Search Results (37)

This study investigates the evolution of customer-centric innovations within modern business ecosystems through the lens of servitization, a concept gaining momentum in contemporary service delivery frameworks. Recognizing the limited exploration of servitization beyond manufacturing, particularly in the context of value-added services, this research employs a multiple case study methodology focused on the tea sector in India and Nepal. Drawing on seven diverse entrepreneurial cases and supported by a thematic analysis, the study identifies nine critical factors influencing successful servitization, including knowledge gaps, procurement strategies, market segmentation, and customer engagement. Central to this investigation is the transformative role of structured training interventions, exemplified by the Chaya School of Tea, which catalyzed innovation and performance improvements among participating businesses. The findings highlight how digital tools, customer education, and strategic planning contribute to product–service integration, yielding enhanced quality, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth. This research contributes to theory by refining the concept of “servitization of services” as a strategic approach for empowering ecosystems through complementary offerings that transcend traditional service delivery. This work provides both conceptual and empirical insights into how service firms, particularly in under-researched sectors, can leverage servitization to drive long-term competitiveness and ecosystem-wide value creation. Full article

This study conducts a bibliometric and altmetric analysis of women’s entrepreneurship, examining research trends, challenges, and contributions to sustainable development. By analyzing 6729 journal articles from the Web of Science (1975–2024), this study employs citation analysis, co-citation analysis, and co-word analysis, alongside altmetric indicators, to assess research impact. Visualization tools such as VOSViewer (version 16.20) were used to map the scholarly landscape. Key findings highlight critical themes, including gender disparities, financial barriers, socio-cultural challenges, and digital transformation, underscoring the crucial role of women entrepreneurs in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study identifies major research clusters, leading authors, and institutions that shape the field, while also revealing regional disparities in research output. The growing prevalence of open-access research has enhanced knowledge dissemination, yet access to financial and technological resources remains a challenge for women entrepreneurs. This study emphasizes the need for targeted policies to improve access to finance, digital tools, and entrepreneurial education, fostering an enabling ecosystem for women-led businesses. By integrating traditional bibliometric techniques with altmetrics, this research provides a comprehensive assessment of global trends in women’s entrepreneurship, offering valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and practitioners. It contributes to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship by identifying emerging themes and gaps, advocating for inclusive policies and enhanced support mechanisms to drive sustainable economic growth. Full article

This paper examines the intersection between entrepreneurship government policy and managerial theory. The context chosen for this study is India. India has experienced a significant global geopolitical shift that is coinciding with India’s domestic policy reforms and notable domestic initiatives. Since 2014, India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has seen a significant increase in the number of startups and unicorns. This paper presents arguments that the confluence of global realignments, such as the diversification of supply chains away from China and increasing interest in the Indo-Pacific region, along with domestic initiatives like “Make in India”, “Startup India”, and digitalization drives, along with massive investments in infrastructure improvements, have made India a desirable destination for entrepreneurial activity. By examining these factors through the lens of three theories—resource-based view, global value chain, and innovation ecosystem theory—this paper identifies key opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs across various sectors. It is hoped that this research will contribute to a deeper understanding of India’s evolving entrepreneurial landscape. In addition, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors can benefit from this article to understand the opportunities and challenges India poses in order to contribute to India’s continued economic growth and its emergence as a global entrepreneurial powerhouse. Finally, this paper helps to bridge the gap between economic policy and management theory. Full article

This study investigates the determinants of superior long-term business performance in Thai digital entrepreneurship through an innovative mixed-method approach combining Rough Set Fuzzy Theory and Second-order Confirmatory Factor Analysis. This research addresses a significant gap in the existing literature by incorporating business strategies, product innovation, social media adoption, and entrepreneurial orientation into a comprehensive framework, extending beyond traditional Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) models. This study analyzes seven key factors that influence digital business success: technology, organization, external environment, social media adoption, business strategy, product innovation, and entrepreneurial orientation. The methodological approach employed for this study utilized expert consensus validation and model verification techniques to develop a novel integrated model specifically tailored for Thailand’s digital SME context. The findings reveal that business strategy and entrepreneurial orientation are primary drivers of business success. This research provides valuable insights for practitioners in the Thai digital entrepreneurship ecosystem, offering a structured approach to achieving sustainable long-term business success. Full article

