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Zusammenfassung Obwohl die aktuelle Literatur nahelegt, dass sowohl die Wachstumsabsicht als auch innovative Strategien das Wachstum von Unternehmen beeinflussen, bleibt eine wichtige, aber theoretische und empirische Frage unbeantwortet: Ist Innovation der Grund für Wachstum, ist die Absicht zu wachsen der Grund für Wachstum oder ist Wachstum der Grund für Innovation und die Veränderung der Wachstumsabsicht? Um diese Frage über Ursache(n) und Wirkung(en) zu klären, basiert vorliegende Studie auf einer repräsentativen Stichprobe von 20.472 jungen Unternehmen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Produktinnovationen und organisatorische Innovationen das Umsatzwachstum beeinflussen, während dies für Prozessinnovationen nicht der Fall ist. Darüber hinaus zeigen unsere Ergebnisse, dass jede Art von Innovation die Wachstumsabsicht beeinflusst und Mediationseffekte von Innovationen vorliegen. Abstract Although current literature informs that both growth intention and innovative strategies determine venture growth, we remain with an important, yet unresolved theoretical and empirical question: is innovation the reason for growth, is intention the reason for growth or is growth the reason for innovation and changing growth intention? To untangle this question, about the gaps between cause(s) and effect(s) we undertake a data analysis on a final sample size of 20,472 young firms. We tested three types of innovation types: product, process and organizational innovation; and measured growth through sales revenue growth. Our results show that product innovation and organizational innovation affect sales revenues growth, while process innovation does not. Further, our results show that each type of innovation influences growth intention, and mediating effects of innovation occur.

We explore the relationship between the characteristics of social capital, the speed of access to medical technologies and the role of gender in a private practice context. Our findings from a sample of 98 German private practitioners show that: (a) being a woman has an overall negative impact on the speed of access to medical technologies; (b) private practitioners with strong social network ties obtain quicker access to medical technologies than do those with weak ties; (c) men relying on their weak ties perform better than women who do so. In contrast, we observe that women relying on strong ties outperform their male counterparts in terms of speed of access to medical technologies., Nous explorons la relation entre les caractéristiques du capital social, la rapidité d’accès aux technologies médicales et le genre dans le contexte de cabinets médicaux privés. Les conclusions tirées à partir d’un échantillon de 98 médecins privés allemands montrent que : a) le fait d’être une femme médecin a un impact négatif global sur la rapidité d’accès aux technologies médicales; (b) les médecins privés ayant des liens sociaux forts obtiennent un accès plus rapide aux technologies médicales que ceux qui ont des liens faibles; c) les hommes qui s’appuient sur leurs liens faibles obtiennent de meilleurs résultats que les femmes. En revanche, nous observons que les femmes qui ont des liens forts ont plus rapidement accès aux technologies médicales que leurs homologues masculins., Exploramos la relación entre las características del capital social, la rapidez del acceso a tecnologías médicas y el papel del género en un contexto de práctica privada. Nuestros hallazgos en una muestra de 98 practicantes privados alemanes muestran que: (a) ser una mujer tiene un impacto negativo en general en relación con la rapidez de acceso a tecnologías médicas; (b) practicantes privados con vínculos fuertes de redes sociales obtienen acceso a tecnologías médicas más rápido que aquellos que tienen vínculos débiles; (c) hombres que dependen en sus vínculos débiles se desempeñan mejor que mujeres que hacen lo mismo. Por lo contrario, observamos que mujeres que dependen en vínculos fuertes superan a sus contrapartes varones en términos de rapidez de acceso a tecnología médica.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on how service learning approaches are able to foster social entrepreneurship competences. The aim of the paper is to formulate a framework of key competences for social entrepreneurship and to give first insights in how service learning actually has an impact on change in students’ set of competences. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative data collectionmethods of learning diaries of the students and semi-structured interviews, including 40 master’s students studying at a German university in interdisciplinary learning settings and five instructors from the same universities. Analysis was carried out by means of qualitative content analysis. Findings This paper provides empirical insights about the competences that are being fostered by service learning. From these, a framework for social entrepreneurship competences is being derived. Research limitations/implications The set of competences should be further investigated, as it was derived out of a small data set. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to use the set of competences for social entrepreneurship as a basis for future research and on a longer-term perspective, which lead to substantial implications for educational practice. Practical implications This paper includes implications for new perspectives on service learning in the light of the development of a relevant framework for social entrepreneurship competence, having significant implications for educational practice in social entrepreneurship education. Originality/value With this paper, the authors fulfill the need of a framework of social entrepreneurship competences that serves as a foundation for educational practice and further research in the context of service learning and beyond.

