Entrepreneurship, innovation, digitization and digital transformation toward a sustainable growth within the pandemic environment

Abstract

PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has taken society, business and industries by surprise leading to a worldwide economic recession, pushing organizations to rethink their business model in order to shift from activity shutdown toward sustainable growth. The purpose of this research is to comprehend the implications and relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation, digitization and digital transformation aspects as the levers to achieve this goal.Design/methodology/approachFollowing the existing literature, an empirical approach has been established involving a quantitative analysis of secondary information obtained from official datasets and reports.FindingsThe COVID-19 pandemic was found to be an unfortunate accelerator regarding both consumers' habits and organizations' innovation and digital transformation, breaking with the past leading to new sustainable growth business models.Practical implicationsThe research provides an underlying outcome that addresses how wealth and economic value could be generated within the framework of new economic models in a post-pandemic environment.Originality/valueThe research highlights how the pandemic has disrupted what was known about sustainable business growth, and how this affects the future of business beyond the pandemic scenario, transforming the way society, businesses and customers interact.

The Nonlinear Relationship Between Entrepreneurship and Natural Resource Rents

“…This suggests that an increase in entrepreneurship density reduces natural resource rents at a decreasing rate. This is consistent with the general presumption that entrepreneurship helps to reduce natural resource rents, which contributes to the environment through innovation (Gavrila Gavrila & De Lucas Ancillo, 2022;Potts et al, 2010;Youssef et al, 2018).…”

Guest editorial: Artificial intelligence as an enabler for entrepreneurs: an integrative perspective and future research directions

“…We believe that AI can assist entrepreneurs following recent attempts to end the stalemate between automation and augmentation (Amabile, 2020; Cockburn, Henderson and Stern, 2018; Raisch and Krakowski, 2021) with the automation of tedious tasks while augmenting their role with advanced predictive capabilities. Two critical elements for entrepreneurs are time and resources: We are convinced that AI can speed up some of the most time-consuming tasks while expanding the pool of resources they can resort to through the increasing digital tools at their disposal (Gavrila and Ancillo, 2021; Kraus et al ., 2018).…”

Interactions Between Innovation and Digital Transformation: A Co-Word Analysis

“…The education system, initially, may have an important role to play in providing entrepreneurs with key skills and knowledge (e.g., about innovation methods such as 'design thinking' and 'co-creation'), particularly in the context of digital transformation ('digital skills', 'digital age') (e.g., [83], [84], [85]. Entrepreneurs, at the same time, face increased opportunities for novel value creation during the pandemic, especially supported by digital technologies, either as a response to COVID-19 crisis ('e-health') or as an anticipation to alternative market dynamics in a post-pandemic scenario ('digital business transformation') (e.g., [5], [86]). As it will be discussed below, this more general concern with entrepreneurship and the 'new normal' might significantly reshape the link between innovation and DT in the future.…”

“…Innovation and digital transformation (DT) figure prominently in the contemporary management and organization literature. For decades, the former has been considered a cornerstone of competitiveness and value generation [1], [2]; the latter, a decidedly newer organizational concern, is believed to be central for the performance [3] and survival of firms [4], especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [5].…”