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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of affiliate marketing strategies as a tool for increasing customers' engagement and vulnerability over financial services. This is attempted by examining the connection between affiliate marketing factors and customers' brand engagement and vulnerability metrics.

The authors developed a three-staged methodological context, based on the 7 most known centralized payment network (CPN) firms' website analytical data, which begins with linear regression analysis, followed by hybrid modeling (agent-based and dynamic models), so as to simulate brand engagement and vulnerability factors' variation in a 180-day period. The deployed context ends by applying the cognitive modeling method of producing heatmaps and facial analysis of CPN websites to the selected 47 vulnerable website customers, for gathering more insights into their brand engagement.

Throughout the simulation results of the study, it becomes clear that a higher number of backlinks and referral domains tend to increase CPN firms' brand-engaged and vulnerable customers.

From the simulation modeling process, the implication for backlinks and referral domains as factors that enhance website customers' brand engagement and vulnerability has been highlighted. A higher number of brand-engaged website customers could mean that vulnerable categories of customers would be impacted by CPNs' affiliate marketing. Improving those customers' knowledge of the financial services utility is of utmost importance.

The outcomes of the research indicate that online banking service providers can increase their customers' engagement with their brands by adopting affiliate marketing techniques. To avoid the increase in customers' vulnerability, marketers should aim to apply affiliate marketing strategies to domains relevant to the provided financial services.

The paper's outcomes provide a new approach to the literature, where the website customer's brand engagement comes out as a valuable metric for estimating online banking sector customers' vulnerability.

The paper’s main goal is to examine the relationship between the video marketing of financial technologies (Fintechs) and their vulnerable website customers’ brand engagement in the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

To extract the required outcomes, the authors gathered data from the five biggest Fintech websites and YouTube channels, performed multiple linear regression models and developed a hybrid (agent-based and dynamic) model to assess the performance connection between their video marketing analytics and vulnerable website customers’ brand engagement.

It has been found that video marketing analytics of Fintechs’ YouTube channels are a decisive factor in impacting their vulnerable website customers’ brand engagement and awareness.

By enhancing video marketing analytics of their YouTube channels, Fintechs can achieve greater levels of vulnerable website customers’ engagement and awareness. Higher levels of vulnerable customers’ brand engagement and awareness tend to decrease their vulnerability by enhancing their financial knowledge and confidence.

Fintechs should aim to increase the number of total videos on their YouTube channels and provide videos that promote their customers’ knowledge of their services to increase their brand engagement and awareness, thus reducing their vulnerability. Moreover, Fintechs should be aware not to over-post videos because they will be in an unfavorable position against their competitors.

This research offers valuable insights regarding the importance of video marketing strategies for Fintechs in promoting their vulnerable website customers’ brand awareness during crisis periods.

The purpose of this study is to examine various key aspects associated with entrepreneurs’ behaviour following a long-term crisis. Specifically, the study compares the perceptions of female and male entrepreneurs operating in Cyprus and Greece concerning success factors and firm performance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Conceptually, the study considers the organisational adaptation literature (Miles and Snow’s typology).

The views of female and male micro and small firm owners-managers operating in Greece and Cyprus, a total of 406, were gathered through a questionnaire. To analyse the quantitative data, independent samples t-test and exploratory factor analysis were applied.

Participants’ responses reveal similar levels of perceived importance between genders regarding adaptive measures and strategies to confront a long-term crisis, as well as perceived firm performance. Nevertheless, exploratory factor analysis highlights differences in how male/female entrepreneurs perceive actions that, as in the case of financial management, can safeguard the immediate outlook of the firm.

While scholarly discourses on gender and entrepreneurship abound, important knowledge gaps still exist, for instance, in entrepreneurs’ problem-solving strategies adopted by female and male entrepreneurs following crises. In addressing this scholarly gap cross-culturally, that is, drawing on cross-national data (Cyprus and Greece); the present study makes an important contribution. Empirically, the study ascertains similar entrepreneurial behavioural characteristics between female-male entrepreneurs. Theoretically, the study validates Miles and Snow’s typology and develops a theoretical framework linking the typology and dimensions emerging from the empirical findings.

The need for modern enterprises to seamlessly interoperate poses significant challenges on their capabilities for engaging in multiple business networks. This paper considers a particular type of business network, namely, “service ecosystems”, and proposes architecture for enabling business firms to: control dissemination and usage of the resources they contribute to the ecosystem; and develop corresponding service offerings.

A literature review informed our research work and contextualized the development of relevant research questions. The research questions were based on unstructured, creative techniques (e.g. brainstorming), combined with rigorous requirements specification for software tools developed as part of this research. Overall development was based on service science and enterprise interoperability research, distilled in four principles that provided the context and direction for this work.

Three key components of the proposed architecture were developed: service map, which identifies the building blocks needed to construct a service ecosystem; interoperability model, as a decision-making mechanism for dynamic (re-) arrangement of a service map’s building blocks; and shared service infrastructure for the provision of support services to all ecosystem participants.

This research has advanced current thinking in developing and managing service ecosystems. By adopting a service science viewpoint (service value co-creation, value-in-use), a holistic approach for building collaboration capabilities is described: at the enterprise level, it pertains to decision-making mechanisms for service provision; at the ecosystem level, it pertains to a software platform for managing common collaboration tasks.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain factors that enable micro- and small firms (MSFs) to cope with the effects of a long-term crisis and develop a model which guides conceptual understanding. This study’s setting is represented by the global financial crisis and by Cyprus and Greece, two nations severely affected.

On-site, unstructured, face-to-face interviews were conducted among 135 MSF leaders.

Sixteen different coping factors were identified as central to participants, resulting in the emergence of four key dimensions. Three dimensions, self-initiative, financial acumen and human attributes, are associated with entrepreneurs’ skills, initiatives, passion and networks, whereas one dimension, individual-firm advantage, considers firms’ and individuals’ valuable assets and resources, namely, image/reputation, quality or location. Almost two-thirds of participants recognised a lack of collaboration beyond their suppliers within their industry. Several intergroup differences were revealed, including Cypriot participants’ higher optimism concerning their firms’ future.

This study responds to calls for research that illuminates the understanding of firms’ ability to overcome inadequacies imposed by the socio-economic environment in which they operate. To this end, a theoretical framework emphasising the vital significance of four dimensions is proposed. Apart from their conceptual insightfulness, the dimensions identify clear associations with resilience and coping and can therefore be of practical value to micro–small-sized firms and their respective industry.

This paper aims to examine whether private healthcare entrepreneurship can flourish and overcome obstacles in cases of a free-access public health system and periods of strict public policies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the paper aims to illuminate the wider social role of private healthcare entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper adopts a qualitative methodological strategy through 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews with the owners of diagnostic centres located in small Greek towns.

Private healthcare entrepreneurship flourished and played a significantly positive social role in the context of a degraded public health sector, which lacked investments for more than ten years and was further depleted by its recent focus on COVID-19 incidents. This paper reveals that although public policies that aimed to deal with COVID-19 produced serious consequences, business activity adapted to the new circumstances.

Future research can combine the findings of this paper with the views of stakeholders, policymakers and social actors.

This paper's value lies in its efforts to expand our current knowledge regarding the impact of COVID-19 public policies on entrepreneurship.