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PurposeAlthough a body of studies investigates how networking capabilities (NCs) form and maintain interorganizational relationships that affect firm performance, little is known about this relationship in crisis contexts. This article explores managers' perceptions of environmental uncertainties and how this perception influences NC development and subsequent firm performance, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a quantitative research approach to complete this objective, utilizing primary data from a survey of North American firms (N = 212), mostly (62.3%) small- and medium-sized. Data were analyzed via the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique.FindingsThe authors found that managers' perception of environmental uncertainties positively impacts the NCs to initiate and develop relationships, which is associated with better firm performance during crises. The capability to initiate and develop relationships supports the firm's access to relevant resources that may be converted into business performance.Originality/valueBy analyzing managers' perceptions of environmental uncertainties and the development of NCs, the study results expand upon previous research by highlighting that starting new relationships and developing existing ones may be an efficient managerial response immediately after a crisis occurs.
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Purpose: This study aims to explore how the COVID-induced exogenous shock changed the prevalent occupational gender stereotypes in entrepreneurship in urban Turkey and presented an opportunity to some Turkish women to start their own business. Furthermore, this study investigated how women entrepreneurs' social networks helped them to clear the gendered hurdles that hindered their entrepreneurial endeavors in the times of COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Highly personal topics like gender stereotypes are complex and nebulous, as is entrepreneurship as lived experience. Moreover, the COVID-induced crisis complicates the context further, which is why the addressal of questions about gendered stereotypes in the process of entrepreneurship, and the role of social networks in that process, warrants a qualitative research approach. Consequently, this study relied on in-depth semistructured interviews for investigating the study's research questions. Findings: The findings suggest that research participants used the COVID-induced crisis conditions as an opportunity to beat the existing occupational gender stereotyping in entrepreneurship in the context of urban Turkey that opened a window of opportunity for the women participants to enter into entrepreneurship. In addition, social networks significantly helped the women entrepreneurs to acquire resources, and provided the leverage needed to clear the gendered hurdles that hindered the women's entrepreneurial endeavors. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is among the first that generates insights into occupational gender stereotyping in entrepreneurship within the context of a developing country in the times of COVID-19 crisis. Hence, this study can help to understand the broader implications of the crisis like COVID-19 for gender-related beliefs and attitudes toward women entrepreneurship within the context of developing countries. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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A high level of uncertainty accompanies investment decisions, hence, VCs attempt to reduce their risk through a thorough examination of potential investment cases. Especially during the seed and start-up phases of a new venture, when detailed reports and historical track records are still lacking, the investment manager's trust in the entrepreneurial team has a major impact on investment decisions. To explore the process of trust formation, we conducted 11 semi-structured in-depth expert interviews with VC investment managers. Thereby, the COVID-19 crisis provided unique circumstances of exclusively digital communication and allowed us to develop a fine-grained understanding of trust within the VC context. Building on previous research about organizational trust and 674 interview minutes, we found that trustworthiness develops to trust over time as the vulnerability of both parties increases. Furthermore, our results reveal that the VCs' perception of the founders' trustworthiness is mainly influenced by examining the founders' work environment, a founders' reputation in the VCs' network, and face-to-face communication. Such personal meetings allow VCs to assess founders, shape the investor's gut feeling, and develop an interpersonal relationship as they allow for more room talking about personal information rather than business talk. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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Learning outcomes: At the end of the case discussion, students should be able to:▪ analyse and discuss networks as a form of social capital;▪ identify and discuss alternative growth strategies for an small, medium, micro enterprise (SMME) in the context of prevailing challenges;▪ use the six domains of the entrepreneurship ecosystem to identify and discuss factors that enhance and challenge a business with particular reference to an SMME;and▪ analyse and understand the key dimensions of entrepreneurial behaviour using the case protagonist as an example. Case overview/synopsis: Nhlanhla Dlamini, the managing director of Maneli Pets based in Johannesburg, South Africa had opened an office in Cincinnati in the USA in July 2019 to take over the distribution and marketing of the company's high-quality protein pet treats. Just over eight months later, the COVID-19 pandemic exploded across the world resulting in unprecedented disruption to people's lives, world