U.S. ventures, technology-driven strategy increases the effect of technology capabilities on new venture performance but decreases the effects of marketing and market-linking capabilities on new venture performance. By contrast, Chinese ventures' technology-driven strategy has a significantly negative moderating effect on the relationship between market-linking capabilities and performance. We discuss the implications of the empirical findings for ventures pursuing technology-driven and market-driven strategies.