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With the increasing awareness of sustainability and its importance around the world, corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Africa also requires attention. Based on the stakeholder theory, this study aims to determine the relationship between CSR information received by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and CSR's diffusion and the mediating role of environmental awareness in Angola as a country representative of the African context.

The empirical study analyzes managers' perceptions of 131 SMEs in Angola. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is the method to assess the relationship between CSR information and its diffusion and the mediating role of environmental awareness SMEs in Angola.

The authors found strong evidence that CSR diffusion, and disclosure as one of CSR's related actions, heavily depends on the information received and managed by the firm. The authors also confirmed that environmental awareness puts pressure on SMEs to increase the SMEs' diffusion efforts.

The study points out the role of managers in promoting a responsible orientation of businesses in Angola for preserving the environment and improving the competitive success of SMEs.

The social, economic and legal contexts of Angola are vulnerable. The findings raise concerns about whether governments and regulatory efforts improve the development of the strategies toward social responsibility of African firms and whether these firms also increase the role of SMEs in producing positive outcomes through CSR.

The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the features of the strategic orientation of SMEs in Angola, necessary to enhance CSR and protect the environment. The conclusions highlight the potential role of managers in promoting a culture of ethics, social innovation and successful competition change in businesses.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an e-business assessment framework for organizations that aim to enhance the effectiveness of their online presence and maximize the benefits that result from it. The framework is based on three main pillars derived from the academic literature research: e-marketing strategies, customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and business model strategies.

This paper reviews the literature from e-Marketing, CRM and business model strategies, leading to the generation of an e-Business assessment framework. Second, it takes 19 case studies and analyzes them using ATLAS.ti, through qualitative content analysis, to validate that framework.

Pragmatic advice for practitioners derives from research results considering that this framework enables managers to characterize the company in terms of its e-business approach, making it possible to determine the level of depth of competitive online strategies. Lessons for an improved e-business approach can be derived from this paper.

This study proposes a novel e-business framework to assist organizations that want to have an online presence. This framework is comprised of the factors identified in the literature review that contribute to define and scope that online presence. The framework is then validated through the collection of 19 case studies of companies that have this online presence, validating the theoretical findings.

Corporate social responsibility orientation (CSRO) is considered a crucial strategy to enhance long-term competitiveness around the world, and it is starting to be a broader issue in Africa. Based on recent works addressing the CSRO–performance relationship in countries outside the African continent, this paper aims to assess CRSO in North-West Africa.

In this study a questionnaire was distributed among 122 managers in two countries in North-West Africa: Guinea-Bissau and the Ivory Coast. Partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to assess the path or relationships for the North-West African context.

The results show that there is a generally positive perception of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of CSRO, although special emphasis is laid on the economic and social issues, mainly when they are related to human resources. The study also revealed the important role of innovation as mediator between CSRO and firm performance.

The study points out the role of managers in promoting a culture of social innovation by focussing on the CSR philosophy for improving the competitive success of African businesses.

The social, economic and legal contexts of Guinea-Bissau and the Ivory Coast are vulnerable. The findings raise concerns about whether governments and regulatory efforts improve the development of the strategies towards social responsibility of African firms and whether they also increase the role of the firms in producing positive externalities to the market through CSRO.

Very few studies have investigated CSRO in Africa. Aiming to switch from the current CSRO in developed countries to an African perspective of CSRO, this paper contributes to filling the existing gap through the study of managers’ perceptions about CSR in two countries in North-West Africa: Guinea-Bissau and the Ivory Coast.

Based on the socio-technical systems theory, this study aims to investigate the impact of management innovation (MI) on organisational performance (OP), as well as the mediating role of technology (TEC) use and service innovation (SI) in linking MI and OP.

The research data was derived from 163 knowledge-intensive business services firms and analysed through structural equation modelling using SmartPLS software.

This study found a significant impact of MI on OP. The analysis also revealed that TEC use and SI influence OP and that MI influences performance indirectly through TEC use and SI.

This research reinforces the role of MI in firms aiming at improving their performance. The findings of this study suggest that managers’ regular initiatives in management practices, processes and structures influence the enabling role of TEC use and SI on OP.

Since not every MI lead to the planned performance, this research contributes to the literature on the influence of MI on OP by providing empirical evidence on the role of TEC use and SI on OP. TEC use and SI serve as complementary mediators. Higher levels of MI directly increase OP but also increase TEC use and SI, leading to OP.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the competitiveness of women entrepreneurs in terms of internationalization and innovation. Supported by a resource-based framework of early internationalizing firms, the authors investigated multiple conditions for the relationship between internationalization and innovation relative to gender in nascent companies.

