Balagopal Vissa, Aya S. Chacar
This study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial teams' external netw orks on their ventures' performance. We first argue that ventures whose entrepreneurial teams span many structural holes in their external advice networks experience higher performance. We then propose that network ties are not uniform in their effect, but rather are contingent on two distinct features of entrepreneurial teams: (i) their strategic consensus-extent of agreement on key goals and strategies within the team-and (ii) internal cohesion-extent of interpersonal friendships within the team. Finally, we propose that team demographics and team networks complement (rather than substitute) each other. Data from Indian software ventures provide support for these arguments. We extend entrepreneurship research by highlighting how venture teams' internal processes and external networks jointly shape performance outcomes. We also add to the literature on team networks by drawing attention to the role ofstrategic consensus as a distinct pathway through which teams can leverage their external networks.Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
INSEAD, Singapore 138676, 1, Ayer Rajah Avenue, Singapore; FIU College of Business Administration, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States
