Exploring Firm Emergence : Initially Conditioned or Actively Created?

Previous research has established a connection between initial conditions and new firm performance. Research on the gestation activities of nascent entrepreneurs, on the other hand, has demonstrated the potential importance of active behaviours on firm emergence. Since no research has addressed the effects of these two constructs on firm emergence in an empirical fashion, we frame this paper as an exploratory study designed to answer the following research question: to what extent do initial conditions and/or active behaviours explain firm emergence? We use a French national business plan competition to identify nascent firms. As a result, it seems that only active behaviours make a statistically significant impact on firm emergence, while initial conditions do not. Therefore, our preliminary finding is that a firm emerges merely through the active behaviours of entrepreneurs rather than as an outcome of initial conditions