The Influence of Founders' Human Capital on the Performance of East Asian New Technology-based Firms

Western-based research suggests a modest influence of founders' human capital on the business performance of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Our exploratory, longitudinal study of 40 NTBFs in China, South Korea and Japan reveals that the human capital of their founders strongly influences the performance of firms they establish. Furthermore, we find that East Asian NTBF founders leverage their human capital through the strength of their personal background and through networks with former colleagues and business partners in order to acquire important resources and customers. These findings can be explained by cultural background factors such as social stratification and relational orientation.