Coopetition drives prosperity and economic development. Surprisingly, despite its relevance and the presence of family dynamics which affect business behaviour, researchers have not yet explored coopetition in small- and medium-sized family enterprises. This study seeks to advance coopetition research by analysing its application by family SMEs coopeting in a German business network in the information technology sector. We explore the nature of coopetition among family SMEs, and focus on motivational drivers to coopete and the implications of coopetition. Based on the present qualitative case study on 11 coopeting family SMEs, we discovered that coopetition among family SMEs tends to be cooperation-dominated. Moreover, the decision for and implications of coopetition seem to facilitate the family SMEs' non-economic goal to safeguard their socio-emotional wealth. The creation of binding social ties and the fortification of the firm's long-term orientation in the form of family bonds renewal are important consequences of coopetition.

Zusammenfassung Wie schnell niedergelassene Ärzte Zugang zu medizinischen Technologien, die sie nicht vor Ort haben, haben, variiert stark. Offen dabei ist allerdings, welche Faktoren den Zugang und dessen Geschwindigkeit beinflussen. Basierend auf einer Stichprobe von 98 privat praktizierenden Ärzten, zeigt die vorliegende Untersuchung, dass es zwei Persönlichkeitsmerkmale gibt, die den Zugang beschleunigen: Gewissenhaftigkeit und Offenheit. Abstract The speed of access to external medical technologies vary considerably between private practitioners. This difference motivates this study predicting the speed of access to these technologies. Based on a sample of 98 private medical practitioners, we note that the company’s size and two personality traits allow faster access to medical technologies. To get faster access to medical technologies, two personality traits, conscientiousness and openness to experience, are essential.

Coopetitors need to manage interorganizational knowledge flows to balance cooperative knowledge sharing and competitive knowledge protection. The question of how to balance these has received little research attention, with most studies analyzing knowledge sharing or protection separately. To address this gap, we develop a theoretical framework on coopetitive knowledge sharing and knowledge protection practices. This framework is based on a literature review of coopetitive interorganizational knowledge management. To complement and refine this initial framework, we build on insights from a qualitative study that gathered data from 11 semistructured interviews with key informants of Latin American firms. We show that a balance between knowledge sharing and knowledge protection in coopetition is facilitated when coopetitive interorganizational knowledge management helps coopetitors share general and project-specific knowledge while they withhold core knowledge about their firms and clients. To achieve this balance, firms combine formal and informal knowledge protection practices. As theoretical implications, we provide a fine-grained and synoptic understanding of the characteristics of knowledge management among coopetitors. As managerial implications, we call managers' attention to the need to find a balance between knowledge sharing and protection that will help clearly define what kind of knowledge is shared or protected when firms cooperate with rivals.

Cultural and creative industries are gaining importance in Western economies. In these industries, as in several other business sectors, micro‐firms, i.e., firms that employ fewer than ten employees, are the predominant firm type. As these industries have become an integral part of most economies, the literature has started to explore the strategic behavior of cultural and creative micro‐firms. Although micro‐firms are characterized by certain specificities that can affect how likely they are to engage in external relationships, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning collaboration through strategic alliances in this specific context. Seeking to advance the understanding of partnerships between micro‐firms in cultural and creative industries, the purpose of this article is to reveal the specific motives for engaging in strategic alliances in this context. In doing so, we focus on six case studies of strategic alliances between micro‐firms in cultural and creative industries in France. Our results show that strategic alliances involving creative micro‐firms seek the reduction of overspecialization, target a high degree of quality of life and pleasure at work, and are envisaged only if there is trust and mutual support among the partners. Moreover, opportunism and necessity motivations guide the creative micro‐firms' decision to enter strategic alliances.

Cette recherche entend poursuivre les travaux d’Allouche et Amann (2000) puis de Arrègle et Mari (2010) proposant un état des recherches dans le champ de l’entreprise familiale. Nous opérons une analyse des articles exclusivement francophones publiés depuis 2000 à 2015 (79 articles) et proposons un panorama des thèmes de recherche et des perspectives futures. Cette démarche nous permet de mettre en évidence cinq avancées : des avancées théoriques même si les fondements demeurent peu diversifiés (1), un déplacement progressif du niveau d’analyse (2), un timide décloisonnement (3), des avancées méthodologiques (4), managériales (5). This research intends to continue the work undertaken by Allouche and Amann (2000) and then Arrègle and Mari (2010) proposing a state of research in the field of family business. We operate an analysis of articles published exclusively in French from 2000 to 2015 (79 articles) and provide an overview of research topics and future prospects. This approach allows us to highlight five advances: theoretical advances even though the fundamentals remain undiversified (1), a gradual shift of the level of analysis (2), a light decompartmentalization (3), methodological (4), and managerial advances (5).

