Pub Date : 2025-11-13DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01146-8
Ricarda B. Bouncken, Jeffrey G. Covin, Florian Schmitt
How do family firms navigate digital transformation? Drawing on 25 interviews across ten cases (2018–2024), we identify three tension fields that shape the scale and pace of digitalization: internal development vs. external sourcing, reliance on trusted partners vs. opening new ties, and the diffusion of family control. We theorize five propositions showing how familiness conditions collaboration strategies, risk posture, and implementation speed. Long-term orientation and strong ties enable committed, tailored investments, yet can narrow openness to novel external knowledge; selective boundary opening mitigates this trade-off. Our model integrates socioemotional wealth with digital innovation, clarifying when familial control supports or suppresses experimentation and how learning unfolds over time. We outline implications for entrepreneurs, educators, and policy. The paper contributes to research on family-business digitalization and offers actionable guidance for designing balanced transformation pathways.
{"title":"Family firms’ digital transformation: pathways and tensions","authors":"Ricarda B. Bouncken, Jeffrey G. Covin, Florian Schmitt","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01146-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01146-8","url":null,"abstract":"How do family firms navigate digital transformation? Drawing on 25 interviews across ten cases (2018–2024), we identify three tension fields that shape the scale and pace of digitalization: internal development vs. external sourcing, reliance on trusted partners vs. opening new ties, and the diffusion of family control. We theorize five propositions showing how familiness conditions collaboration strategies, risk posture, and implementation speed. Long-term orientation and strong ties enable committed, tailored investments, yet can narrow openness to novel external knowledge; selective boundary opening mitigates this trade-off. Our model integrates socioemotional wealth with digital innovation, clarifying when familial control supports or suppresses experimentation and how learning unfolds over time. We outline implications for entrepreneurs, educators, and policy. The paper contributes to research on family-business digitalization and offers actionable guidance for designing balanced transformation pathways.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145498249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-13DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01142-y
Adelinda Ramos, Shital Jayantilal, Sílvia F. Jorge, Filipe Sardo
{"title":"The impact of communication, gender, and risk aversion on family businesses’ sustainable practices: a game theoretical and experimental approach","authors":"Adelinda Ramos, Shital Jayantilal, Sílvia F. Jorge, Filipe Sardo","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01142-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01142-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145498250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-11DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01138-8
Yu Dong, Xuehong Zhu, Qiong Xu
{"title":"Risk or opportunity: the impact of high-temperature shocks on necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship","authors":"Yu Dong, Xuehong Zhu, Qiong Xu","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01138-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01138-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"175 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145492510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-10DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01132-0
John-Erik Hassel, Tommy Høyvarde Clausen, Einar Rasmussen, Christina Öberg
Venture builders (VBs) are a new type of actor in the entrepreneurship industry (EI). Operating as a venture factory, VBs initiate, scale, and sell startups on an ongoing basis. This paper aims to unpack the VB phenomenon and its implications for the EI. Through an in-depth qualitative analysis based on 40 interviews with 16 entrepreneurs in VB-backed startups and secondary data, we demonstrate how VBs produce new ventures as products. VBs produce new ventures in a standardized process characterized by four production principles of productization, specialization, control, and accumulation. These production principles outline what we refer to as a “new venture production regime” in the EI, representing a distinct sociocultural influence on entrepreneurship. By combining these production principles with the seminal insights from Schumpeter, Kirzner, and Gartner, we help to articulate the theoretical logic of the “new venture production regime” and how it differs from the traditional “new venture creation regime.”
