Strategy, market orientation and entrepreneurship: proposition and test of rival business performance prediction models

Studies of factors influencing business performance and their relationship to entrepreneurship and innovation have attracted interest from a great number of researchers. This study explores the relation existing between the potential entrepreneur profile, innovativeness, market orientation, environmental turbulence and the performance of small companies. The fundamental premise is that internal factors, such as market orientation, innovativeness and the entrepreneur profile, combine with external factors to determine company performance. In order to verify this hypothesis, a survey was conducted, with a sample of 1,552 entrepreneurs. The results demonstrated that the entrepreneur profile may act as the determinant of market orientation and innovativeness, with significant impact on business performance.