trade and the global economy.Now, in June 2022, Dlamini contemplated the successes and challenges he had experienced since starting Maneli Pets in 2016, not least of which was parting company with US-based Novel Dog LLC, which had previously marketed and distributed the pet treats. He had built an internationally accredited factory from scratch, produced pet products and a brand that was appealing to the competitive international market, and exported to 12 countries around the world. However, Dlamini had also faced the retrenchment of a large number of staff, the breakdown of the relationship with Novel Dog, the difficulties of setting up a distribution business in the USA along with overseeing the South African factory, and in September 2019, his co-founder, Sipha Ndawonde, had left Maneli Pets.Maneli Pets had served Dlamini's philanthropic purpose of creating jobs and contributing to the growth of the South African economy. Despite the setback of parting ways with Novel Dog, he hoped to continue to create jobs and return to and exceed the staff numbers he had achieved by 2018, regardless of the hard work involved.In his dual position of managing director of Maneli Pets, based in Johannesburg, and sales director of the distribution and marketing arm, Nandi Pets Inc. in Cincinnati, Dlamini had a global view of the companies' financials that he realised had been missing initially. Would the new structure of Maneli Pets he had created in 2019 in a pre-pandemic world see the company profitable by the end of 2022? What else could he do to take the company to the next level? Complexity academic level: MBA, Masters in Management, Postgraduate Diploma in Business, Executive Education short courses. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 3: Entrepreneurship. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The strategic use of social media tools facilitates firms' entrepreneurial capabilities, enabling them to become more innovative, increasing their proactivity, and helping them to renew themselves internally. In today's turbulent landscape, organizational resilience has emerged as a key variable for responding to external challenges and facing uncertainty. In this context, our study aims to analyze the role of social media use as an antecedent of corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance in Spanish SMEs, while also examining the mediating role of organizational resilience in this process. Analyzing data from a sample of 259 firms, we tested our proposed hypotheses using structural equation modeling. The results confirm that use of social media tools positively impacts the entrepreneurial capabilities of the SMEs examined. The findings also stress the strategic relevance of organizational resilience, which exerts a perfect mediating impact on firm performance. These findings have significant implications for managers, as they show the path managers must take to benefit from social media use, become more entrepreneurial and resilient, and achieve business success in these turbulent times.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of strategic entrepreneurship on explorative and exploitative innovation in the presence of strategic learning capabilities. This study has also explored the moderating role of structural organicity between strategic entrepreneurship and strategic learning capabilities. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 298 employees working in software houses of Pakistan participated in the study. The study used a questionnaire-based survey through "google forms” on convenience basis, and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings: The results supported the positive association of strategic entrepreneurship with explorative and exploitative dimensions of innovation. Further, strategic learning capabilities was noted to mediate the association between strategic entrepreneurship and explorative innovation;however, it did not mediate the association between strategic entrepreneurship and exploitative innovation. Finally, the study examined the moderating role of structural organicity and noted a higher positive impact of strategic entrepreneurship on learning capabilities in the case of high structural organicity. Research limitations/implications: The study collected data from a developing country during COVID-19, which may affect generalizability. The study suggests management to work on employees' learning capabilities to cultivate the benefits of explorative innovation. Originality/value: This study explores the mediating role of strategic learning capabilities between strategic entrepreneurship and innovation ambidexterity. In addition, it explores the conditional effect of structural organicity to trigger strategic learning capabilities. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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This article consists of five complementary parts. The Introduction portrays the increasing challenges of entrepreneurial internationalization encountered by smaller and younger firms facing highly competitive, difficult, and near-crisis environments. The literature review of the extant internationalization theories, in five related streams, will examine each stream's benefits, contribution, and difficulties from the evolving perspective of an internationalizing enterprise over the span of its life-cycle, ranging from embryonic to growth and maturing stages. Based on the current and prevailing experience, a longitudinally integrated internationalization framework addressing different aspects evolving over the firm's life-cycle stages is proposed and its necessary building blocks are discussed. A critical examination of the framework from the perspectives of both the received theory and ongoing practice points to its advantages and opportunity for further complementary scholarly developments beyond this article.
