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In uncertain and emerging conditions, businesses must adopt new strategies to compete and survive the changing and unstable environment. This research seeks to investigate the role of dynamic capabilities in the competitiveness of startups, emphasizing resilience and strategic alignment.

Isfahan Scientific and Research Town has always been a pioneer in the field of science and technology in Iran and is known as the most extensive technology and knowledge-based complex in Iran. The sample size of 300 companies active in the startup field was selected using a simple random sampling method. Questionnaires were collected from the managers of technological startup companies in Isfahan, and the SEM model was used to analyze the data.

This research shows that dynamic capabilities in terms of coordination, flexibility and integration significantly impact competitiveness. Resilience and strategic alignment also increase the organization’s performance and strengthen the organization in gaining a more competitive advantage in the industry.

Finally, dynamic capabilities indirectly affect competitiveness through resilience and strategic alignment. This shows a need for strategic alignment and resilience to change advantage shape in dynamic conditions.

While founder characteristics have been studied extensively as a factor in attracting employees, organizational attributes of startups have received little attention. To fill the void, this study aims to examine organizational attributes of startups to attract employees.

This research collected 8,817 online employer reviews of 117 startups from Glassdoor.com. This research conducted two studies. In Study 1, a topic modeling approach was applied to identify startup attributes to attract employees having actual employer experience and to examine the importance and relationship of the attributes, drawing the person–organization fit theory. Study 2 used logistic regression analysis to explore the effect of identified attributes on employer attractiveness based on the signaling theory.

Study 1 found six attributes: high-quality coworkers, entrepreneurial culture, development, company outlook, physical office and stereotypical startup perks. This study also found high-quality coworkers, entrepreneurial culture and development are not only related to each other but also more critical attributes than other attributes. The core value of the three attributes can be conceptualized as “learning opportunity.” Study 2 found that employees attracted to “learning opportunity” are more likely to recommend their employers than instrumental attributes, including physical office and stereotypical startup perks.

This research elaborates on employer attributes to attract employees in the context of startup based on the real voices of employees having actual employer experience. Furthermore, this research extends the understanding of employer attributes contributing to employer attractiveness by combining qualitative review data with quantitative rating data.

The role of incubators in promoting startup growth has received close research attention, but the findings paint a conflicting picture. This study aims to reduce the ambiguity surrounding incubator impact by exploring how incubators can support startups with business model innovations – a significant growth factor for startups neglected in the incubation literature.

Using a multiple-case study design, the authors conducted semistructured interviews with incubator directors and startup founders, offering insights into their experiences. The transcripts were coded following the Gioia method.

This study shows that incubatees are exposed to and struggle with business model innovation. Therefore, this study explores how incubators can support startups in innovating their business models.

This research reveals the importance of addressing the psychological needs of entrepreneurs in incubators. By offering emotional support, incubators can create a positive psychological environment, helping entrepreneurs face fears and challenges. This highlights the human side of entrepreneurship, which has not been considered in the incubation literature.

Incubator directors can strengthen their programmes’ impact by offering tailored support for business model innovation and facilitating network connections. Policymakers should encourage ecosystem collaboration and allocate resources to effective programmes.

This research fills a gap in the incubation literature by emphasizing the significance and need for support for business model innovation. This study also offers original insights into the psychological dimensions of entrepreneurship.

This study aims to examine the effect of marketing agility of startup companies on their new product creativity and new product performance while examining the moderating role of technological turbulence.

Data were collected from 319 South Korean startups and empirically analyzed using structural equations modeling technique.

First, marketing agility is a potent catalyst that positively influences the novelty and meaningfulness of new products, thereby enhancing new product creativity. Second, marketing agility contributes significantly to new product performance across multiple dimensions, including market, financial, and customer performances. Third, this study underscores the pivotal role of new product creativity, with both novelty and meaningfulness proving to be key drivers of improved new product performance. Technological turbulence is revealed as a moderating force, amplifying the positive relationship between new product novelty and performance. However, while it substantiates some moderating effects, the study does not find significant support for the role of technological turbulence in moderating the relationships among new product meaningfulness, marketing agility, and new product performance.

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to analyze the effect of startups’ marketing agility on new product creativity and performance considering the moderating effect of technological turbulence, especially in the South Korean context. This study offers practical insights emphasizing the indispensability of marketing agility for startups operating in rapidly evolving markets. Additionally, it advocates a strategic emphasis on novelty in high-tech turbulence scenarios to bolster new product performance.

The purpose of this paper is to unravel the specific service quality dimensions that significantly influence startup survival, providing actionable insights for service managers and entrepreneurs.

Empirical data were collected from 372 service startups over a period of seven years. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the data.

The results indicate that the tangible dimension of service quality emerges as the most critical determinant of startup survival. Additionally, the reliability and responsiveness of the service also significantly affect startup survival. Furthermore, the assurance and empathy dimensions have a positive, albeit modest, influence on the survival prospects of service startups.

This study contributes to the service literature by investigating the relative importance of each dimension of service quality in relation to the survival of service startups.

The empirical findings empower service startups to make informed decisions, allocate resources judiciously and prioritize aspects of service quality that have a significant impact on their survival and success.

