Конкурентные стратегии и тактики I. Manev, University of Maine, Maine Business School, Orono, imanev@maine.edu T. Manolova, Bentley University, tmanolova@bentley.edu B. Gyoshev, International Business School, Botevgrad, Bulgaria, gyoshev@techno-link.com J. Harkins, University of Maine, Maine Business School, Orono, jason.harkins@maine.edu SOCIAL CAPITAL AND STRATEGY EFFECTIVENESS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES IN A TRANSITION ECONOMY1 Although new ventures’ competitive positioning and their founders’ social networks are both recognized as important in the context of transition economies, not much is known about their multiplicative effect on performance. <...> We build on the strategic management literature and social network theory to develop theoretical predictions about the role of competitive strategies and social capital for entrepreneurial performance. <...> We find that both the venture’s competitive strategic positioning and the founder’s networking positively influence performance. <...> The hypothesized moderating effect of networking for the relationship between differentiation strategy and performance received only tentative support. <...> These results suggest that the entrepreneur’s network plays a role in shaping how strategies influence performance by possibly upholding differentiation and deemphasizing cost leadership strategy. <...> Implications for managerial practice and public policy are discussed. <...> As Peng (2001:95) noted, «Entrepreneurs and the start-ups they found create wealth and push these economies to a higher level of competitiveness through their sheer energy, relentless strategies, and sometimes controversial practices.» That these new ventures reach their full performance potential is, therefore, a matter of great managerial and public policy concern. <...> A sizeable body of literature, steeped in the institutional perspective (Peng & Heath, 1996; Puffer & McCarthy, 2001; Smallbone & Welter, 2001; Batjargal, 2003), has identified the social capital of the entrepreneur and, by extension, the networking strategies of the new venture, as a major contributor to entrepreneurial success. <...> In an environment characterized by scarce material and financial resources, inadequate contract law and property rights, and an unstable and often openly hostile institutional establishment, the argument goes, entrepreneurs in transition economies countervail resource paucity and environmental adversity through creating networks of personal connections, which seek to bridge and substitute «institutional voids» (Khanna & Palepu, 1997). <...> Thus, Peng (2001 <...>