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The emergence of new digital technologies has transformed entrepreneurship and, very likely, enabled many new and established ventures to avoid bankruptcy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital technologies are key to identifying, evaluating and exploiting opportunities, scaling a venture's competitiveness, improving efficiency and innovating, especially during uncertain times. We explore how digital technologies reinvented entrepreneurial resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and distill the digital artifacts, platforms and infrastructures used by entrepreneurs to demonstrate entrepreneurial resilience. We analyzed 42 reflective interviews featuring successful entrepreneurs from How I Built This "Resilience Series" podcast that explore how entrepreneurs responded to the COVID-19 crisis. We adopted a systematic approach to identify and describe the behaviors, actions and strategies related to digitalization to reinvent the business in the uncertain and resource-constrained context of COVID-19. The data analysis yielded thirteen first-order codes categorized into five second-order themes: creative digital pivoting, digital infrastructures, social impact through digital technology, burdens to digital adoption, and growth through digitalization. These second-order themes reveal to function as both enablers and barriers to entrepreneurial resilience in this adverse context. Our exploratory analysis suggests how digitalization influences entrepreneurial resilience.
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Networks play a vital role for entrepreneurs in overcoming crises. The most vulnerable to crises are those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. However, we know less about the role of socioeconomic status in entrepreneurial networking. This study investigates whom entrepreneurs call in case of emergency. We develop hypotheses on how entrepreneurs' socioeconomic status influences models of networking agency in situations of economic threat. The results of a pre-registered randomized experiment in the COVID-19 context conducted with 122 entrepreneurs from the US indicate that entrepreneurs in higher socioeconomic status positions activate contacts to serve their own goals (i.e., independent networking agency) when facing an economic threat. In contrast, and counter-intuitively, entrepreneurs of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to support others when facing an economic threat (i.e., interdependent networking agency). Exploring the evolving network structure, our explorative post-hoc analyses suggest that entrepreneurs activate closer networks (i.e., higher density and stronger ties) under threat. The study discusses the implications of these findings for the theory of entrepreneurial networking in general and network responses to crises in particular.
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Entrepreneurship research is paying increasing attention to big data. However, there is only a fragmented understanding on how big data influences entrepreneurial activities. To review previous research systematically and quantitatively, the authors use bibliometrics method to analyze 164 research articles on big data in entrepreneurship. They visualize the landscape of these studies, such as publication year, country, and research area. They then use VOSviewer to conduct theme clustering analysis, finding four themes, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and small medium enterprise (SME) digitization, application of big data analytics to decision making, application of big data in platform, and the effects of big data on enterprises. In addition, they construct an integrated framework that integrates the antecedents of big data adoption and influence mechanism of big data on entrepreneurial activities.
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This virtual special issue includes research on the effects of crises, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic, on entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial responses to deal with consequences of crises. This issue highlights how crises affect entrepreneurs' well-being and reinforce the importance of agency of entrepreneurs and other citizens. The special issue also highlights the need for resilience;the ability of entrepreneurs, organizations, and economies to absorb and adapt to shocks;and how it can be strengthened. We discuss the importance of data in times of crisis and the greater need for engaged scholarship. © The Author(s) 2023.
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Purpose>This paper offers innovative strategies on how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can respond to the COVID-19 crisis by incorporating an entrepreneurial orientation concept corresponding to the nature of the environmental shock.Design/methodology/approach>This paper conceptualises a solution by elaborating three critical items, namely entrepreneurial orientation, adaptive process and strategy types as key factors to develop the framework solution. This paper outlines a strategy proposal for SMEs to respond to the crisis.Findings>The environmental factor represents the crisis, which leads to a degree of innovation, i.e., radical and incremental, and can be approached using an adjusted adaptive consolidation process from Child. This paper identifies four strategy options from Miles and Snow to respond to the crisis;i.e. (1) defender–exploitative innovation;(2) analyser–organisational ambidexterity;(3) prospector–exploratory innovation and (4) reactor–abandon or shut down the business.Originality/value>While most of the suggestions from previous COVID-19-related works are acknowledged, this paper brings more insight from an academic perspective, specifically organisational theory, to cope with the pandemic crisis. The steps and strategy to be chosen can guide policymakers to decide what is their best move to respond to this crisis. In addition, the proposed strategies call for future research to provide empirical evidence by exploring and examining various scenarios in different kinds of businesses.