The social implications indicate the significance of service quality dimensions not only for the success of service startups but also for the overall well-being of customers, local economies and the competitive landscape of the service sector.

This study contributes to service science by uniquely highlighting the critical role of tangibles in startup survival, challenging conventional beliefs about the primacy of service reliability.

Organizations increasingly use knowledge arbitrage to stimulate innovation and achieve competitive advantage. However, in knowledge management its use in startups is yet unexplored. This study aims to examine the utilization of knowledge arbitrage by startups, specifically during COVID-19.

This study employed an open-ended essay methodology to explore the drivers and barriers that startups face in utilizing knowledge arbitrage. We collected data from 40 participants to understand the role of knowledge arbitrage in startups’ knowledge management practices.

This study’s findings highlight the significance of knowledge arbitrage for startups. The benefits identified include organizational benefits such as building networks, innovating new products and achieving competitive advantage and financial benefits such as cost reduction and sales growth. The study also identifies several technological and organizational drivers and barriers that startups confront during knowledge arbitrage.

This study contributes to the existing literature on knowledge management by extending our understanding of knowledge arbitrage’s role in startups. Additionally, it sheds light on the importance of knowledge arbitrage for startups and the challenges they face, particularly in a disrupted environment reared by COVID-19. The study provides insights for the scholars and practitioners interested in effective knowledge management in startups.

Operating in a market of scarcity and uncertainty, the startups have stood out by contributing to changing the economy and society, a new type of management. This study analyses how startup companies may develop dynamic capabilities from the resources present in their ecosystems.

Through a qualitative content analysis, we show different startup management and environmental features when compared with established companies.

Unlike mature and established companies, startups develop innovative businesses, raise funds and develop competences quickly, anchoring themselves in differentiation and innovation. Results show different startup management and environmental features when compared with established companies.

The study contributes to the literature by identifying management elements in dynamic environments, thus expanding the application of the theory of dynamic and managerial capabilities.

The study contributes to generating an instrument that assists entrepreneurs in the operationalization of their strategies through the use and development of their managerial capabilities and the orchestration of resources with the help of ecosystem actors.

We propose a framework with the main elements identified in the cases analyzed. Those elements may assist managers in orchestrating their resources in order to support ecosystem actors.

This paper aims to investigate how social media support startups in accessing international markets and interacting with foreign customers and stakeholders, focusing primarily on the social network LinkedIn.

Given the explorative research aim, the paper adopts a multiple case study approach, analyzing seven Italian food tech startups. 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted, also involving startup accelerators and a business angel to deepen the knowledge on the investigated phenomenon. In addition, a content analysis of the LinkedIn pages of the seven selected startups was conducted using NVivo 14 software.

The results of this study show that social media support startups to (1) diffuse brand awareness in international markets, (2) position their offering abroad and (3) develop relationships with international stakeholders to penetrate the local business. Furthermore, the main challenges and difficulties related to the use of social media by startups for these purposes were identified.

This study provides useful managerial implications to enable startups to strategically use social media to access international markets and connect with key foreign networks. Also from a policy perspective, incentives to support the expansion and consolidation of startups into international markets are crucial.

Although a vast literature has dealt with internationalization strategies, this study clarifies the role of social media in changing these dynamics speeding up startups’ access to foreign markets and identifying key local stakeholders.

This study aims to understand the manifestation and adherence of performance management system (PMS) components in Brazilian startups, concurrently considering the different stages of development and catalyzing factors.

We gathered data through semi-structured interviews with founders and C-level executives from 19 startups. We used an inductive and exploratory method to spot patterns and differences through content analysis, aiming for a contextual understanding of startup PMS manifestation.

We analyzed the PMS of each startup, highlighting the consistency and differences among PMS components in each stage, considering the value proposition, goals, performance perspectives, monitoring indicators, action plans and performance evaluation processes. We also observe various catalyst factors that played an important role in accelerating the early development of the PMS in each stage.

This study provides a practical understanding of the meaning of each PMS component maturity that could be applied to startups in different stages and the catalyzing factors that played an important role in accelerating the initial development of PMS, providing practitioners with a holistic and situated context approach.

This is one of the first studies to provide empirical evidence on the manifestation and adherence of different components of the PMS in Brazilian startups, considering concurrently the organizational life cycle and existing catalyzing factors to the reality of these organizations.

Through the theoretical lens of social practice theory, the aim of this research is to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) high-tech startups build their brands in an omni-digital environment, particularly by focusing on the most important digital touchpoints implemented to interact with stakeholders.

A qualitative analysis was performed by conducting 36 semi-structured interviews with key informants operating in B2B high-tech startups, including founders, CEOs, managing directors, marketing managers and other actors from this sector.

The results reveal the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of startups in their brand-building processes across digital touchpoints in an omni-digital environment.

This study offers new theoretical insights into new ventures’ brand management strategies through the development of a theoretical framework in which the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of the brand-building process of startups are identified. Although the recent literature has addressed the topic of startup brand building, this is the first study, to the authors’ knowledge, focused on the brand-building process of B2B high-tech startups in an omni-digital environment.