Digital platforms have facilitated the emergence of novel entrepreneurial opportunities that rely on a platform for market entry and access to resources. This systematic review synthesizes current knowledge on how platforms impact and shape “platform-dependent entrepreneurship” and how platform-dependent entrepreneurs (PDEs) respond to power asymmetries. The results of the review suggest that platforms lower barriers to entry but also lead to PDEs’ dependence and precarity. Specifically, platform governance significantly impacts PDEs’ behavior by shaping their market access, visibility, and opportunities through various mechanisms. In response, PDEs employ several strategies to preserve their autonomy, such as engaging in multi-homing, capitalizing on branding, and conducting activities outside of the platform. Thus, PDEs’ entrepreneurial identity is co-constructed through the interplay of individual agencies and platform dynamics as they navigate tensions in the platform ecosystem. Based on this review, we present a research agenda for the future that has substantial implications for the theory and application of PDEs in the literature. Full article

Digital entrepreneurial ventures are increasingly embracing a high-quality development trajectory that prioritizes green, low-carbon, and sustainable practices, necessitating ongoing environmental enhancements and the active assumption of social responsibilities alongside economic progress. Despite this, there is a significant disparity in the sustainable entrepreneurial performance among these ventures, highlighting the need for an in-depth exploration of the underlying factors. This study develops a theoretical framework that links entrepreneurial bricolage to business model innovation and ultimately to sustainable entrepreneurial performance, all within the context of a digital entrepreneurial ecosystem (DEE). The research focuses on 371 digital ventures operating within the DEE, examining the relationships and effects among the variables. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial bricolage has a positive impact on sustainable entrepreneurial performance. Furthermore, entrepreneurial bricolage is found to foster business model innovation, which in turn, enhances sustainable performance. The investigation demonstrates that business model innovation partially mediates in the link between entrepreneurial bricolage and the sustainable entrepreneurial performance. Additionally, the DEE’s empowering influence is shown to positively regulate the connection between entrepreneurial bricolage and business model innovation, as well as between business model innovation and sustainable entrepreneurial performance. The empowering effect of the DEE also exerts a positive moderating influence on the indirect impact of sustainable entrepreneurial performance mediated by business model innovation, stemming from entrepreneurial bricolage. This study underscores the significance of entrepreneurial bricolage and the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem, demonstrating that digital startups ought to augment their bricolage skills and leverage the ecosystem’s support to attain enduring sustainable entrepreneurial performance. The conclusions drawn from this research offer valuable insights and serve as a reference for strategies aimed at enhancing the sustainable performance of digital entrepreneurial ventures within the DEE. Full article

Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (DEEs) are transforming the economic landscape through their integration of digital technologies, offering new opportunities for innovation and growth. This study explores the impact of DEEs on sustainable development, focusing specifically on Latin America. As DEEs continue to evolve, understanding their influence on economic, environmental, and social sustainability becomes crucial, particularly in a region characterized by significant developmental challenges. Utilizing a data panel from two different periods of analysis, from 2013 to 2017 and from 2018 to 2022, within the adapted DEE framework provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Development Institute (GEDI), we employ Principal Component Regression (PCR), Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR), and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA 3.0) to analyze DEE components across 14 Latin American countries. These countries may not have the full spectrum of digital capabilities, yet they are still able to harness the digital elements they do possess effectively. This suggests that even partial digitalization, when strategically utilized, can lead to substantial gains in sustainable development. Additionally, Networking, Digital Protection, and Digital Tech Transfer are DEE components that present a higher magnitude in social, environmental, and economic development in Latin American countries. This study not only contributes to a deeper understanding of a DEE’s role in fostering sustainable development, but it also offers actionable insights for policymakers and entrepreneurs to leverage DEEs for broader societal benefits. The implications of the findings present perspectives under the existing literature, and the conclusion shows recommendations for future research and strategy development. Full article

This study explores the relationship between digital access, protection, and adoption in supporting technological entrepreneurship within national digital ecosystems. The study utilised PROCESS regression analysis on the Global Entrepreneurship Development Institute (GEDI)’s Digital Development Economy (DPE) Index 2020 dataset to examine selected digital factors’ direct and indirect effects on entrepreneurial activity across 116 countries. While the relationship between digital access, adoption, protection, and technological entrepreneurship has been established in previous research, this study provides global evidence to reinforce this connection. However, digital protection did not significantly moderate the effect of digital access. Notably, digital adoption emerged as a significant mediator, influencing the impacts of both access and protection on entrepreneurial outcomes. This study emphasises the importance of understanding the complex relationships between digital factors in cultivating a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, offering valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to stimulate technological innovation and economic growth. Full article

