ABSTRACT
Based on the four major challenges firms face in the early stage of their life cycle, we identify and use financial and non-financial performance measures to predict the survivability of new international ventures. We use a sample of 3,729 new manufacturing ventures from the Chinese Foreign Invested Enterprises Database. The study sample consists of wholly owned ventures of multi-national corporations (MNCs) and joint ventures between pairs comprising foreign and local investors in China. The results are consistent with the study's hypotheses. Using the Cox (1972) survival model, we find that employee training, employee productivity, accounts receivable collection period, export intensity, and sales growth are positively related to new venture survival. This study contributes to the existing business venturing and accounting literature in three ways. First, it fills the gap in the existing literature on bankruptcy prediction by focusing on firms in the early stage of their life cycle. Second, it uses survivability as a measure of business success. Survivability is a more comprehensive measure of firm performance than traditional financial measures during the start-up stage because during this stage firms tend to carry large losses that make financial measures inappropriate. Finally, this study has the potential to help new venture managers improve a firm's chances of success by using customized performance measures that fit its unique situation.
JEL Classifications: D21; G32; M41.
