Entrepreneurship amid armed conflicts: Insights from Artsakh

Abstract

Armed conflicts are exogenous shocks that engender multifaceted turbulence. This article explores the corporate behavior of companies operating in the active conflict of Artsakh and their strategic responses to the devastating war of 2020 by using multiple case studies. Building on the Business for Peace literature, this article contextualizes the mission and governance mechanisms of companies and their interlinkages with the company activities perceived as peace-enhancing. The research findings support existing evidence indicating that (semi)hybrid business forms are appropriate in unconventional contexts. The article unfolds the mechanisms that enable companies to work through conflict and identify key moderating factors that significantly affect their development perspectives. This study is the first to illuminate how companies from several sectors in a conflict-affected zone in the South Caucasus pursue different combinations of social and economic goals, maintain and develop relationships with stakeholders, and interact progressively with markets and institutions.