Employment and SMEs during crises

Varum, Celeste; Rocha, Vera

doi:10.1007/s11187-011-9343-6

Cited by 66 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…This result is consistent with the evidence of Kolasa, Rubaszek, and Taglioni (2010) and Das, Banga, and Kumar (2011), showing that exporting has not been conductive to superior growth performance in the crisis context. However, Varum and Rocha (2013) have shown that Portuguese multinational firms performed better than domestic firms during the crisis in terms of sales growth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

How high-tech entrepreneurial ventures cope with the global crisis: changes in product innovation and internationalization strategies

Colombo

Piva

Quas

et al. 2016

Industry and Innovation

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The global crisis that began in the second half of 2008 abruptly changed the business context, inducing firms to react by modifying their strategies. This paper examines changes in innovation and internationalization strategies that high-tech entrepreneurial ventures implemented to react to the crisis. Relying on insights from the behavioural theory of the firm and threat-rigidity theory, we explore the antecedents of firms' investments in development of new products and in expansion in international markets and the consequences of these changes on firms' growth performance. Econometric results from a sample of 140 Italian high-tech entrepreneurial ventures support the view that the stock of resources accumulated by larger firms, firms' innovation and internationalization investments in the pre-crisis period and firms' cash flow determine the extent of the two changes. The effects of these changes on firms' short-term growth performance are positive only for investments in development of new products.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

How high-tech entrepreneurial ventures cope with the global crisis: changes in product innovation and internationalization strategies

Colombo

Piva

Quas

et al. 2016

Industry and Innovation

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“…In the 2008 to 2011 period, following the banking crisis, employment at large German corporations dropped by 2.4%, while increasing by 1.6% for Mittelstand firms (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, 2012), supporting the argument that the extent of downsizing is less in privately held SMEs, especially in difficult economic periods (Varum and Rocha, 2013). From 2008 to 2014, Germany led all EU countries with full economic recovery of SME employment that increased by 119% in this period (European Commission, 2014b), and such lower turnover was largely driven by Mittelstand firms (Syre, 2007).…”

Section: Superior Employee Relationsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Innovation with Limited Resources: Management Lessons from theGermanMittelstand

Massis¹,

Audretsch²,

Uhlaner³

et al. 2017

J of Product Innov Manag

307

275

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German Mittelstand firms are globally recognized for their innovation, especially regarding product, process, and service innovation. So what can scholars and managers across the globe learn from the success story of German Mittelstand innovation? Drawing on information collected on innovative Mittelstand firms and extant knowledge on innovation, the resource-based view, and family firm research, the authors investigate how these highly innovative firms flourish and achieve high innovation performance despite the severe financial and human capital resource constraints they face as compared with larger corporations. The authors then present a model identifying and integrating six salient traits of such firms that allow them to efficiently orchestrate their resources to innovate and outcompete their competitors in the global market, enabling those firms to overcome their resource-related weaknesses and turn them into strengths. Specifically, these traits are: niche focus and customer collaboration, globalization strategy, preference for self-financing, long-run mindset, superior employee relations, and community embeddedness. The power of this Mittelstand approach takes full effect only when all six traits operate in an integrated fashion, and the proposed resource-based model serves as a starting point for a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of firm ability to innovate and successfully compete within a specific context. The article outlines the implications of the model of German Mittelstand innovation for research conducted in different fields including innovation, entrepreneurship, strategy, dynamic capabilities, ecosystems, and family business. Finally, the article proposes a future research agenda aimed at improving current understanding of the German Mittelstand "innovation strategy" and its transferability to other contexts, and outlines practical implications for owners and managers worldwide wanting to emulate the German Mittelstand innovation model.

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“…Pestana (2010) asserted that one of the factors of inefficiency in a hotel chain is that "substructural rigidities associated with the pattern of ownership may induce the principal-agent relationship." Interestingly, our results also suggest that independent hotels could act as stabilizers during downturn periods because they typically continue to retain a larger proportion of their workforce than larger hotels (Varum and Rocha, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Workforce and destination influence over hospitality industry performance

Alonso‐Almeida

Llach

Barquero

et al. 2016

EMJB

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Purpose As part of the recent global financial crisis, Europe has experienced a double crisis (financial crisis and Euro crisis) leading to a double dip recession, meaning that the effects of the crisis have been longer and more severe. Tourism, specifically the hospitality industry, is important for the economy of Southern European countries, where the crisis has been the worst. Spain especially depends on tourism as important source of GDP. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify the contributing factors to better manage the crisis impacts and anticipate future impacts. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine the performance of a sample of 7,293 Spanish hospitality companies based on data from 2008 to 2011. With the aim of testing the hypotheses, a multivariate regression analysis was performed. Findings Results show the importance of a direct effect over both internal (workforce as well as hotel characteristics) and external factors (destination-related GDP spending) for growth, with varying influence across factors. Nevertheless, the most influenced are the moderated effects among the workforce and external variables. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the literature by providing a firm-level analysis (rather than an industry-level analysis) and offers an almost complete picture of a specific geographical area. Future research should address the performance of other tourism industries in times of crisis, such as restaurants and travel agencies, and the relationships between performances in different tourism industries. Regarding the limitations of the paper, the main limitation is associated with the use of panel data from an official database. These include problems in the design, data collection and data management of panel surveys. Practical implications These findings help the hospitality industry to understand the relevant drivers and coping strategies associated with the hospitality industry during a financial crisis. Originality/value This study is focused on the firm-level analysis instead of an industry-level analysis and can thus give advice to the strategic behaviour of companies.

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Employment and SMEs during crises

Cited by 66 publications

References 36 publications

How high-tech entrepreneurial ventures cope with the global crisis: changes in product innovation and internationalization strategies

How high-tech entrepreneurial ventures cope with the global crisis: changes in product innovation and internationalization strategies

Innovation with Limited Resources: Management Lessons from theGermanMittelstand

Workforce and destination influence over hospitality industry performance

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