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This paper aims to investigate the direct and combined impacts of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and conservative orientation (CO) on perceived business performance (PBP) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under strategic-hybrid orientation (SHO) theory.

The data collected from the SABI NEO international database has 90 companies in 13 medium-to-high and high-tech activity sectors. The authors used partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the research model.

Business strategies match a SHO that includes both orientations, i.e. EO and CO. Moreover, as expected, the authors found evidence that each orientation produces performance-related sign-opposite significant impacts. Finally, the hypothesis regarding the positive synergistic effect of both orientations (EO and CO) on PBP was also supported.

One stems from the study’s cross-sectional nature, requiring a longitudinal approach. Another one resides in the absence of further examinations concerning multigroup analysis. Another restraint is the limitedness of data, focused on firms with med/high-tech intensity. For last, while the use of results in the initial stages of theory development can be beneficial, it is important to note that such results cannot be simply extrapolated or generalized to other industrial sectors without careful consideration of the contextual factors at play.

This study humbly endeavours to contribute to the finality of SMEs’ more steady and prosperous existence concerning the consciousness of the need to improve labour stability and wage fairness, conditions such as requiring a continuous commitment.

In this study, the authors aimed to investigate the impact of SHO on SMEs’ PBP. To this end, the authors simultaneously used two different strategic orientations (SOs): EO, which is widely studied in the literature, and CO, which has been less researched. The authors also examined their synergistic effects on PBP. The authors’ approach is based on Venkatraman’s strategic orientation of business enterprises model and the comparative paradigm of SOs.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relevant literature to gain deeper insights into understanding what directions of research are needed with reference to entrepreneurial orientation and competitive aggressiveness in the oil and gas sector of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

This paper is a conceptual evaluation of literature.

The extant body of research on both entrepreneurial orientation and competitive aggressiveness is based on quantitative studies without previous systematic, exhaustive and comprehensive grounded theory-based theorizing processes rooted in qualitative approaches. This accounts for inconsistencies and controversies of findings reported in the field.

The grounded theory-based approach advocated by this paper is likely to generate a more precise estimation of the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, competitive aggressiveness and firm performance. Consequently, an accurate understanding of the interplay between these factors can empower managers to make finely-tuned strategic decisions, achieve sustainable competitive advantage and optimally adapt to dynamic and unforeseen environments.

The paper reports on important limitations of the existing literature indicating that current findings may be an artifact of studying a small number of industries.

This conceptual, multi-voiced paper aims to collectively explore and theorize family entrepreneuring, which is a research stream dedicated to investigating the emergence and becoming of entrepreneurial phenomena in business families and family firms.

Because of the novelty of this research stream, the authors asked 20 scholars in entrepreneurship and family business to reflect on topics, methods and issues that should be addressed to move this field forward.

Authors highlight key challenges and point to new research directions for understanding family entrepreneuring in relation to issues such as agency, processualism and context.

This study offers a compilation of multiple perspectives and leverage recent developments in the fields of entrepreneurship and family business to advance research on family entrepreneuring.

The unique dynamics of family firms (FFs) shape the management of financial crises. Religious and secular reasons, as a defining characteristic of this type of firm, provide a reference system for key management decisions. This paper aims to explore the under-researched topic of differences in FFs' crisis management between religious and secular family decision-makers (FDMs), considering secularization in developed countries.

The paper draws on a qualitative-empirical study of 14 large FFs from the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), through both a media analysis and semi-structured interviews with FDMs who have significant influence on key management decisions.

Despite secularization, religion continues to influence managerial decisions such as crisis management in the DACH region. The findings show that crisis management differs across religious and secular FDMs, demonstrating the substantial impact of religious and secular reasons on operational and financial measures. Thus, religious and secular reasons may partially explain the complex and ambivalent crisis management of FFs. This indicates that religion shapes FF's key management decisions in the increasingly secularized DACH region. Religious FDMs are accountable to both the firm and to God, which fosters their own personal and financial resources during crisis management.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring the impact of religion and secularization within developed countries. Further, it offers deeper insights into FF's crisis management and is one of the first studies to assess the impact of religion and secularization on operational and financial measures. This research derives five propositions for further research and discusses a broad range of original implications for theory and practice.

The creation of positive social change (PSC) is considered the primary success criterion when evaluating social enterprise performance. However, despite a proliferation of PSC-measurements, their empirical validity and applicability in emerging economies remain largely unclear. The quantitative study examines the validity of the PSC-measurement approaches proposed by Bloom and Smith (2010; Bloom and Smith approach [BSA]) and Weaver (2020b; Weaver approach [WA]) in South Africa.

Investigating a representative sample of 347 social entrepreneurs from Gauteng and Limpopo provinces, the authors use questionnaire data to explore the factorial, convergent and discriminant validity of both PSC-measurement approaches. Statistically, this is done by applying factorial and correlation analyses.

The results yield acknowledgeable differences. BSA has a high factorial and convergent validity, while its discriminant validity remains doubtful. For WA, problems concerning factorial validity occur.

Despite limited generalizability, the authors provide a first guideline for scholars regarding the empirical validity of BSA and WA outside the context of developed economies.

The current study sheds light on the validity of two PSC-measurement approaches in an emerging economy context. This way, the authors contribute to the field by addressing the scarcity of empirical research and the restricted scope of developed economies regarding PSC-measurement.

