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This study investigates how the Psychological Capital (PsyCap) of small and medium enterprises (SME) leaders has influenced their strategic responses, ultimately impacting the performance of their companies, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Embedded within research on behavioral micro-foundations in strategy, and based on the resource-based theory (RBT) of the individual entrepreneur as well as positive organizational behavior literature, we hypothesize that SME leaders’ psychological resources can act as a strategic advantage during crises by making them adopt cost-cutting and investment measures for their companies performance. By using a sample of 372 SMEs, we find that while leaders mostly use both measures, leaders with a high PsyCap prefer adopting investment measures, which positively influences the performance of their companies during a crisis. However, adopting cost-cutting measures lowers performance. We contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by using PsyCap in the context of the RBT of the individual entrepreneur and shedding light on which measures sustain or increase SMEs’ performance during a crisis.JEL CLASSIFICATION:D91; L25; L26; M10

The first prototype of an adapter to enable left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation solely viathe left ventricular (LV) apex and without requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was tested in healthy and acutely failing pig hearts. The adapter consists of a fixation, blood guiding, and connecting module fitting to a HeartMate 3 (HM3; Abbott, Chicago, IL) pump. Implantation was performed viaa left thoracotomy in five pigs (96 ± 18 kg). Invasive blood pressure was measured before (CTRL), 30 minutes after HM3 initiation (HM3_CTRL), during acute heart failure (HF) induced by rapid pacing (CTRL_HF), and 5 minutes after initiating HM3 support (HM3_HF). To further estimate the LVAD performance, blood pressure amplitudes were calculated in the healthy heart without (CTRL) and with HM3 support (HM3_CTRL) as: systolic–diastolic blood pressure. Our adapter implantation and connection to the HM3 pump succeeded in all animals. Compared to the normal beating healthy heart, blood pressure amplitudes were significantly smaller during HM3 support (CTRL: 41 ± 5 mm Hg vs.HM3_CTRL: 20 ± 4 mm Hg; p< 0.05). Under HF conditions, mean blood pressure returned to normal values after pump initiation (CTRL_HF: 29 ± 6 mm Hg, HM3_HF: 83 ± 24 mm Hg). The adapter prototype allowed safe, straightforward, and less-invasive LVAD implantation solely viathe LV apex without using CPB and support of the LV during acute HF in the pig heart.

Research has shown that family firms differ from their non-family counterparts in terms of strategic behaviour. Socio-emotional wealth (SEW) is a homegrown theory in this context explaining differences in decision-making by acknowledging the unique connection between a family and their business. This paper contributes to the ongoing research related to the theory of socio-emotional wealth by investigating individual, family and family business values as antecedents and underlying motivators for SEW behaviour, influencing strategic decision-making in family firms, directly and as a mediator via SEW. A qualitative study was performed to analyse this connection and the effects on strategic decisions made in family firms. The outcomes show that individual and collective family values are the main drivers of SEW behaviour, changing over time and leading to a different focus on the dimensions of SEW, which is then represented in the strategic decisions made in the family business.

Our objective was to investigate whether patients with urologic tumors were aware of smoking as a risk factor for the development and progression of several urologic cancers and the extent of the medical education they had received. Another aim was to investigate whether gender or age influenced patients’ willingness to change their smoking habits.