Please use this form to submit your study for inclusion into our database. It will be checked by a member of the Innovation Growth Lab team, who may be in contact to ask for more information. Your email address * Your name * Title * The name of the study Short summary This paper explores whether the advice entrepreneurs receive about people management influences their firm's performance. A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>Why do some entrepreneurs thrive while others fail? We explore whether the advice entrepreneurs receive about people management influences their firm's performance. We conducted a randomized field experiment in India with 100 high-growth technology firms whose founders received in-person advice from other entrepreneurs who varied in their managerial style. We find that entrepreneurs who received advice from peers with an active approach to managing people–instituting regular meetings, setting goals consistently, and providing frequent feedback to employees–grew 28% larger and were 10 percentage points less likely to fail than those who got advice from peers with a passive people-management approach two years after our intervention. Entrepreneurs with MBAs or accelerator experience did not respond to this intervention, suggesting that formal training can limit the spread of peer advice.</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.2987 Links to any published papers and related discussions Authors * Affiliations Academic and other institutes that the authors of the study are members of Delivery partner Organisations involved in delivering the trial, if appropriate Year Year Year199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026 Month MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Day Day12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 Journal Journal publishing the study, if available Publication stage * Working Paper Published Ongoing Research Forthcoming Discussion Paper Research theme * Entrepreneurship Innovation Business Growth Country Country or countries where this study took place. Topics What sort of topics does the study cover? Sample attributes Hypotheses / research question But how do founders “learn to manage” their enterprises? And what are the effects on firm performance? Sample Trial population and sample selection Founders of Indian startup software companies that applied and were accepted to the retreat Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description The study explored the extent to which management matters by pairing entrepreneurs with a high 'hands-on' manager as a partner for a 3-day business retreat. Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method Online survey Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>Management style and skills, employee growth, firm survival, interaction with network, firm strategy</p> Results <p>Founders who received advice from other founders with more “hands-on” management styles were more likely to reorient their own management activity, and subsequently experience lower employee attrition and higher rates of firm survival eight months after the intervention.</p> Intervention costs Cost benefit ratio Reference Koning, R., Hasan, S., Delecourt, S., Chatterji, A. (2017). 'Learning to Manage: A Field Experiment in the Indian Startup Ecosystem'. Harvard Business School Strategy Unit Working Paper. Citation for use in academic references
