The Role of Strategic Entrepreneurship in Performance of Russian SMEs during the Economic Crisis

Abstract

This study examines how components of strategic entrepreneurship relate to Russian small and medium-sized firms performance during the economic crisis and to what extent combinations of firm resources determine these relationships. In order to address these issues we surveyed 651 Russian private SMEs. Our results show that during the economic crisis exploitation is positively associated with firm performance. However, we found positive association of exploration with firm performance during the economic crisis instead of negative association. Our results also indicate that relationship between exploration as well as exploitation and firm performance is dependent on different combinations of firm resources.