Search

International audience; Recent research has highlighted the importance of management for the success of dyadic coopetition strategies. Coopetition, however, does not always occur in dyadic settings. Oligo-coopetition strategies, i.e., coopetition strategy among more than two but only a small number of coopetitors, and its management remain largely understudied. Oligo-coopetition strategy simultaneously increases both the potential benefits and risks of coopetition. Past research highlights the key role of third parties in managing oligo-coopetition. However, what happens when there is no such third party? We investigate this question through a longitudinal case study of Total Group in its oil and gas exploration and production projects. The results outline how companies manage oligo-coopetition strategy without third parties. More precisely, the results first highlight three strategies of oligo-coopetition: (1) “shareholder” coopetition, (2) “vertical” coopetition, and (3) “combined vertical and horizontal” coopetition. The results, second, outline the specific organizational designs and management principles associated with these three strategies of coopetition.

Through a systematic review of 118 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1961 and 2017, this article provides an integrative picture of the state of the art of the family firm innovation literature. Our aim is to widen existing understanding of innovation in family firms by building a theoretical bridge with studies in the mainstream innovation literature. Specifically, in identifying the main gaps in the literature and providing future research directions, our critical and dynamic picture of family-specific determinants of innovation is intended to advance the debate on innovation in general, and family firms in particular.

What makes small‐ and medium‐sized family firms (family SMEs) innovative? Some family firm dynamics promote, yet others hinder innovation. It remains unclear whether combinations of family firm dyn...

PurposeWithin a very short period of time, the worldwide pandemic triggered by the novel coronavirus has not only claimed numerous lives but also caused severe limitations to daily private as well as business life. Just about every company has been affected in one way or another. This first empirical study on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on family firms allows initial conclusions to be drawn about family firm crisis management.Design/methodology/approachExploratory qualitative research design based on 27 semi-structured interviews with key informants of family firms of all sizes in five Western European countries that are in different stages of the crisis.FindingsThe COVID-19 crisis represents a new type and quality of challenge for companies. These companies are applying measures that can be assigned to three different strategies to adapt to the crisis in the short term and emerge from it stronger in the long run. Our findings show how companies in all industries and of all sizes adapt their business models to changing environmental conditions within a short period of time. Finally, the findings also show that the crisis is bringing about a significant yet unintended cultural change. On the one hand, a stronger solidarity and cohesion within the company was observed, while on the other hand, the crisis has led to a tentative digitalization.Originality/valueTo the knowledge of the authors, this is the first empirical study in the management realm on the impacts of COVID-19 on (family) firms. It provides cross-national evidence of family firms' current reactions to the crisis.

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.

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.

The major premise of this study is that managers purposefully shape the business context for radical innovation. Particularly, the strategic option of developing radical innovation in collaboration with direct competitors offers opportunities otherwise unattainable. We tap into its cognitive underpinnings by running an experimental study of coopetition design for radical innovation. We have collected 5760 binary decisions from a sample of 160 managers. Their indications are used to run a choice-based conjoint analysis in order to identify utilities attributed to coopetition-shaping decisions in a radical innovation project (using a scenario of self-driving/electric cars produced by VW, Daimler or Tesla). We use Hierarchical Bayes Multinomial Logit Regression to test a set of four hypotheses, each addressing a different coopetition factor to unveil manager's preferences in coopetition design for radical innovation. Our findings pinpoint a clear preference for network coopetition, using formal governance, and being based on intensive knowledge sharing. Contrary to prior literature, market uncertainty does not appear to significantly influence coopetition design for radical innovation.

Despite the growing literature dealing with social media marketing (SMM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), one area that has not been fully explored is the creation of the content itself. SMEs typically do not have the same resources available that larger companies possess. Therefore, they have to find alternative ways to compensate for this weakness. This study analyzes SMEs’ SMM content creation, specifically on Facebook. By first scanning existing literature for essential factors for content creation, a theoretical foundation for the empirical part is presented. A qualitative approach was applied through the use of semi-structured interviews with eight SMEs. The findings suggest that it is difficult for most SMEs to efficiently use available resources, but also that minimal resources are required to create engaging content. Moreover, SMEs are typically aware of the majority of elements that influence content creation, at least to a certain extent, and that they should have established processes and routines to overcome the burden of limited resources. The study concludes with directions for future research and practical recommendations.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight the specific types of coopetition between small and medium-sized craft breweries and related businesses, as well as its drivers and outcomes.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research was carried out using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 different small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) combined with site visits and secondary data analysis.FindingsThe results reveal that craft breweries are engaging in coopetition in several different ways. Mutual benefit, trust, commitment, and sympathy are the crucial drivers for coopetition; whereas innovation development, market reach and marketing, as well as firm growth represent the key shared outcomes of coopetition.Research limitations/implicationsThis study suffers from two main limitations, including the focus on coopetition of craft breweries operating in German-speaking countries only and the risk of subjectivity in analysis and interpretation due to the qualitative, explorative nature of the research.Originality/valueThe findings reveal insights into the uniqueness of SMEs – specifically craft brewers – regarding coopetition, which is currently of strong cooperative nature. This study completes prior coopetition knowledge by revealing the importance of coopetition for small, micro and resource-constrained firms operating in dynamic and innovative but traditional (here craft) industries; presenting the cooperation-based type of coopetition as a good competition strategy under fierce competition from large, more established and global business rivals; and identifying sympathy as an important coopetition driver.

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.

