The main objective of this study was to introduce and empirically test a novel and useful framework from which to study human resource management (HRM) problems in small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, the "perceived acute HRM problems framework" introduced in this study was an attempt to advance the literature by moving beyond simply studying when HRM problems may exist in SMEs, to instead studying when SME owners and managers perceive that HRM problems are the firm's most significant concern. Recent literature suggests that SME owners and managers do not conceptualize specific HRM problems on a spectrum. Rather, they are more likely to perceive only "people problems" in the aggregate and then only when severe. Thus, the acute problems framework may be a more appropriate angle from which to study HRM problems in SMEs. We employ binary logistic regression on a sample of 1,693 SMEs to analyze the effect of owner/manager characteristics and firm characteristics on the likelihood of perceiving acute HRM problems. Our results indicate that SME owners and managers who were running higher-performing firms were less likely to perceive acute HRM problems. Conversely, SME owners and managers who were more experienced, who were more educated, and who were running larger SMEs were more likely to perceive acute HRM problems. Finally, gender, owner age, firm age, and firm growth showed no significant relationship with likelihood of SME owners and managers perceiving acute HRM problems.

Research on the social competence perspective holds that since operating high performing new ventures is dependent on entrepreneurs' ability to influence stakeholder actions, entrepreneur social competence is likely critically important to new venture performance. Using a sample of 163 entrepreneurs throughout the USA, we extend such research by examining the entrepreneur political skill new venture performance relationship. Our results suggest that political skill, which is the component of social competence which specifically assesses an individual's ability to influence other's actions within the business environment, is positively associated with new venture performance. Study results provide additional support for the social competence perspective.

The growing body of research on the creation view of opportunities suggests that social processes between potential entrepreneurs and interested parties often account for why many technically brilliant business ideas are abandoned sometime between conceptualization and market launch. Surprisingly though, few studies have comprehensively examined the different roles various categories of social resources play at different stages of the opportunity‐creation process. Hence, the present article fills this gap by outlining how the unique resources of social capital and social competence facilitate entrepreneurs' ability to guide imagined ideas through the multistage, path dependent, socially complex opportunity‐creation process. Copyright © 2015 Strategic Management Society.

Two decades of informative research has asserted that legitimacy attainment is essential to the survival and growth of emerging ventures, yet little empirical research has been conducted to either (a) validate the notion that emerging ventures transition from pre-legitimacy to legitimacy, or (b) identify when such a transition happens for the average new venture. Hence, the present research seeks to begin bridging this substantial gap by introducing and testing the notion that a financial legitimacy threshold (FLT) exists within emerging ventures. Using attainment of financing as a proxy for initial legitimacy, we test our hypothesis that an FLT exists on two large, independent data sets—the 1998 ( N = 3,033) and 2003 ( N = 3,751) Surveys of Small Business Finances. Results indicate that emerging ventures tend to finally transition to legitimacy and, thus, substantially shed external liabilities of newness at 12 years of age, six employees, and $379,000 in sales. Our findings that an FLT exists advance the literature by (a) suggesting that new venture legitimacy is a dichotomous variable that emerging firms either do or do not possess, and (b) articulating a point in size, age, and revenue that average emerging ventures must achieve before they are able to substantially neutralize external newness liabilities via legitimacy attainment.

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