This article examines digital transformation and technology adoption within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. It focuses on identifying the mechanisms that facilitate or hinder the integration of new technologies in these contexts, often constrained by specific socioeconomic and cultural factors. The research employed a systematic literature review, adhering to a structured protocol to explore existing studies. Critical stages of this review included defining research questions, developing a comprehensive search strategy, and systematically selecting and analyzing relevant studies from significant databases. The review reveals a significant emphasis on basic information systems as the primary form of technology adoption in SMEs within developing countries, with more advanced technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence being less common. Factors such as the entrepreneurial ecosystem and external social influences, including government and private sector initiatives, play pivotal roles in shaping these adoption patterns. This study underscores the critical role of community-driven efforts in promoting technology adoption over initiatives by the public and private sectors. The findings suggest a need for future research to develop tailored technological adoption models that accommodate the unique challenges of SMEs in developing countries. Additionally, more inclusive approaches that consider sociocultural dynamics could further enhance the effectiveness of technology integration strategies in these regions. Full article

This paper explores the elements of support and development of entrepreneurship in Ukraine. It suggests that digitalization is an important organizational component in the development of the business sector in the knowledge economy. The authors present a comprehensive study of the most advanced domestic business ecosystems (Diia, UNIT.CITY, Genesis) and highlight their key characteristics, i.e., type of ownership, structure, mission and vision, services for entrepreneurs, investment fund availability, and areas and types of investment. The paper concludes that support for entrepreneurship in Ukraine is based on the principles of efficiency, accessibility, social security, openness, and transparency. Entrepreneurship support is considered as a set of measures of the state-funded and private institutions and organizations aimed at ensuring the sustainable functioning of small and medium-sized business entities and stimulating their development by creating the following favorable conditions: building a competitive environment and increasing competitiveness; fostering investment and innovation efforts; promoting manufactured goods (works, services) or knowledge-based products in domestic and foreign markets; ensuring employment by supporting the citizens’ entrepreneurial initiatives. Areas of public and private support of domestic entrepreneurship include provision of information, consultancy, and special services. Moreover, the paper pays special attention to the forms and methods of supporting businesses and entrepreneurship under martial law in Ukraine in 2022. Full article

Digital entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness disrupts existing boundaries and content of innovative entrepreneurial activities, restructuring entrepreneurial landscape. However, how it drives the process and mechanisms of user entrepreneurial opportunity development remains underexplored. Based on entrepreneurial ecosystem theory and knowledge dynamic capability theory, this study examines the mediating role of knowledge dynamic capabilities in the relationship between digital entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness and user entrepreneurial opportunity development. Using a sample of 232 user entrepreneurial enterprises in China, hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap methods are employed to investigate the mechanisms. The results reveal that digital entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness significantly promotes knowledge acquisition and sharing capabilities, which in turn facilitate entrepreneurial opportunity development. Moreover, under higher levels of entrepreneurial learning, the promotion of knowledge acquisition and sharing capabilities by digital entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness becomes more significant. Furthermore, knowledge dynamic capabilities, consisting of knowledge acquisition and sharing capabilities, significantly promote entrepreneurial opportunity development, partially mediating the relationship between digital entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness and entrepreneurial opportunity development. Additionally, knowledge sharing capability serves as the preferable pathway in the dual-driven process of digital entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness and entrepreneurial opportunity development. Our findings contribute to understanding the dynamics of user entrepreneurship in China in the digital environment, and offer practical insights for leveraging digital embeddedness to improve the quality and efficiency of opportunity development and promote the sustainability of the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. Full article

