• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2023

Overcoming the death valley, a period in which resources are depleted and profitability declines or stagnates in the entrepreneurial process, is an essential procedure for success. In this study, we examined how the strategic orientation(technology, customer, competitor orientations) and absorptive capacity(potential, realized capacities) of startups affect the possibility of startups to overcome the challenges of death valley, and also empirically analyzed whether support of open innovation and venture capital has a moderating influence to the overcoming of death valley. The result of this study shows that customer orientation and realized absorptive capacity have a positive influence on overcoming the death valley. In addition, we found that the support of open innovation and venture capital has a moderating effect only in the technology orientation among the three types of strategic orientations. The result of this research emphasizes (1) the need for startups to take a more customer-oriented approach to overcome the death valley. The customer-oriented behavior and strategies of startups are vital for their longterm survival and success if we consider the fact that most of the companies investigated in this study were technology-based startups and only customer orientation showed significant results in overcoming the death valley. The research outcome also shows that (2) implementing innovation in a more open way and securing venture capital funding can make it easier for startups to overcome the death valley. This study has academic significance in that it empirically analyzed the relationship of key factors influencing the overcoming of death valley in a situation where the majority of existing research remains at the conceptual level of discussion or methodology of case study. Furthermore, this research also provides practical implications for the establishment and implementation of effective strategies to confront the challenges of death valley for startups, government and related organizations.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.89-104
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• 2022

Entrepreneurship by seniors who have accumulated skills and expertise in the industrial field is very important from a social point of view. This study aimed at seniors to find out the major start-up capabilities of seniors in an economic situation where instability factors and uncertainties are amplified due to the social structure of jobs that has changed due to COVID-19 during the 4th industrial revolution and the rapidly progressing high interest rates and global supply chain problems. The purpose of this study was to empirically verify how variables affect entrepreneurial intention. In addition, from the perspective of mindset, which is the individual psychological characteristic of pre-entrepreneurs, we tried to empirically verify whether growth mindset and fixed mindset have a significant effect on senior entrepreneurship intention. The psychological characteristics of founders were approached from the perspective of mindset, and an attempt was made to apply them to the field of entrepreneurship and to obtain practical implications. This study empirically analyzed the effects of growth mindset, fixed mindset, technical competency, network competency, and funding competency, which are components of mindset, on senior entrepreneurial intention, and verified the mediating effect of entrepreneurial efficacy. As a result of the empirical analysis, it was verified that growth mindset and technological competency had a positive (+) effect on entrepreneurial intention. In addition, it was verified that the mediating effect of entrepreneurial efficacy was significant in the influence of growth mindset and technological competency on entrepreneurial intention, and it was verified that growth mindset and technological competency are important variables in senior entrepreneurship. The study results provide the following policy implications. In order to activate senior entrepreneurship, first, to maximize the effect of founder education, programs such as customized entrepreneurship education that match the growth mindset characteristics, which are the psychological characteristics of founders, are needed. Second, it is required to expand the base of technology startups by expanding government support, such as expanding low-interest policy financing, for senior startups with technological capabilities and expertise. Third, it is necessary to provide institutional support for starting a business, such as providing a start-up program even before retirement, so that the expertise and technology accumulated by seniors can be linked to start-ups even after retirement.