Entrepreneurial networking capability and performance of startups in Isfahan city

Despite the key role of start-ups in economic development and job creation, one of the biggest problems of these start-up businesses is their legendary failure rate. One of the main reasons for the failure of these businesses is marketing limitations in the form of lack of financial resources, time, market knowledge and marketing expertise. Also, these companies lack strategic plans and their management is based on personal experience and business intuition. Entrepreneurial networking is one of the solutions that have been proposed to solve these limitations, because networking is considered to be the factor of restructuring the world trade architecture. The current research was conducted with the aim of explaining the role of entrepreneurial networking ability on the marketing performance of start-ups, taking into account the role of entrepreneurial orientation and market knowledge. The statistical population was 550 start-ups and fledgling businesses in Isfahan. The sample size was calculated using the Krejci and Morgan table of 225 companies that were selected by simple random sampling. A standard questionnaire was used to collect research data. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and reliability using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data analysis was done using structural equation modeling with partial least squares approach and SmartPLS software to test fit and relationships between variables. According to the research results, entrepreneurial networking ability plays an important role in improving the marketing performance of start-up businesses; Therefore, managers who want to increase their marketing performance must identify and form strategic alliances faster than competitors.