With the rapid development of information technology, digital platforms (DPs) have emerged as an indispensable aspect of the entrepreneurial landscape, which has a profound impact on entrepreneurial innovation and practice. However, there remains a gap in understanding the specific ways in which DPs influence the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, within the framework of information management theory, this study aims to deepen the understanding of how DPs foster entrepreneurial innovation and enhance entrepreneurial effectiveness, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of DPs. Firstly, the concept of information management in contemporary social enterprise management is thoroughly examined and reviewed to establish a robust theoretical foundation for further research. Secondly, the conceptual framework and core elements of DPs are extensively discussed, elucidating their role and function in the entrepreneurial process. On this basis, a theoretical model illustrating the impact of DPs on entrepreneurial innovation and activities is formulated, along with six specific research hypotheses. These hypotheses encompass the effects of DPs on entrepreneur behavior, enterprise development, and the platform–entrepreneur relationship. To verify the validity of these hypotheses, a questionnaire survey involving 398 entrepreneurs is conducted to facilitate in-depth communication. Simultaneously, the various attributes of entrepreneurs are categorized, and the resulting classifications are thoroughly analyzed and evaluated. The results show that the DP plays a positive role in promoting the development of platform enterprises, improving intrapreneurship activities, and enhancing the ability of intrapreneurship. In addition, DPs can effectively regulate the relationship between platform enterprises and entrepreneurs and promote the self-development of entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial growth process has positively influenced platform enterprises. This finding strongly supports the practical application of DPs and provides valuable guidance for entrepreneurs to leverage them effectively in fostering innovation and entrepreneurial activities in the digital era. Meanwhile, this offers crucial insights for platform enterprises on enhancing their service offerings to entrepreneurs and fostering the sustainable development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In summary, through rigorous theoretical discourse and empirical analysis, this study emphasizes the significant role of DPs in the entrepreneurial journey, providing robust backing for their continued advancement and utilization in the entrepreneurial realm. Full article

Technologies, such as Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), are prime examples of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is a constantly evolving area. SMEs, particularly startups, can obtain a competitive edge, innovate their business models, gain business value, and undergo a digital transformation by implementing these technologies. Continuous but gradual experimentation with these technologies is the foundation for their adoption. The experience that comes from trying new technologies can help entrepreneurs adopt new technologies more strategically and experiment more with them. The urgent need for an in-depth investigation is highlighted by the paucity of previous research on ChatGPT uptake in the startup context, particularly from an entrepreneurial perspective. The objective of this research study is to empirically validate the Generative AI technology adoption model to establish the direction and strength of the correlations among the adoption factors from the perspectives of the entrepreneurs. The data are collected from 482 entrepreneurs who exhibit great diversity in their genders, the countries in which their startups are located, the industries their startups serve, their age, their educational levels, their work experience as entrepreneurs, and the length of time the startups have been on the market. Collected data are analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique, which results in a statistical examination of the relationships between the adoption model’s factors. The results indicate that social influence, domain experience, technology familiarity, system quality, training and support, interaction convenience, and anthropomorphism are the factors that impact the pre-perception and perception phase of adoption. These factors motivate entrepreneurs to experiment more with the technology, thereby building perceptions of its usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment, three factors that in turn affect emotions toward the technology and, finally, switching intentions. Control variables like age, gender, and educational attainment have no appreciable effect on switching intentions to alternatives of the Generative AI technology. Rather, the experience factor of running businesses shows itself to be a crucial one. The results have practical implications for entrepreneurs and other innovation ecosystem actors, including, for instance, technology providers, libraries, and policymakers. This research study enriches the Generative AI technology acceptance theory and extends the existing literature by introducing new adoption variables and stages specific to entrepreneurship. Full article

This article discusses the interconnection between the green transition and the digital transformation, known as the twin transition. The article analyses the specific role of digitalisation and its impact on a regional entrepreneurial ICT ecosystem in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the digital transformation has led to decent work in the ICT sector but is completely disconnected from the green transition. The article argues that these processes need a policy lever to develop in parallel with one another and connect, as they are rather disconnected. Full article

This research aimed to develop a comprehensive model for the sustainable development of creative industries in Iran through digital transformation and interpretive structural modeling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 experts to extract the dimensions and components of sustainable development. The validated components were presented using a structural equation modeling questionnaire to obtain a comprehensive model. These components were identified and confirmed: sustainable competitive development, consolidation and freeze, sustainable development drivers, digital technology cultural taste, structural social capital, environmental and industrial intelligence, digital work environment, creativity and innovation, financial supply chain management, and digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. The experts validated these components through the research process. It is essential to focus on developing digital infrastructure to achieve sustainable development in creative industries based on digital transformation. It includes digital communications, necessary technologies, and information security, which serve as the foundation to promote creative industries in the digital sphere. Full article