This study explores the contribution of social entrepreneurship to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Uganda.

We employed a qualitative approach and a multiple-case design to engage 20 participants. Specifically, semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather the perceptions and views of the participants regarding the study phenomenon.

Study findings indicate that social entrepreneurs support a number of people and undertake activities that solve social, environmental and economic problems. However, environmental issues receive less focus when compared to other sustainability aspects. It is also evident that social entrepreneurs are financially constrained with limited managerial skills, undermining their potential to fulfill their social mission. Despite these challenges, social entrepreneurs have significantly contributed to the attainment of SDGs 1, 4, 5, 8 and 10 in Uganda.

This study contributes to the existing literature on social entrepreneurship and sustainable development. Specifically, it provides initial empirical evidence on the social entrepreneurial activities, the beneficiaries and challenges being addressed by social entrepreneurs and contribution to the attainment of the SDGs in Uganda.

This paper aims to propose and test a corporate entrepreneurship strategy (CES) model in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with international activity located in Andalusia (Spain) – a peripheral region with high levels of inequality in the European Union (EU).

A quantitative analysis has been carried out with data from 101 SMEs to contrast and analyze the proposed CES model. The sample data were obtained through questionnaire-guided interviews with chief executive officers. Data processing has been done using partial least squares-path modeling, a variance-based technique for structural equation modeling.

The results of this study show the positive effect of environmental conditions on the development of CES actions in Andalusian SMEs (Spain) and the positive influence of CES on the results of SMEs’ international activity. In turn, environmental conditions do not directly affect the international activity.

Although previous works address the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and international enterprise activity, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is original in testing a CES model (including CE and the entrepreneurial strategic vision) in SMEs in a region that has one of the lowest levels of development in the EU. The results have important implications for SMEs and policymakers and could be extrapolated to other emerging economies.

This research sought to propose a theoretical model that analyzes the factors associated with unlearning (individual and organizational) and contributes to generating and realizing ideas among young people at the beginning of their careers based on the predominant type of structure.

The study had a sample (n = 971) and used the multivariate data analysis partial least squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM regular) and multigroup analysis (PLS-MGA) to identify significant differences between the estimates of the specific parameters of each group (a- Organic/b- Mechanistic).

All the direct relationships and formulated mediations were found to be supported, except for H6 (ET→EO) within the group that had a primarily mechanistic organizational structure. Thus, the more turbulent the environmental, the more initiative-taking, innovative and risk-taking a company tends to be. However, it remains to be seen whether the organizational structure plays a role in facilitating or hindering this relationship. H1 (IG→IR) indicates that predominantly organic organizations have a stronger and more consistent relationship with the knowledge developed through individual and organizational unlearning process. This knowledge contributes to the idea-generation process and ultimately leads to realizing those ideas.

The article contributes to literature by proposing an original and integrated theoretical model incorporating individual and organizational approaches to unlearning to understand the effect on idea generation and realization.

Decision-making competence (DMC) of entrepreneurs and managers is a longstanding topic in this increasingly globalized world. These figures operate in conditions not within their own control, and good levels of DMC are often considered to be desirable for the flourishing of business and society. This paper reports an empirical investigation on the DMC of entrepreneurs and managers, in an attempt to inform about their tendencies to incur in risky and costly choices.

Three cognitive biases associated with operational strategies and individual characteristics of entrepreneurs and managers, namely under/overconfidence (UOC, i.e. self-confidence in taking decisions), resistance to sunk costs (RSC, i.e. propensity to take cost investments) and consistency in risk perception (CRP, i.e. how well individuals understand probability rules) were considered . Cognitive biases measures were used in a cross-sectional study on a sample of n = 639 entrepreneurs and n = 512 managers. Data collected via online survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to determine differences among entrepreneurs and managers DMC.

Analyses reveal that entrepreneurs exhibit higher levels of UOC compared to managers with a marked presence of UOC among entrepreneurs at younger ages. Conversely, performance regarding RSC improves with higher education levels while age and RSC are positively correlated only for managers, regardless of education. Lastly, entrepreneurs and managers resulted as not being affected by CRP. This study discusses these results to provide initial insights for further avenues of research and practice.

The study offers an innovative, evidence-based viewpoint on how entrepreneurs and managers deal with risky and costly decisions. It offers an initial understanding of the role of UOC, RSC and CRP, that is specific cognitive biases associated with operational strategies and individual characteristics, in the DMC of these working figures. The study forwards avenues of scrutiny of quick-witted entrepreneurs and systematic managers.

The aim of this paper is to characterise the association between business network and the balanced scorecard used by Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a method for assessing firm efficiency. The business network takes into account both the dimensions of stability and efficiency. The business network can help SMEs, with fewer resources to remain competitive. By having a secure business network, the performance of SMEs in Malaysia can be further improved. A business network can facilitate swift coordination amongst distant geographies to create new competitive advantages by accessing market segments, resources as well as building strategic business alliances.

A total of 404 sets of data collected by using stratified random sampling and structured questionnaire as an instrument. The list of SMEs collected from the Malaysia Foreign Trade Growth Corporate Directory (MATRADE) directories. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to analyse the data.

The findings show that the business network plays a role in the balanced scorecard (BSC) outcomes of Malaysian SMEs.

This article provides the owners and managers with an awareness to rapidly achieve the company's efficiency. Finally, the new article often has some consequences for decision-makers and regulators.