Role of Human Capital in New Ventures Essay Example

one of such resources. In particular, Barney (1991) argues that a firm’s management team can be indispensable, rare and imperfectly imitable and has the capacity for producing a perpetual competitive advantage.

Alvarez and Busenitz (2001) examine the relationship between RBT and entrepreneurship. They suggest that entrepreneurship necessitates the founder’s cognizance of opportunities, the ability to obtain the resources to utilize the opportunities and the ability of the firm to fuse homogenous inputs into heterogeneous outputs. They further identified that entrepreneurial awareness, perception, knowledge and the ability to organise resources as resources in their own right. These two theories therefore place significance on the capabilities and resources of the entrepreneur.

A theoretical foundation of how these capabilities can be measured is provided by human capital theory which was pioneered by Becker in 1964. The theory implies that an individual’s human capital is the skills and knowledge that can be of use to an organization and as such, employees’ salaries/wages was viewed as a return on the investment in human capital. The theory provides claims that the entrepreneurial team who have more experience tend to perform much better than those with less experience (Shrader and Siegel, 2007).

This theory categorises the characteristics of an entrepreneur into general and specific human capital. 2. 1. 1 General Human Capital General human capital refers to skills acquired through formal education, training and work experience which can be transferred to other jobs in the market. The educational level of founders has been considered to be vital for a firm’s performance (Ganotakis, 2012). Education can provide the entrepreneur with a professional foundation and greater self-assurance as it is supposed

to provide scenarios which encourage creativity and problem-solving ability.

However, other results showed a negative relationship with growth and performance (Haber and Reichel, 2007; Bosma et al, 2004 ; Dichon, Menzies and Gasse, 2008). According to Deakins (2005), education does not influence growth but it may assist in making critical decisions. As such, education could be assumed to be more important for younger entrepreneurs who may not have a lot of experience. It is argued by Shrader and Siegel (2007) that the experience of the founders would aid them in making informed choices. Experience is also seen to influence business ideas and increase efficiency (Deakins, 2005).

In contrast, some research works have also found negative relationships between work experience and firm formation and also performance (Ganotakis, 2012; Diochon, Menzies and Gasse, 2008). Ganotakis (2012), claims that this could be as a result of an over-confidence of the founders in their knowledge restraining them from gathering more information. 2. 1. 2 Specific Human Capital These are those skills which are specific to a particular work context and thus it might not be transferred to other professions. As such, these skills can assist the entrepreneur directly with managing the new venture (Ganotakis, 2012).

These include entrepreneurial experience, industry-specific experience, managerial capabilities and technical experience. Industry specific experience has been found to have a positive effect on performance and the development of new ventures (Bosma et al, 2004; Dimov, 2010; Gimmon and Levie, 2009). Capelleras et al (2010), claim that this experience positively impacts the creation of ventures, but has little influence on their growth. It is believed that founders with the same sector experience

would have a better knowledge of the opportunities and can benefit from past business ties.

Entrepreneurship specific experience implies that the entrepreneur should have a previous experience in starting a business, running a company or having membership of an entrepreneurial association (Bosma et al, 2004; Baron and Shane, 2008). This experience does not have a direct effect on new venture growth but can aid in the pursuit of opportunities (Dimov, 2010). Managerial experience is usually linked with the ability to organise resources and make strategic decisions (Ganotakis, 2012). It has been found that there is a positive relationship between managerial experience and performance (Ganotakis, 2012; Gimmon and Levie, 2009).

However, Deakins (2005) believes that those with prior managerial experience may have a higher level of income they desire and may be unlikely to set up their own business as there is an uncertainty of a constant income flow especially at the gestation stages of the venture. Technical experience is gained in a specialised field or profession. Though Shrader and Siegel (2007) placed emphasis on this experience as useful in strategy implementation, research carried out by Ganotakis (2012) revealed that technical experience did not have a positive effect on performance. Thus, such experience should be accompanied by managerial experience.

Human Capital and the Entrepreneurial Venture

The theoretical background and explanation of key concepts above has provided an insight into the subject of human capital. From literature, the importance of human capital is highlighted and three roles of human capital in an entrepreneurial venture can be identified and these would be explored for this purpose of this paper. Firstly, human capital

can enhance in making and executing strategic decisions.

Secondly, human capital can improve the performance of the new venture. Bruderl, Preisendorfer and Ziegler (1992) argue that better human capital increases the ability of the firm to attract customers and capital. From this, a third role can be identified which is human capital can enhance venture financing. These would be discussed in relation to past research and relevant theories.

METHODOLOGY

The research was carried out by reviewing and analysing past research works on the topic of human capital as it relates to entrepreneurial ventures. The selection criteria for the resource materials used were peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles. The time frame selected was from 2000 to 2012. This criterion was used so as to get reliable and up-to date information on the subject matter.

DISCUSSION

This section explores the three factors identified in the foregoing. Decision making is very vital to a new venture. The success of a firm depends on the decisions made. The strategies adopted by a firm would reflect its competencies and would determine its competitive advantage which is line with resource-based and theory of entrepreneurship.

Industry specific and technical experience of the founding team is argued to be valuable in the formulation and implementation of strategies and as such, they can make more informed decisions (Shrader and Siegel, 2007). These aspects of human capital could enhance decision making as knowledge of the market and industry would imply that the founder(s) is conversant with the process of gathering the relevant information. This experience is likely to lead to faster decision making (Forbes, 2005). Managerial capabilities could also be

said to influence decision making as the entrepreneur would have experience n managing a firm and identifying appropriate markets (Ganotakis, 2012).

It is crucial for new ventures to acquire financing for their operations at the start of the business. A higher human capital has been believed to attract capital (Bruderl, Preisendorfer and Ziegler, 1992; Baum and Silverman, 2004). In particular high educational qualifications can give signals to venture capital investors (Behrens et al, 2012). The reason for this may be that the investors believe that the founders can use their educational knowledge in managing the company and therefore they judge that their prospects are better.

Seghers, Manigart and Vanacker (2012) also found out that business education and prior experience in accounting and finance increases a founder’s knowledge of financing alternatives. As such, the founder is able to access different sources of funding based on such knowledge. Another factor that affects venture financing is the social network ties the founder has (Zhang et al, 2012). Such networks would enable the founding team encounter people who could give them the required funding. Industry-specific experience is also vital in developing broad networks.

Investments in human capital are widely believed to impact performance (Unger et al, 2011; Bosma et al, 2004; Rauch, Frese and Utsch, 2011; Bruderl, Preisendorfer and Ziegler, 1992). An investment in industry specific and entrepreneurial experience increases the chances of success for a new venture. Entrepreneurship specific experience positively affects the profitability of the firm as the founder has acquired skills from previously owning a business and would be able to use these skills effectively in the new venture (Bosma et al, 2004).