Antecedents and Outcomes of Entrepreneurial Firms Marketing Capabilities: An Empirical investigation of Small Technology Based Firms

Entrepreneurial firms carry out marketing in a innovative, opportunistic, proactive and risk assumptive way. Over a period of time the marketing practices i.e. combination of knowledge and skills develop in to capabilities. These marketing capabilities have been identified as one of the important ways firms can achieve a competitive advantage. These marketing capabilities are not built in a vacuum and are influenced by various antecedents i.e. Entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and strategic orientation. The following research tests the various antecedents and outcomes of marketing capabilities of small technology based firms (TBFs). Based on a survey of German TBFs, a structural equation model was developed to test our hypotheses. The results show that entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and strategic orientation of the firm are influenced by the external environment and significantly impact on the marketing capabilities. The development of marketing capabilities is also found to be significantly related to firm performance. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In the contemporary business environment small technology-based firms (TBFs) are continuously facing numerous risks such as fluid firm and industry boundaries, a managerial mindset that must unlearn traditional management principles, and new structural forms that not only allow for change, but also hel