Resource acquisition
Comments (0) This interview with Richard Branson is related to some of the research on resource acquisition that Nachiket and I are working on. A few points that I see from this interview is that there are sometimes conflicting interests. What is is in the interest of the business and the entrepreneur are not always aligned. So the business might be able to grow more quickly, but Branson says that retaining control is important. This seems acceptable, since business is not all profit-motivated. But I think it’s an interesting to note that the conclusion is that perhaps the entrepreneur is giving up some financial return by retaining control. This relates to our study of which resource acquisition sequences tend to lead to improved performance for the firm.
This interview also illustrates another project that I am starting on how resource providers’ attitudes toward entrepreneurs and small organizations influence startup activities. Branson says that he had employees that wanted to work in small organizations. Much of his assumptions are based on a Western, individualistic notion of work. These assumptions seem to be limited in other cultural contexts, and may explain differing methods of innovation across contexts.
