The network of relationships between the economic environment and the entrepreneurial culture in small firms

In this article we maintain that the cultural evolution processes of small firms are strongly influenced by the type of relationships that they establ ish with the economic environment. In the first part of the article, the main points of the discussion are set forth. Here, the theoretical debate is presented and the existing relation s between the entrepreneurial culture and the interaction of firms with the ir economic environment is analyzed. In the second part of the article, the methodologies adopted for the statistical analysis are explained, and the results of the empirical analysis are presented. Finally, in the third part the implications for practitioners, industrial policies, and future direct ions in research are discussed. The importance of openness to change in the entrepreneurial culture is a ba sic assumption in this study. It is well known that in small and medium fir ms, entrepreneurs often demonstrate "a resistance to change'' that limits t he firm's competitiveness. In some observed territorial and industrial cont exts this resistance to change is determined by a cultural entrepreneurial homogeneity. This homogeneity is a result of the similarity of the social, educational and entrepreneurial experiences of the subjects observed. Indee d, the entrepreneurs studied had for generations received the same educatio n, lived in the same area, cmd come from the same social setting. This entr epreneurial culture is typified by distrust of innovation and discontinuity , which leads these entrepreneurs to favor already proven solutions and ini tiate the behaviors of others, rather than take innovative actions. Princip al component analysis has been used to identify the influences that various factors, within and external to the firm, have in the forming of an entrep reneurial culture and thus on the openness of entrepreneurs and firms to le arning. In the sample, a trade-off emerged between tendencies to homologous behaviors and the spirit of initiative. Through cluster analysis we identi fied categories of entrepreneurs with a different propensity to innovation regarding established firm routines. "Learning entrepreneurs" belong mainly to industries that serve the final consumer while "bounded entrepreneurs" tend to specialize in commodities more often for export. The implications of our results might interest new entrepreneurs who can in clude this element when analyzing the viability of new ventures. Small, alr eady operational firms, can evaluate opportunities arising from export proc esses or might adjust their position on the production filiere To be closer to the final market. This empirical analysis should be reapplied to firms in areas with differen t environmental characteristics or to production filieres where the relatio nship between customer and supplier is different, as for example in high-te ch-industries, so as to verify whether the intensity of the relations with the market differs according to external factors or the technological inten sity of the industries examined. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.