International audience; In line with an intensified call for conducting business in a greener and more sustainable way, sustainability-related entrepreneurship has become an important subfield of entrepreneurship research. The variety of terms, such as “sustainable entrepreneurship”, “ecopreneurship”, “environmental entrepreneurship/enviropreneurship”, and “green entrepreneurship”, reflects the fragmented and inconsistent findings of this research field. Based on the one-pillar model of sustainable development, i.e., ecological sustainability, we present the first systematic review of the literature on ecological sustainable entrepreneurship. This analysis of 114 scientific articles reveals a strong focus on the drivers of engagement in ecological sustainable entrepreneurship, the drivers of conducting business in an ecological sustainable way, the strategic actions taken by ecological sustainable enterprises, and the outcomes, enabling factors and challenges of ecological sustainable entrepreneurship. Based on this thematic clustering, we develop an integrative framework for ecological sustainable entrepreneurship and a coherent agenda for future research. This work may help researchers to take stock of the existing literature and advance this research field.

International audience; Macro-economic policies such as public financing seek to push the development and introduction of innovations; however, entrepreneurs also need support in their ‘day-to-day’ activities to improve their capability to launch innovations. As this micro-level perspective is rarely studied, we analyze both the micro and macro levels by examining the effects of the entrepreneurs’ individual intention to innovate and public financing. Additionally, we include the meso level, representing entrepreneurs’ network. Entrepreneurs are embedded in social spheres in which they capture resources and identify opportunities. But not all entrepreneurs are equally well supported, and some tend to be completely isolated. We thus focus on multilevel factors explaining new product or service launching in new ventures. Drawing on data of 48,251 French new ventures, we reveal that innovation intention and public financing positively impact new ventures’ product and service innovation launching, while entrepreneurs’ isolation has a negative effect. We also highlight two interaction effects that enhance the multilevel effects of innovation antecedents.

Jusqu’a present, la recherche dans le domaine des comportements en securite de l’information a ete majoritairement centree sur les employes de grandes entreprises. Cependant, les PME constituent un champ d’etudes pertinent car elles representent plus de 99% des entreprises en Europe et font face a des menaces en forte croissance touchant a leur securite. De plus, les dirigeants de PME jouent un role vital dans la protection des informations, au travers des actions qu’ils peuvent mettre en œuvre ou l’influence qu’ils ont sur leurs employes. Nous visons a contribuer a la recherche en securite de l’information, car peu d’etudes se sont interessees aux comportements des dirigeants, relatifs a la mise en place de mesures de protection de l’information. De plus, la litterature academique a montre que, particulierement dans un contexte de PME, le fait que le dirigeant soit proprietaire a une influence sur ses comportements. Les etudes portant sur les PME sont encore plus rares, d’autant plus si l’on s’interesse a l’influence de la propriete sur les comportements des dirigeants en matiere de securite de l’information. Ce papier presente une recherche empirique basee sur la theorie de la motivation a la protection (PMT) qui traite de la question de recherche suivante : « Quels facteurs peuvent expliquer les comportements relatifs a la protection des informations des dirigeants de PME ? » Nous avons mene une etude aupres de 292 dirigeants de PME, les donnees collectees ont ete analysees par la methode des moindres carres partiels (PLS). La litterature academique ayant montre que le comportement des dirigeants de PME est specifique, nous avons teste l’influence de la PMT sur deux sous-populations : les dirigeants proprietaires (n=183) et non-proprietaires (n=109). Nos resultats mettent en evidence des differences tres importantes et significatives entre ces deux sous-groupes. L’originalite de notre travail tient au fait qu’il constitue la premiere etude dediee aux comportements des dirigeants de PME en matiere de protection des informations, distinguant de plus les proprietaires des non-proprietaires. Notre principale contribution theorique correspond a la mise en evidence et a l’etude de cette population differenciee, a approfondir dans de futures recherches. L’implication manageriale majeure de notre travail est que, comme les facteurs qui sont a la base des comportements de protection des dirigeants-proprietaires sont presque en contraste total compares a ceux des dirigeants non-proprietaires, toute communication ou action devrait etre specifiquement adaptee a chacune de ces deux populations.

International audience; Being vulnerable to environmental forces, small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seek to supplement their insufficient resources by adopting coopetition strategies in order to reduce uncertainty. This longitudinal study of the union of wine producers in Pic Saint-Loup relies on 45 interviews conducted during multiple data collection moments and provides an understanding of how competing SMEs can develop cooperative strategies. In doing so, we present the development stages of coopetition strategies as well as the role of stakeholders in this development. Next, we accentuate the tertius strategies SME managers prefer to implement.

