Act or Wait-and-See? Adversity, Agility, and Entrepreneur Wellbeing across Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic: ET&P

How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.

Act or Wait-and-See? Adversity, Agility, and Entrepreneur Wellbeing across Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.

Uncovering hidden human capital in uncertain times by exploring strategic resources in Spanish wineries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the continuous identification of tangible and intangible strategic resources needed to achieve competitive advantages in uncertain times in Spanish wineries, highlighting the critical value of human capital.Design/methodology/approachBy means of a case study of a Spanish Sherry winery theoretically based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, the paper focuses on the influence of environmental uncertainty on firms’ strategic resources and the need for in-depth knowledge. Direct participation and experience in the business have allowed access to data for longitudinal exploratory analysis.FindingsHuman capital, especially managers’ knowledge and experience, has been the key to the survival and success of the company analysed, throughout its history.Practical implicationsThe paper guides managers, especially in microenterprises and SMEs, on the inclusion among the firm’s strategic resources of a part of their own human capital that is generally not considered.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the RBV and self-reflection theory by demonstrating the value of human capital in a small family business under extremely uncertain times.