Performance Differentials between Diversifying Entrants and Entrepreneurial Start-Ups : A Complexity Approach

We investigate the relationship between firms' entry characteristics and their subsequent performance contingent on environmental turbulence and stage of industry life cycle by simulating industry as an NKC landscape. Diversifying entrants differ from entrepreneurial startups in terms of the complexity of their routines. We posit that diversifying entrants outperform the entrepreneurial start-ups when the turbulence is high. Further, learning - possible in the later industry stages - disproportionately favors the entrepreneurial start-ups