The impact of resource configuration on Iranian technology venture performance

•The configuration of firm resources affects technology venture performance (TVP).•Among internal factors, individual resources have the highest impact on TVP.•Financial resources do not have a significant direct impact on Iranian TVP.

The entrepreneur must deliver personal strengths to the firm and convert these individual strengths into organizational strengths regardless of the technology level to lead firm to a unique advantage. The entrepreneur knowledge provides a basis for continued growth in value of the resource bundle and leveraging one resource to achieve another. Iran as a country under economic sanctions confronts restricting international communication, increasing investment risks, reducing technological imports, and paralyzing bank systems which conclude to resource constraint while the Iranian technology ventures are developing simultaneously. However, little is yet known about how the technology ventures configure resources under the sanction. Drawing upon the resource-based view (RBV) and absorptive capacity of the firm, this study explains how the interplay between firm's resources affects performance. We tested our model using survey data from Iranian technology firms. Results from PLS-SEM analyses demonstrate a unique effect of the sanction and resource limitation to the resource configuration of firms, in that the impact of entrepreneurs' knowledge, social and political network on firm performance is strongest when financial resources are either low or high. In this research, we strive to understand the required vital resources for developing new ventures in Iran and also aim to decipher how one bundle of resource can be leveraged to acquire another.Moreover, individual resources can overcome the liability of newness and impact technology firm performance through development of organizational resources and financial resources. Interestingly, we do not find any significant impact of financial resources on technology firm performance.

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