The Role of Strategic Entrepreneurship on Firm Growth: A Case Study from the Turkish Housing Market

Abstract

A contractor firm, which strategically positioned itself in the housing market as a "sales firm, independent of its industry" introduced a patented product innovation, the Foldhome, to the Turkish housing market in 2010. The idea behind Foldhome was adding a set of social facility areas (or, 'Folds') to core accommodation units which include a bedroom, a living space and wet spaces. The firm gained a commercial success in the branded housing market with an annual turnover about 300.000.000 USD and 400.000.000 USD in 2016 and 2017 respectively. While researchers have reported that a significant portion of the variance in firm growth in construction can be explained by corporate entrepreneurship, empirical evidence on 'how' this process leads to organizational growth is scarce. This paper presents findings from a qualitative research study of the Foldhome case which aimed an in-depth investigation of the role of entrepreneurship on firm growth and value creation. A content analysis was conducted to analyze data from 31 in-depth interview with firm managers and employees, according to the input-process-output model of strategic entrepreneurship. A process-based analysis of the case show that leveraging can be a more critical managerial capability than bundling and structuring in the early life cycle phase when young entrepreneurial companies orchestrate their resources for survival, growth and value creation. Paper contributes to construction entrepreneurship literature by unpacking the circumstances under which a holistic entrepreneurship framework that surround a product innovation through the integration of corporate functions. Lessons learned are highlighted for the entrepreneurial contractor companies.