Coopetition (collaboration between competitors) among young firms (i.e. start-ups) and larger, more established firms (i.e. corporates) may be beneficial for both partners as each party typically has something to offer that is missing in the other. Start-ups often develop innovative ideas, are flexible and agile, willing to take risks, and aspire to achieve high growth, but they tend to lack the required resources, capabilities, and knowledge due to their newness and smallness. Corporates have resources, routines, and experience that enable them to work efficiently but lack a certain innovation capability. Research has suggested that coopetition represents an opportunity for start-ups facing restrictions in resources, while corporates benefit from start-ups’ innovative ideas. However, it is yet unknown whether start-ups and corporates engage in coopetition with each other and, if so, how and why they do this. This study seeks to fill this void by exploring the motives of coopeting start-ups and corporates, how they manage their coopetitive relationship, and what implications occur including potential benefits and risks. We present a multiple case study based on qualitative data collected through 70 interviews with Austrian-based start-ups and corporates representing 35 coopetitive partnerships. Discussing the findings based on our data, we propose relationships concerning coopetition and its role to enlarge resource- and technology-bases as well as its role in the development of dynamic capabilities.

International audience; Small firms are said to produce more entrepreneurs than larger ones (“small firm effect”). Applying existing theories, we analyze how different management positions influence employee entrepreneurship in small firms. Based on a panel study of 4832 cases, we provide evidence for the fact that small firms indeed produce more entrepreneurs. Moreover, we show that lower management positions of small firm employees are responsible for this small firm effect. We conclude that small firms seem to create an environment in which employees on low management positions strongly benefit from knowledge spillover effects as they are educated necessary skills, knowledge and expertise, and are able to build up networks conducive to entrepreneurship (“knowledge spillover effect”), while not having the multifaceted advancement opportunities as in large companies (“blocked mobility effect”).

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.

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; Over the past decade, research on innovation in family firms has received growing attention by scholars and practitioners around the globe with a wide range of aspects explored within the current body of literature. Despite the constantly growing number of scientific publications, research lacks a comprehensive and critical review of past and present research achievements. First, conducting a bibliometric analysis with a focus on innovation in family firms, we identify five topical clusters that help to understand the foundations of recent findings: namely ownership and governance, structural settings, organizational culture and behaviour, resources, and innovation and strategy. Second, based on a thorough literature review the major research avenues are reflected. The comparison of the results of both analyses showed the following areas for future research on family firm innovation: members\textquoteleft individual human capital and their leadership behaviour, openness to externals, cross-country comparisons, and finally the family\textquotelefts functional integrity on innovation performance.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence and development of leadership within the context of new ventures. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was conducted to analyze in-depth the circumstances under which leadership is emerging and evolving in new ventures. In doing so, 55 founder-CEOs from Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland were interviewed. Findings The findings suggest that during the development from new ventures to early growth ventures the founder-CEOs and their organizations experience three major transitions. First, the founder-CEOs’ leadership behavior tends to emerge and evolve alongside firm development from being more transformational in new ventures to more transactional in early growth ventures. Second, the decisive employee selection criteria change over time, and the initially important person-founder fit turns into a person-organization fit. Third, a transition from a rather external perspective of the founder-CEOs in the new venture stage to a more internally oriented perspective in the early stages of growth was observed. Research limitations/implications Although the findings advance research on leadership in new ventures, the limitations concerning potential recall biases and subjectivism have to be kept in mind. Practical implications In practice, the findings imply that the emergence and development of leadership in new ventures should be seen as a dynamic process. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to study in-depth the emergence and development of leadership in the context of new ventures.

International audience; Coopetition describes an interorganizational relationship that combines “cooperation” and “competition”. During recent years, coopetition has become an important domain for industrial practice which has led to an increasing rate of publications in academic journals. Despite the growing interest, coopetition research is still fragmented, reflected by divergent uses of the coopetition concept, a lack of generalizability, and a limited contextual focus. This article presents a systematic literature review and a synthesis of high-quality contributions in this field with a focus on a general overview of research on coopetition, coopetition as a strategy, and the management of coopetition. By critically evaluating the current body of literature and definitions, and connecting it to other promising domains, we develop a new definition of coopetition and highlight several promising areas for future research, such as the elaboration of theoretical and empirical approaches, the consideration of contextual contingencies, and implications for innovation that involves interorganizational knowledge flow.

International audience; Over the past two decades, coopetition received growing attention by practitioners and scholars worldwide with a wide range of subjects explored within the current body of literature. Despite the constantly growing number of scientific publications, the current literature lacks a comprehensive and critical overview of past and present research accomplishments. Based on the first citation analysis in this field, we present three topical clusters which help us to indicate the evolution path of coopetition research. Additionally, the current literature state is studied by means of a systematic literature review reflecting the major research avenues. By combining and comparing the results of these two analyses, the paper concludes by proposing possible future research directions. To advance our current understanding of coopetition, we suggest that forthcoming research explores coopetition in the contexts of startups and family firms and extends our knowledge on the protection mechanisms which are necessary for coopeting successfully.

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.

This paper applies the configuration approach to ten green ventures located in former Czechoslovakia. Linking the configuration approach with strategic entrepreneurship, the domains of entrepreneur, strategy, environment, and structure and resources are investigated. Our findings suggest a detailed perspective on domain content which implies strong interrelationships between these domains. In particular, the entrepreneur plays a critical role within a green venture. However, legislative instabilities and bureaucracy in the external environment impede the abilities of green ventures to function effectively and restrict their growth. This paper delineates emerging constructs under each domain of strategic entrepreneurship and models strategic entrepreneurship in the context of green enterprises giving direction to green ventures.