Survival strategies and characteristics of start-ups: An empirical study from the New Zealand IT industry

Shamika Almeida, University of Sydney
Mario Fernando, University of Wollongong

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an exploratory study on the characteristics of New Zealand start-up Information Technology (IT) firms that survived the dot.com collapse. The paper is based on in-depth interviews of nine entrepreneurs of start-up IT firms. The findings reveal core organizational characteristics that influence the realization of moderate strategies enabling survival. The firms that survived, projected characteristics of holistic strategic balance, mastering of resources, portrayed a unifying focus and made purposeful choices on resource allocations. In contrast, firms that failed projected a general lack of strategic balance, mastering and trade-off. These firms’ organizational themes realized excessively complex strategies with no distinct focus.