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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.

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.

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; 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.