{"title":"Venture builders: new venture production in the entrepreneurship industry","authors":"John-Erik Hassel, Tommy Høyvarde Clausen, Einar Rasmussen, Christina Öberg","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01132-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01132-0","url":null,"abstract":"Venture builders (VBs) are a new type of actor in the entrepreneurship industry (EI). Operating as a venture factory, VBs initiate, scale, and sell startups on an ongoing basis. This paper aims to unpack the VB phenomenon and its implications for the EI. Through an in-depth qualitative analysis based on 40 interviews with 16 entrepreneurs in VB-backed startups and secondary data, we demonstrate how VBs produce new ventures as products. VBs produce new ventures in a standardized process characterized by four production principles of productization, specialization, control, and accumulation. These production principles outline what we refer to as a “new venture production regime” in the EI, representing a distinct sociocultural influence on entrepreneurship. By combining these production principles with the seminal insights from Schumpeter, Kirzner, and Gartner, we help to articulate the theoretical logic of the “new venture production regime” and how it differs from the traditional “new venture creation regime.”","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145478319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-08DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01143-x
Giuseppe Albanese, Raffaello Bronzini
{"title":"The impact of public incentives on the birth of innovative start-ups","authors":"Giuseppe Albanese, Raffaello Bronzini","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01143-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01143-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145472966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01116-0
Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley, Shawn M. Rohlin, Amanda Weinstein
This paper examines whether firms that retained more employees than predicted during the Great Recession, often termed “labor hoarding,” experienced benefits over 7 years. Using establishment-level data from the Infogroup Historical Business Database, we estimate labor hoarding and assess its impact on firm survival, employment, and sales in the recovery period. We find that labor hoarding firms were significantly more likely to survive, with the effect strongest for women-owned and women-led businesses. However, these firms grew more slowly in both employment and sales than non-hoarding counterparts, who needed to rehire post-recession. Our results suggest that retaining workers acts less as an added cost and more as a strategy of “workforce preservation,” providing stability at the expense of rapid post-recession growth. These findings highlight that policies supporting workforce retention, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, may improve business survival and economic resilience, especially for women-led firms.
{"title":"Do businesses benefit from labor hoarding?","authors":"Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley, Shawn M. Rohlin, Amanda Weinstein","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01116-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01116-0","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines whether firms that retained more employees than predicted during the Great Recession, often termed “labor hoarding,” experienced benefits over 7 years. Using establishment-level data from the Infogroup Historical Business Database, we estimate labor hoarding and assess its impact on firm survival, employment, and sales in the recovery period. We find that labor hoarding firms were significantly more likely to survive, with the effect strongest for women-owned and women-led businesses. However, these firms grew more slowly in both employment and sales than non-hoarding counterparts, who needed to rehire post-recession. Our results suggest that retaining workers acts less as an added cost and more as a strategy of “workforce preservation,” providing stability at the expense of rapid post-recession growth. These findings highlight that policies supporting workforce retention, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, may improve business survival and economic resilience, especially for women-led firms.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"161 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145472982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01133-z
Mirza Tihic, Adam Pritchard, Alexander McKelvie
In the past decade, the Veteran Entrepreneurship Industry (VEI) has seen a remarkable expansion in the U.S., yet its effectiveness remains largely unexplored. Utilizing data from the National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs with 2222 respondents, we delve into the effectiveness of VEI and the general Entrepreneurship Industry (EI) to address veteran-specific challenges of military veteran entrepreneurs. Building on cultural and social support theories, we broaden the existing literature on EI by focusing on the specific subset of military veteran entrepreneurs. We propose an outcome-based model to measure the impact of EI on this group, emphasizing factors such as a sense of belonging, sense of purpose, transition difficulties and social capital, thereby extending the potential benefits of EI. We find a mixed impact of VEI and EI on these key outcomes, suggesting a nuanced and equivocal role of the entrepreneurship industry on military-affiliated entrepreneurs. We highlight policy implications to better serve the diverse veteran population.