For this purpose, the authors used survey data related to entrepreneurial activity in 50 countries from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Based on a model of seven factors (internationalization, innovation, gender, skills, opportunity, sector, and country), the authors tested the significance of the relationships between these factors by means of a hierarchical log-linear analysis.

The results indicate the low competitiveness of women entrepreneurs in general, but outline some singularities, especially between developed and developing countries.

This study offers cross-country empirical evidence of how factors of different levels interact with each other. In this way, the authors shed light on the competitiveness of nascent companies, especially regarding gender differences.

This study aims to add to the existing body of knowledge the link between market structures, strategy and innovation by applying the diagnostic test of the integrated model of innovation, and also present the results of an empirical study applied to tourism in a small open economy. The study uses an archetype and the market outcome resulting from the innovation strategies pursued to compare similarities and differences according to a firms’ geographical location to identify innovative patterns in tourism firms.

The study applies a multivariate analysis using a data set consisting of survey responses from 158 Portuguese firms.

The findings indicate links between service, market structures and innovation strategies considering geographical agglomeration of firms in a small economy, and also different innovation trajectories and positions in the model.

The results of this study are generalizable to a dynamic industry context of tourism firms operating in a small open economy, such as Portugal.

The results suggest that managers need to attend to intangible resources, such as marketing and human resources and their links with innovation and performance, particularly in the case of service firms.

The paper highlights the role of intangible resources, especially marketing and human resources, in tourism firms. Geographical location also influences the firm’s strategy and results.

The relevance of entrepreneurship in the economic systems of the regions is well documented. Recently, a new concept has emerged in the entrepreneurship literature, entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE), to analyze the dynamics of a given territory and its outputs and impact upon entrepreneurship. Moreover, it is also well documented the close relationship between entrepreneurship and family business (FB). Keeping in mind the multidimensionality of the latter, its scholars are beginning to look into the entrepreneurial elements embedded in the family processes and the influence of context.

After an extensive literature review made, a significant gap was found, given the historical relevance that FB (SMEs the vast majority) have in the global economic systems. A FB entrepreneurial ecosystem (FBEE) model is proposed based on the data collected from two case studies, on Portugal's wine industry, and Mexico's shoe industry, both artisan industries confronted with the urge to reinvent and adapt to face deep market and industry changes.

The results should indicate the feasibility of proposing a second level on the theory of EE, the FBEE, where both the family and business itself ultimately play a vital role in its success and impact the whole system.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative study about features, services and networks offered by business incubators (BI) to encourage start-ups development in Portugal and Brazil. Recently, these countries have revealed several cases of well-developed entrepreneurial ecosystems and Brazil receive a special position on Latin America; besides comparative studies between European and Latin American countries are scarce.

This study uses a qualitative research methodology to study the role of BI in creation and growing of start-ups in Portugal and Brazil.

The results do not reveal particular differences between Brazilian and Portuguese BI, except in international profile of tenants; in Portugal, probably due the market size, most of the firms born global or intend to internationalize.

The BI results depend on the wide services provided, networking platforms and support provided by BI staff individually to their tenants. These remarks provide some clues to develop public policies suitable to entrepreneurial ecosystems.

BI have a special role on supporting start-ups creation and growth and to provide technology transfer. They are also considered as a key element to guarantee entrepreneurial ecosystems in a regional level, this research provide some contributes based on a case study with eight interviews in Portugal and Brazil, and compare for the first time these two countries with similar culture but with different levels of development.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training programmes targeting post‐graduate students.

The approach takes the form of a case study of an entrepreneurship training programme, to assess its effectiveness. For this purpose the paper concentrates on the number of firms created and industries chosen by individuals. Additionally, attention is focused on non‐starters, analysing the main reasons behind the decision not to set up a firm. Several sources were used to accomplish the objectives: an assessment report provided by the deliverers of the programme, an interview with the person responsible for the programme and interviews with programme participants.

Two editions of the programme “Começar” are closely scrutinized, including a self‐assessment made by developers of the programme. Results show a success rate of 41 per cent, but non‐starters benefit from the competencies developed in the programme, allowing them to change their careers or to increase their effectiveness in the labour market.

The paper presents some limitations. First, this programme is not compared at the same level of analysis, against others. The literature concludes that the entrepreneurial context is relevant in assessing the level of entrepreneurship. Second, a control group who had an idea but did not benefit from entrepreneurship assistance is not followed. Third, the timeframe of analysis is not too long. A longitudinal study will overcome this problem.

The case study can help promoters to design more effective programmes, especially those targeted at postgraduates. Combining classes with experience in the field could help young graduates to overcome their vulnerability which is due to their youthfulness and lack of work experience.

The paper identifies good practice in entrepreneurship training programmes. Additionally, it analyses the effectiveness of these programmes, measured by perceived effectiveness from the point of view of participants and by the number of firms created, an area so far characterized by scant research.