Abstract: Based on human capital theory, this paper explores the relationship between returnee entrepreneur’s human capital (managerial skill and R&D skill) and entrepreneurial performance, and uses a data including 205 returnee entrepreneurs in Shandong province to empirically test our arguments. Results show that experience from middle or top management positions and oversea patents are positively related to entrepreneurial performance, while local patents could not significantly improve performance. It is also found returnee entrepreneurs who have both manager experience and patents would achieve higher performance. This implies that there exists synergistic effect between managerial skill and R&D skill, and both managerial skill and R&D skill are limited to provide advantage for returnee entrepreneurs alone.

Key words: returnee entrepreneurs, within-group difference of returnee entrepreneurs, returnee entrepreneurial performance, synergistic effect between management and technology