This article reviews the literature on entrepreneurship and crises, capturing where we have been and where we are now, and begins to discuss where we might go next. It centres around how we have come to understand the relationship between entrepreneurship and crises through the application of certain crisis definitions, concepts, typologies, the crisis event sequence, methodologies and empirical settings. It also examines how crises affect entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurship affects crises. The article then introduces in some detail the five manuscripts selected for the special issue and the contributions they make towards developing our understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and crises. It notes the advances, gaps and opportunities that emerge from the literature review and special issue papers, and concludes with a way forward for developing further our understanding in this area.

This article examines the relationship between economic resilience and entrepreneurship in city regions. Resilience is an emerging concept which has been employed to examine economic performance and responsiveness to exogenous shocks such as financial crisis and recession. Drawing on a literature review of academic articles in this emerging field and interviews with policymakers in the Sheffield City Region of England, the article examines how entrepreneurship is central to sustain a dynamic economy and demonstrates that it is being fore-fronted in policy debates as a key aspect in creating more resilient economies. The article finds that entrepreneurship is integral to promoting the diversification and capacity building of regional economies, traits which are characteristic of (more) resilient economies. We advance the emerging literature through the development of a conceptual framework to highlight the links between economic resilience and entrepreneurship. In doing so, the article argues that entrepreneurship is critical to the restructuring and adaptation of local (city region) economies and draws out a series of recommendations concerning the wider policy implications of the study.

This article critically analyses how the institutional environment influences the development of entrepreneurship in Bulgaria. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Bulgarian entrepreneurs an ‘institutional asymmetry’ between formal and informal institutions is identified which hampers the development of economically and socially productive entrepreneurship. Despite reforms to formal institutions in Bulgaria, the asymmetry persists as a result of informal institutions which serve to hamper entrepreneurship. In order to reduce this asymmetry, there is a need to develop and align formal and informal institutions, while recognising that such institutional reforms are, by their nature, long-term and may potentially be undermined by entrepreneurs engaging in informal and corrupt activities.

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Purpose -Micro-businesses account for a large majority of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, they remain comparatively under-researched. This paper seeks to take stock of the extant literature on growth challenges, and to distinguish the growth constraints facing micro-business as a specific subset of SMEs from those facing larger SMEs.Design/methodology/approach -The study consists of a systematic review of 59 peerreviewed articles on SME growth.Findings -Micro-businesses distinguish themselves from larger SMEs by being ownermanager entrepreneur (OME) centric and are constrained by a tendency to be growth-averse, underdeveloped capabilities in key business areas, underdeveloped OME capabilities, and often inadequate business support provision. Originality/value -The review provides a renewed foundation for academic analysis of micro-business growth, highlighting how micro-businesses are distinct from larger SMEs. At present, no systematic literature review on this topic has previously been published and the study develops a number of theoretical and policy implications. Research limitations/implications -