Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the development of the five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) over time by taking a founder’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on an in-depth single-case study. It combines semi-structured interviews in the company with archival data, such as annual reports, press clips and interviews in business magazines. Findings The results indicate that the EO dimensions change from being personalized and directly solution-oriented to being intangible value-creation-oriented. Originality/value By suggesting ownership-based EO configurations, this study contributes insights into how different ownership forms propel EO. These configurations – that is, personal, administrative based and intangible focused – show the impact of the EO dimensions and provide a systematic and theoretical understanding of EO change over time.

Resource organization and firm performance: how entrepreneurial orientation and management accounting influence the profitability of growing and non-growing SMEs. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper employs an empirical investigation which is based on a sample of 153 Swedish manufacturing SMEs. The data is analyzed by two-and three way interaction regressions. International Journal of EntrepreneurialFindings: EO and MAPs have a positive effect on profitability in non-growing SMEs, but the combined effect of EO and MAPs has no additional effect. However, for growing SMEs, high usage of MAPs in decision making is a prerequisite for EO to influence profitability. Originality/Value:This study is the first to use the resource-based view to examine the relationship between two dimensions of resource organization and SME profitability.Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is used as a proxy for how resources are organized in order to identify opportunities, and management accounting practices (MAPs) are used as a proxy for how efficiently resources are organized.

Purpose – Several studies have highlighted the importance of management accounting practices such as formal short-term planning and formal long-term planning for SME performance. However, few studies have considered what actually explains differences in the use of formal planning (from a management accounting approach) in SMEs. Family ownership and EO are two plausible explanations for such differences. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine how family ownership and EO are correlated to the use of formal short-term planning and formal long-term planning in SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the authors examined how family ownership and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) affect the use of formal planning by analyzing a sample of 156 Swedish manufacturing SMEs, using multivariate regression analysis. Findings – As could be expected, the authors were able to validate the notion that family firms use less formal planning than non-family firms. However, in contrast to some previous studies, the authors found that there is a strongly positive relationship between EO and the use of formal short-term planning and long-term planning. Originality/value – Whereas many previous studies on family business have assumed that family firms use less formal planning than non-family firms, the present study is one of few to actually confirm this notion. Also, this study has provided strong evidence that EO is positively correlated to the use of formal planning, in the short term and in the longer term.