New Venture

The significant social and economic value of new ventures is undeniable and there value has been addressed by scholars for some time (Birch, 1987; Reagan, 1985; Schumpeter, 1934). Accordingly over a number of years, scholars and practitioners have given significant attention to the pivotal role of new ventures in the world economy (Zahra, Ireland & Hitt, 2000; Reynolds et al., 2003; Li and Miller, 2006; Song et al., 2008). The genesis and growth of new ventures has provided not only novel products and services to markets, but also has provoked the competitiveness of the business environment (McDougall and Robinson, 1990, Gilbert et al., 2006, Reymonds et al., 2010). Furthermore, Start-ups have been labelled as significant generators of wealth, improved life quality and employment opportunities to the people of different nations (McDougall & Robinson, 1990; Ayyagari, Beck and Demirguc-Kunt, 2007; Chen, Zou and Wang, 2009). Moreover new venture creation and cultivation has been underscored as a revival factor for developed economies and a driving force for emerging and less developed markets (Li & Atuahene-Gima, 2001; Zhao & Aram, 1995; Li and Miller, 2006).

Apart from the advantages underlying the creation and growth of new ventures, the high failure rates among new ventures (Song et al., 2008; Reymonds et al., 2003; Shook et al., 2003; Shepherd et al., 2000; Balidwin, Bian, Dupuy, Galatly, 2000), have attracted concerns among researches and promoted some to seek to identify the key success factors among start-ups including internal (firm attributes and characteristics) and external (environmental and industry-level) factors that may lead to the success of new ventures (e.g. Delmar and Shane, 2004; Song, Wang and Parry, 2009; Song, Song and Di Benedetto, on the press; Song et al., 2008;Read et al., 2009; Barnett and Freeman, 2001; Thornhill and Amit, 2003; Short, Mckelvie, Ketchen and Chandler, 2009; Delmar and Shane, 2006). Specifically