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Learning outcomes: The learning outcomes of this study are as follows:▪ evaluate the difficulties of entry-level women entrepreneurs in the South African farming industry;▪ appreciate the entrepreneurial journey of a women entrepreneur in the farming industry;▪ assess the role of networking and support programmes in prompting women entrepreneurs in South Africa;▪ understand the role of diversification in building a sustainable business in today's COVID-19-affected economic environment;▪ make an informed decision regarding how COVID-19 had negatively affected the farming industry;and▪ critically evaluate which options are available for women entrepreneurs to overcome the negative effects of COVID-19 and remain sustainable businesses. Case overview/synopsis: In April 2021, managing director and co-owner Beverley-Anne Joseph, was considering the long-term business strategy options for Zelpy, her hop farm business outside George, a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. As the first black woman hop farmer in Africa, she had run a successful business supplying hops to South African Breweries (SAB), a subsidiary of the global conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev). To date, her hop farming business had not been impacted by the South African Government's COVID-19 lockdowns that impacted the sale of alcoholic beverages. However, it had given her a wake-up call as to the risk of having most of her eggs in one basket. She now had to consider how to diversify her farming business to minimise risk. Complexity academic level: MBA, Masters in Management, Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Executive Education short courses. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 3: Entrepreneurship. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is expeditiously stirring the global economy. The impact of this pandemic has implications on the sustenance of industries worldwide. This study investigates the influence of various endogenous and exogenous factors affecting e-wallet adoption among micro entrepreneurs in India. A sample of 287 micro enterprises were identified in NCR (National Capital Region) region on the basis of random sampling. Structured questionnaires were administered to the respondents. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data with the help of Smart PLS 3. The main findings of the study show that self-belief, personal innovativeness, and satisfaction are the key indicators affecting the e-wallet adoption among the microentrepreneurs. Microentrepreneurs contribute greatly to economic development in developed and developing nations. Digitalisation of this segment of industry can turn India into a cashless country, thereby reducing the cash burden of the economy. Microentrepreneurs can also act as a catalyst for financial inclusion.
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This article explores how leisure organisations developed entrepreneurial practices to enable innovation for the post-covid-19 pandemic era. Whilst entrepreneurship and innovation have been the subject of academic scrutiny in mainstream sport, there is a relative paucity of studies within the broader holistic context of leisure. Semi-structured interviews, conducted in the United Kingdom (UK), provide insights from nine high profile, globally recognised industry practitioners from across the leisure industry including the sport, entertainment, health and fitness, leisure, hospitality, arts and culture, events and tourism sectors. Four key themes emerged from the data including extending capabilities through (i) research and development (R&D) and (ii) digitalisation, and changing culture through (iii) diversification, and (iv) sustainability. These practices were shown to enable leisure organisations to create new customer value within an increasingly competitive environment. The paper concludes with an overview of theoretical and managerial implications and provides approaches for developing more entrepreneurial practices in leisure.
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This article aims to identify the perception of a group of incubated projects about the importance of entrepreneurship as alternative to face the economic crisis due to the new coronavirus pandemic. Entrepreneurship is a transversal subject to many areas of research and has been the object of study within themes such as economic, technological and innovation. The crisis in several sectors caused by the pandemic of the new coronavirus, raised other research possibilities. With a qualitative approach and through the case study method, using a structured questionnaire, it sought to investigate a group of companies/projects incubated ina technology-based business incubator, in the municipality of Mossoro in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. With the results, it was possible to verify that incubated have a positive perception about the importance of entrepreneurship in facing the crisis, thus pointing out that it is an alternative for the post-pandemic crisis period.
