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Business strategy is important for both new businesses (start-ups), as well as for existing companies. Due to the growing dynamics of the business environment and the intensification of global competition, companies, regardless of their age or size, are forced to define more entrepreneurial strategies so that they can compete and Survive (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2001; Meyer, Neck and Meeks, 2002).Thestrategy has as its main objective to improve the performance of companies.The business strategy Seeks to identify business opportunities and leverage them in order to achieve competitive advantages (Hitt, Ireland, Camp and Sexton, 2002).
This is the field of knowledge where entrepreneurship and strategic management intersect. Both academic fields are concentrated in the process of adapting to change or influencing and exploiting opportunities. Despite the common focus, they have been developed independently (Hitt et al., 2001). Recently, some investigators have called attention to the need for integration of these two fields (Meyer & Heppard, 2000; McGrath & MacMillan, 2000). This emerges as a strategy, on the one hand, the need to use resources in order to take advantage of opportunities (mainly under uncertain conditions) and on the other hand, the need to include the strategic perspective in its plans and actions.
In times of increasing uncertainty and with the increase in the speed of change, new threats and opportunities arise (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1998; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). The identification and use of these opportunities are the essence of entrepreneurship-since the essence of strategic management is how these opportunities can be transformed into sustainable competitive advantages (Zahra & Dess, 2001; Venkataraman & Sarasvathy, 2001; Kuratko, Ireland, Covin, & Hornsby, 2005). The invitation to integrate these two fields is a new phenomenon.
Both disciplines are concerned with creating value, recognizing it as a major organizational goal. Entrepreneurial actions and strategic actions can contribute to the creation of value independently, but they can contribute even more when they are integrated. In fact, the opportunities that they seek are at the same time, the strategic behavior, with the objective of creating value (Ireland, Hitt, & Simon, 2003; Ramachandran, Mukherji, & Sud, 2006). The interest of strategic management researchers to explain the differences between companies in creating value-interest that is increasingly shared by investigators in the field of entrepreneurship (Ireland, Hitt, Camp, & Sexton, 2001).
In addition to the “classic” variables describing entrepreneurship, such as the characteristics and motivation of entrepreneurs, many authors are in favor of greater organizational emphasis and strategic variables (e.g., Zahra, 1991; Entrialgo, Fernández, & Vázquez, 2000). Zahra & Dess (2001) argue that the integration of the different points of view is the key to a more profitable research into business activity. The result of such integration can be observed in the real life of the business, where entrepreneurial companies are more inclined to participate in strategic management practices than established companies, which are by nature more conservative (Shuman, Shaw, & Sussman, 1985; Bracker, Keats, & Pearson, 1988; Woo, Cooper, Dunkelberg, Daellenbach, & Dennis, 1989).