International audience; L’objectif de cet article est d’étudier le rôle de la centralité dans la reconfiguration de l’équipe entrepreneuriale en termes de leadership. Utilisant la théorie des réseaux sociaux, nous soulignons l’importance des relations interpersonnelles dans la TPE d’une part, et le rôle de la centralité des acteurs dans le choix du leader de l’organisation, d’autre part. Prenant le cas d’une structure en participation (SEP) en croissance et composée de 11 médecins français, nous explorons, à partir d’entretiens semi-directifs et d’analyse de la centralité réalisée sous UCINET, les enjeux du changement de management et l’importance de la centralité dans le choix du directeur. Cette centralité de degré est multidimensionnelle. En effet, elle prend en compte l’influence de l’acteur auprès des autres, sa capacité à donner des conseils et sa proximité émotionnelle avec ses collaborateurs. Deux des trois dimensions corroborent notre proposition sous-jacente selon laquelle l’acteur le plus central devient le directeur naturel de la TPE.

International audience; (Full paper, but we work on enriched versions for journals) This study presents an empirical investigation of factors affecting SMB CEOs decision to improve or not their company's information security (ISS). We developed a research model by adopting the protection motivation theory (PMT) to investigate the effect of threat and coping appraisal on protective actions. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey with SMB CEOs. Prior studies using PMT have never been focused on SMB CEOs behavior, and we postulate that in SMBs where there is no CIO or even IT people, CEOs actions are of utmost importance for achieving a satisfying ISS.

International audience; Although it is argued that competitiveness and successful performance in the long term is facilitated if ventures engage in innovations in diverse domains (e.g., product, process, production, administration, etc.), the development of diversified innovation has been rarely analysed. As the entrepreneurs’ initial motivations to startup are likely to influence their subsequent entrepreneurial behaviour, this study aims to explore whether and how entrepreneurial motivations affect diversified innovation behaviour in startups. Using data on over 48,000 French startups, we present novel insights into the consequences of entrepreneurial motivation for innovation behaviour. In fact, we find that distinct startup motivations can have different effects on the development of diverse innovations. As such, our findings contribute to extant research on innovation development of startups and advance the present understanding of the determinants of startups’ innovative behaviour.

Legitimacy is crucial for entrepreneurs. It is the cornerstone for creating relationships with stakeholders and mitigating resource constraints. But, other-referent legitimacy is also related to the cognitive image of individual legitimacy. Drawing on the identity-based model of legitimacy, we argue that personality traits (big five) and social capital (strong ties) of entrepreneurs impact self-perceived legitimacy of entrepreneurs. Based on survey data of 98 German private physicians, this paper examines antecedents of self-perceived legitimacy towards two main stakeholders: patients and peers. We find that high levels of agreeableness stimulate self-perceived legitimacy towards patients and peers, whereas openness to experience solely influences physicians' self-perceived legitimacy towards patients. In addition, our results highlight the contingent effect of personality traits by underlining the role of strong ties as a moderator of the relationship between personality traits and self-perceived legitimacy. By identifying these configurations we contribute to the literature on entrepreneurship with a refined perspective of antecedents of self-perceived legitimacy. Moreover, we give recommendations on how private physicians can benefit from two personality traits - agreeableness and openness to experience - and how they can manage weak and strong ties in order to diffuse their reputation.

PurposeThe purpose of this research paper is to show to what extent psychological, cultural and behavioural factors can influence on the succession process in the particular case of family‐run businesses?Design/methodology/approachData on 12 directors of family‐run SME were grouped together on the basis of questions derived from the research question. To do this, the authors operated using a principle guided by cross referencing responses, that is, finding the incidence of elements that make it possible to justify substantively the existence of the category and the common existence of these elements within the cases studied.FindingsThe thematic analysis performed made it possible to highlight five main motives for cultural and psychological resistance in former directors: the loss of power and influence, the risk of deconstruction, the loss of professional and social legitimacy, the loss of references and meaning, and the refusal of old age and death.Originality/valueThe results show that transferors search for connections in the aim of identifying common points of anchor, affinities on to which they can project themselves as an element of continuity or an extension of their personality. The paper can in particular note the importance given to cultural proximity and to previous professional relations with the transferor. These criteria, unlike personal factors, are of the interpersonal type and thus deeply imprinted on the transferor's most intimate desires and motivations, including the main desire, which is to search for all that can make possible an extension of himself within his company and thus ensure the permanence of his values and his time at the organisation.