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Learning outcomes: The learning outcomes focus on enabling students to view operational model changes critically, as they pertain to: ■ evaluating different management styles and uses of the ADKAR change management model in decision-making moments in times of crisis (such as COVID-19) in non-profit organisations (NPOs);■ evaluating different ways in which NPOs pivot to sustainability, including the use of social enterprise models and change management;■ anticipating and managing change in institutional formations through new technologies;■ articulating trade-offs between grant and non-grant resource mobilisation for African philanthropy;and ■ application of change management theory to organisations' sustainability journeys. Case overview/synopsis: In May 2020, working from her home office just over one month into a nationwide lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Masego Madzwamuse, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Southern Africa Trust (the Trust), knew that it could once again be at a crossroads. In 2015, the Trust had found itself in a quandary when its primary donor gave notification of its intention to withdraw its funding. The Trust had responded by making changes to its structure and strategy. Now, with uncertainty rife throughout South Africa, the CEO knew that she had to consider whether the changes that had been implemented over the past five years had prepared the Trust not only to respond to, but also to survive the pandemic and continue its vital work long into the future. Complexity academic level: Postgraduate Diploma in Management, MBA, Masters in Management. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 11: Strategy. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The development of small and medium-sized businesses should become a priority in the implementation of economic policy. The introduction of a number of anti-epidemic measures aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic has become an unprecedented challenge primarily for small and medium-sized businesses not only in Russia, but also in the world as a whole. Therefore, it is important to generalize practical experience, as well as to compare the indicators of development of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia and other European countries in order to determine strategies that will set the vector of development of the country's competitiveness and ensure accelerated economic growth.
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Research methodology: This case was developed from secondary sources. The secondary sources included company websites, social media and news reports. This case has been classroom tested in multiple executive master of business administration (MBA) courses on business model innovation and entrepreneurship. Case overview/synopsis: The case traces the entrepreneurial journey of Dozee, a remote patient monitoring system in India. Dozee was manufactured by Turtle Shell Technologies Private Limited, cofounded by Mudit and Gaurav. The primary customers of Dozee's offering were households with elderly citizens and health-conscious individuals who sought preventive health care. The cofounders identified the unmet need for a convenient and user-friendly contactless health tracker. Dozee team built a thin sensor-embedded sheet and module that can be placed beneath the mattress to track sleep patterns and health vitals. They also provided data analysis and data interpretation services. After four years of conceptualization, Dozee launched its product and service in 2019. Although the initial response was lukewarm, the onset of the COVID-19 crisis led to significant changes in the health-care industry. Demand for virtual assistance and contactless monitoring devices became increasingly important elements of COVID-19 treatment. Unlike other sensor-based fitness trackers, the sheet could be easily placed under the patient's bed to capture health vitals. Choosing to pivot from a home-based individual customer segment to a medical-grade device provider for hospitals could significantly increase the scale and scope of the offering for Dozee, but it would also place Dozee in direct competition with other health monitoring devices from different business categories. Complexity academic level: This case is appropriate for MBA and executive-level courses related to entrepreneurship and business model innovation. The case explores issues such as digital disruption and how start-ups can design a go-to-market strategy. The case works well in the classroom, even if people are unfamiliar with the health-care industry. Participants can certainly relate to the concept of adopting artificial intelligence–enabled devices for monitoring their health. The instructor should be able to quickly engage participants in a lively discussion about Dozee's vision and the opportunities and challenges in adopting digital solutions in health care. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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This paper investigates the contribution of entrepreneurship to sustainable development and economic growth in emerging markets in the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the importance of various measures implemented by entrepreneurs and governments as responses to the changing environment in the COVID-19 pandemic is examined. By employing the data for 20 emerging markets, the findings revealed that only high-growth-expectation entrepreneurship (HEA) had a significant contribution to economic growth before the pandemic, but this relationship became negative during the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, this research pointed out that sufficient responses to the COVID-19 pandemic could be a useful instrument to encourage the development of entrepreneurship and revive the economy in the post-COVID period in emerging markets.