Differences Between Private Firms Owned by Novice, Serial and Portfolio Entrepreneurs: Implications for Policy Makers and Practitioners

By Paul Westhead, Deniz Ucbasaran, Mike Wright. 2003

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W ESTHEAD P., U CBASARAN D. and W RIGHT M. (2003) Differences between private firms owned by novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneurs: implications for policy makers and practitioners, Reg. Studies 37 , 187-200. Policy makers can target "hard' (i.e. financial) and "soft' (i.e. technical) assistance to firms. Some policy makers and practitioners are considering whether resources could be more effectively utilized if they were targeted towards habitual entrepreneurs, rather than in the form of additional initiatives to increase the pool of pure nascent entrepreneurs and novice entrepreneurs. To inform this policy debate, similarities and differences between 354 firms owned by novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneurs in Scotland are highlighted with regard to the process of financing businesses, organizational capabilities as well as the size and performance of the surveyed businesses. Presented empirical evidence confirms that portfolio entrepreneurs have more diverse experiences and more resources than either serial or novice entrepreneurs. On average, portfolio entrepreneurs appear to offer more attractive growth prospects than other entrepreneurs. A case for targeted support tailored to the aspirations and needs of portfolio (and serial) entrepreneurs is presented.

Subfields: Accounting, Finance, Management of Technology and Innovation

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Citations in the corpus

Impact of founder experience on exit intentions (2012, background): “Experienced entrepreneurs are likely to have larger amounts of personal financing and greater access to external sources of financing (Hayward et al. in press; Westhead et al. 2003), and they tend to create firms with higher growth potential (Colombo 2005; Westhead et al. 2003 ).”
Entrepreneurial exit and entrepreneurial engagement (2011, background): “Many studies have investigated the differences in characteristics and performance (at the firm and the individual level) between novice and “serial entrepreneurs” (Kalleberg and Leicht 1991; Alsos and Kolvereid 1998; Westhead and Wright 1998a, 1998b; Westhead et al. 2003, 2005).”
Serial entrepreneurship: impact of human capital on time to re-entry (2011, background): “Serial entrepreneurship is said to be important for its potential in fostering the process of wealth creation (Scott and Rosa 1996; Westhead et al. 2005), job generation (Flores-Romero 2006; Westhead et al. 2005) and economic performance (Westhead et al. 2003, 2005; Colombo and Grilli 2005).”
Do serial entrepreneurs run successively better-performing businesses? (2013, background): “These insights contribute to the growing policy discussion about habitual entrepreneurship in general and serial entrepreneurs in particular (Westhead et al., 2003, 2005).”
Management and Governance in Dutch SMEs (2005, background): “Researchers within the entrepreneurship domain (Lee and Tsang 2001; Westhead et al., 2003) report positive growth prospects based on entrepreneur’s previous experiences.”
The nature of entrepreneurial experience, business failure and comparative optimism (2010, background): “There is a case for micro level customized support relating to an entrepreneur's prior business ownership experience (Westhead et al., 2003) and business failure experience.”
Decisions, Actions, and Performance: Do Novice, Serial, and Portfolio Entrepreneurs Differ?* (2005, background): “…ownership experience either as a business founder, an inheritor, or a purchaser of an independent business but who currently own a minority or majority equity stake in an independent business that is either new, purchased, or inherited (Westhead et al. 2003a, Westhead, Ucbasaran, and Wright 2003b).”