Abstract:The positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance has been challenged recently and some researchers argue that their relationship is elusive. Liabilities of smallness and newness of new ventures have restrained the positive effect of EO on their performances. The practices of start-ups shows that the resource identification and acquisition capabilities and resource allocation and leverage capabilities of resource integration capabilities have crucial effects on the above relationship. Based on 234 samples of new ventures, this empirical study shows that entrepreneurial orientation has an inverted U shape relationship with performance, which is opposed to the mainstream results. Resource identification and acquisition capabilities and resource allocation and leverage capabilities moderate the nonlinear inverted U shape relationship, which means that increasing resource identification and acquisition capabilities or resource allocation and leverage capabilities increases the positive effect of low levels of EO on performance and reduces the negative effect of high levels of EO on performance. The results show that a reasonable entrepreneurial orientation will enhance the performance while lower or higher entrepreneurial orientation will cause the performance to decrease. In order to maintain the positive effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the performance, new ventures must improve their resource integration capability.