Standing up against crisis-induced entrepreneurial uncertainty: Fewer teams, more habitual entrepreneurs

Abstract

The global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus–2) has led to drastic infection control measures that have dramatically affected societies and economies worldwide. Against this background, it is the purpose of this commentary to illustrate how innovative entrepreneurial activity in particular has been affected by the rising uncertainty caused by the first COVID-19 wave. By comparing innovative North American and European startups established pre-crisis and during the first wave of the pandemic, this commentary suggests that startups founded in the crisis are characterised less by entrepreneurial teams and more by habitual entrepreneurs. Interestingly, women’s entrepreneurial activity seems not to have been affected by the crisis when measured as the proportion of women founders involved in innovative startups pre-crisis and during crisis. The commentary thus, illustrates what particular type of entrepreneur persists during uncertainty and allows us to draw conclusions for policy-making and further research on the interface of entrepreneurship, crisis and uncertainty.

SMEs and exogenous shocks: A conceptual literature review and forward research agenda

“…Clampit et al (2021) found in a study of 338 American SMEs that firms employing dynamic capability models recovered more quickly and strongly than their peers, with the greatest benefit, perhaps counter-intuitively, for the smallest firms. Studying 889 innovative start-ups just before and after COVID-19 arrived in the USA and EU, Kuckertz (2021) suggests that habitual entrepreneurs are better positioned to adapt to crisis as opportunity, as the ‘when’ and the ‘who’ of innovation may matter at least as much as the ‘what’, to survive shocks.…”

Competency-Industry Relatedness (C-IR) Framework for Sustained Business Growth in Startups during and Beyond Pandemic: Myths and Lessons from Publicly Funded Innovative Startups

“…Authors in [13], based on the comparative analysis of North American and European innovative startups, reported that habitual entrepreneurs are mostly associated with entrepreneurial activities, leading to the establishment of new startups, as opposed to those founded by entrepreneurial teams. The results could provide another perspective that entrepreneurs-with experience in establishing startups prior to the pandemic-may find themselves in a better position to start new entrepreneurial activities during a pandemic.…”

“…Literature focusing on the response of startups during a pandemic is limited. Themes that emerged from the studies [3,[11][12][13][14] are presented in Table 1.…”

Ideas de negocio para reactivar el turismo en pandemia en “La Encantada”, Chulucanas, Perú

“…La primera oleada de COVID-19 generó un contexto de incertidumbre en todo el mundo, especialmente en las empresas locales. En algunos casos, el efecto fue positivo y en otros negativo (Kuckertz, 2021). La quiebra de pequeñas empresas ha provocado la pérdida de puestos de trabajo y sólo las empresas resistentes han seguido contratando personal (Brown y Cowling, 2021).…”