With regards to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the domain of entrepreneurship, we offer research-based evidence and associated insights focused on three perspectives (i.e., business planning, frugality, and emotional support) regarding entrepreneurial action under an exogenous shock. Beyond the initial emergency response that countries around the world have taken, we argue that it is time to revise entrepreneurial action guidance in such a context. Our aim is to highlight ways that entrepreneurs can take action in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. We position our insights to be relevant to both researchers and practitioners coping with an unprecedented situation that has catastrophic consequences both economically and socially. 1. Research context The COVID-19 outbreak began with the first reporting of an unknown virus in December 2019. Within months, the outbreak had become a global crisis affecting the world both economically and socially. By March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. The absence of short-term medical responses to the virus (either as vaccines or treatments) has necessitated the use of lockdowns and social distancing restrictions as government tools to reduce the transmission of the virus across the population. However, the lockdowns (including, in some cases, the introduction of border controls and/or travel bans) have triggered an economic activity disruption that does not resemble any such prior demand or supply crisis. Beyond the temporal freeze of activity, there are growing concerns about the long-term effects originating with the need for lockdown protocol extensions (increasing its total duration and impact), as well as on the need to sustain behavioral rules such as social distancing to reduce the risk of new contagions. While the crisis affects all types of economic activity, the public support programs tend to prioritize and protect established organizations. And, unfortunately, the priority for the public institutions seems to be to reduce the risk of bankruptcies and destruction of * Corresponding author.

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By investigating differences in social networks among entrepreneurs in 20 cultures, this paper contributes to the debate on whether there is universality in the process of entrepreneurial networking. Representative samples of entrepreneurs were identified in the same manner in 20 countries from 2000 to 2004 (N=304,560). The sampling methodologies and the questions asked were similar across all countries. Logistic regression was used to test for significant regional interaction effects involving personally knowing an entrepreneur. Results are contrary to the existence of any mono-dimensional form of networking practice but do strongly support the existence of both variform universality (culture moderates the importance of networking) and functional universality (cultural similarities in networking practice exist).

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