This study extends the understanding of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), vertical knowledge acquisition, and actor collaboration to a “whole of value-chain” perspective in transitional economies by investigating a subsistence smallholder agricultural value-chain. It examines the relationships between EO and vertical knowledge acquisition and the role of value-chain collaboration. It also contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurship as an economic development tool by considering how EO moderates the effect of value-chain actor collaboration on acquiring market and consumer knowledge by subsistence upstream actors within value-chains. Data were collected through a survey of smallholder value-chain shifting from selling to local wet markets to selling to cattle collectors and traders and through a value-chain to retailers. The findings suggest that higher levels of EO by smallholders and SME agribusinesses enhance the acquisition of vertical knowledge such as market and consumer preference information throughout the value-chain, and interfirm collaboration positively moderates this relationship.

本研究通过调查自给自足的小农农业价值链，将创业导向 (EO)、垂直知识获取和参与者合作的理解扩展到转型经济体的“整个价值链”视角。它考察了 EO 与垂直知识获取之间的关系以及价值链协作的作用。它还通过考虑 EO 如何调节价值链参与者合作对价值链上游参与者获取市场和消费者知识的影响，有助于理解创业作为一种经济发展工具。数据是通过对小农价值链从向当地湿货市场销售转变为向牲畜收集者和贸易商以及通过价值链向零售商转变的调查收集的。