在过去的十年里，退伍军人创业行业（VEI）在美国取得了显著的发展，但其有效性在很大程度上仍未得到探索。利用2222名受访者参与的《全国军属企业家调查》（National Survey of military - affiliated Entrepreneurs）的数据，我们深入研究了VEI和一般创业产业（EI）在解决退伍军人企业家面临的特殊挑战方面的有效性。在文化和社会支持理论的基础上，我们通过关注退伍军人企业家的特定子集，拓宽了现有的关于EI的文献。我们提出了一个基于结果的模型来衡量EI对这一群体的影响，强调归属感、目标感、过渡困难和社会资本等因素，从而扩大EI的潜在效益。我们发现VEI和EI对这些关键结果的影响是混合的，这表明创业行业对军队下属企业家的作用是微妙而模棱两可的。我们强调政策影响，以更好地服务于不同的退伍军人群体。
{"title":"The emergence and impact of the military veteran entrepreneurship industry","authors":"Mirza Tihic, Adam Pritchard, Alexander McKelvie","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01133-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01133-z","url":null,"abstract":"In the past decade, the Veteran Entrepreneurship Industry (VEI) has seen a remarkable expansion in the U.S., yet its effectiveness remains largely unexplored. Utilizing data from the National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs with 2222 respondents, we delve into the effectiveness of VEI and the general Entrepreneurship Industry (EI) to address veteran-specific challenges of military veteran entrepreneurs. Building on cultural and social support theories, we broaden the existing literature on EI by focusing on the specific subset of military veteran entrepreneurs. We propose an outcome-based model to measure the impact of EI on this group, emphasizing factors such as a sense of belonging, sense of purpose, transition difficulties and social capital, thereby extending the potential benefits of EI. We find a mixed impact of VEI and EI on these key outcomes, suggesting a nuanced and equivocal role of the entrepreneurship industry on military-affiliated entrepreneurs. We highlight policy implications to better serve the diverse veteran population.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145472965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01134-y
Parul Manocha, Kip Kiefer
Entrepreneurship Industry (EI) intermediaries are pivotal in initiating entrepreneurial action, guiding decision-making, and shaping outcomes. Yet, EI intermediaries remain under researched, leaving a critical gap in the nuanced conceptualization of the roles played by EI intermediaries. Our study adopts a structured framework, by focusing on EI intermediaries’ role in entrepreneurial process, action, and outcomes. First, guided by seminal work by McMullen and Shepherd (2006), we assert that EI intermediaries amplifying transition from the third-person to first-person opportunity recognition. Next, we delineate how the use of intermediaries influences entrepreneurial outcomes. Finally, we differentiate between access to and use of EI intermediaries, asserting that access is associated with increases in the likelihood of action. Using the name, image, and likeness (NIL) policy change by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) which resulted in half a million potential entrepreneurs, our findings offer scholarly contributions and policy recommendations. A critical finding is that EI intermediaries stifle innovation, calling for a more accessible and innovative entrepreneurial environment.
{"title":"How enabling is the entrepreneurship industry? EI intermediaries and the spectrum of entrepreneurial action and outcomes","authors":"Parul Manocha, Kip Kiefer","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01134-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01134-y","url":null,"abstract":"Entrepreneurship Industry (EI) intermediaries are pivotal in initiating entrepreneurial action, guiding decision-making, and shaping outcomes. Yet, EI intermediaries remain under researched, leaving a critical gap in the nuanced conceptualization of the roles played by EI intermediaries. Our study adopts a structured framework, by focusing on EI intermediaries’ role in entrepreneurial process, action, and outcomes. First, guided by seminal work by McMullen and Shepherd (2006), we assert that EI intermediaries amplifying transition from the third-person to first-person opportunity recognition. Next, we delineate how the use of intermediaries influences entrepreneurial outcomes. Finally, we differentiate between access to and use of EI intermediaries, asserting that access is associated with increases in the likelihood of action. Using the name, image, and likeness (NIL) policy change by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) which resulted in half a million potential entrepreneurs, our findings offer scholarly contributions and policy recommendations. A critical finding is that EI intermediaries stifle innovation, calling for a more accessible and innovative entrepreneurial environment.","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145424243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-28DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01123-1
Pankaj C. Patel
{"title":"Sowing the seeds of rural prosperity? The limited impact of USDA investments on county-level business dynamics","authors":"Pankaj C. Patel","doi":"10.1007/s11187-025-01123-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-025-01123-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21803,"journal":{"name":"Small Business Economics","volume":"151 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145397925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：