Analyzing the characteristics of entrepreneurial ventures with behavioral decision models

The descriptive data on venture investments collected by MacMillan et al. is analyzed here with noncompensatory conjunctive and disjunctive models plus the familiar compensatory linear model. The results show that risk handling ability and attention to detail are pre-eminent precursors of venture performance. On the other hand, product and market variables appear to have diminished effectiveness when all the diverse venture data are pooled and considered together, as distinct from when the ventures are clustered into separate familial groups.