Business vulnerability diagnosis: an integrative review

Abstract

In Brazil, SEBRAE reported that a record number of new businesses were created in 2021, with over 3.9 million new companies. However, data from Revista Exame shows that a third of Brazilian companies close before two years of operation. Entrepreneurial Diagnosis done by business consultants contributes to overcoming this problem, as it helps consolidate and recover enterprises in vulnerability. Therefore, this article conducted a systematic review of the integrative type to investigate the possibility of anticipating a diagnosis of business vulnerability. The review followed the methodological criteria determined by Whitemore and Knafl (2005) and improved by Botelho, Cunha, and Macedo (2011). The keywords “Diagnosis,” “Vulnerability,” “Business,” “Anticipation,” and “Forecast” were used on the Scopus and Web of Science databases and papers from the last 10 years were considered. A total of 44,650 manuscripts documents underwent several filters until reaching 16 articles, which were read in full to compose the review. In data extraction, the articles were categorized according to the type of diagnosis performed, technologies, samples, and size. As a result, we present a synthesis of knowledge about anticipating the diagnosis of corporate vulnerability, a discussion of the impact of predicting failures for companies, government, and society, and the constructs that could be built with the review. We believe this study will contribute to maturing the theme academically and for the market, optimizing the business diagnostic consultancy processes and offering rewards to the productive sector.