STRATEGY 
 JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS 

From the Editors 
 
Welcome to Volume 22, Number 1 of the Journal of Small Business Strategy.  We hope you 
enjoy the articles in this issue.  In this issue, our topics range from gender differences on the 
differential value of networks for entrepreneurs to the mediating effect of planning between 
overconfidence and performance to an examination of three forms of businesses during the 
startup phase to the effectiveness of a public coaching program.  This issue concludes with an 
opportunity to further analyze the Panel Study on Entrepreneurial Dynamics.   

Our first article by Malewicki and Leitch looks at the differential values of networks to 
entrepreneurs broken down by gender.  Specifically, females perceived a higher economic 
benefit from networks, and a higher affective value.  No significant differences were found on 
perceived normative value.  The sad part of this article appearing in this issue is that the lead 
author, Debra Malewicki passed away in May of 2010.  This paper was submitted to JSBS 
after her passing.  This research represents some of her last work.  The Editors want to thank 
her coauthor, Cathy (Folker) Leitch, for her continued effort to see that Debra’s contribution 
was not lost.  (See Memorium preceeding article.)   

In our next article, Simon, Kim, Houghton, and Deng sampled 52 small computer companies 
that introduced a new product.  They examined a manager’s overconfidence and planning at 
the points where the product was launched and 18 months later.  Their findings indicate that 
overconfidence decreases planning, and planning decreased performance.  Additionally, they 
found that planning mediated the relationship between these two variables. 

In our third article,  A Resource-Based View of Three Forms of Businesses in the Startup 
Phase: Implications for Franchising, Welsh,  Davis, Desplaces, and Falbe utilize the 
resource-based view of organizations  to compare franchisees during the startup phase 
utilizing the U.S. data from the Kauffman Firm Survey.  This study extends the literature by 
considering three forms of startups—franchises, new independent startups, and repurchased 
existing businesses in their analysis. 

Our fourth article by Schayek and Dvir uses a longitudinal study of small trade and service 
businesses that were part of a coaching program run by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and 
Labor in Israel.  Their findings show that the public assistance program produced a direct 
positive effect on small business performance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

This issue concludes with a Distinguished Research Commentary by Kelly Shaver and his 
coauthors concerning the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics.  This database provides a 
rich source of insights into nascent entrepreneurs.  The longitudinal samples are representative 
of the U.S., making the PSED unique in the quality of sampling and one’s ability to 
generalize.  There are abundant opportunities to further analyze these data and this article 
provides valuable insights to facilitate this process. 

 

Ross Fink, Coeditor 

Gerald Hills, Coeditor  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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