Corporate Crisis and Sustainable Reorganization: Evidence from Bankrupt Austrian SMEs

Abstract

Bankruptcy and failure continue to affect small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide. Since bankruptcies are costly and disruptive, it seems useful to identify factors and resources that are essential for SMEs to overcome a crisis and to reorganize in a way that leads to a sustainable and lasting renewal. By drawing on longitudinal data, we identified essential elements of sustainable reorganization of bankrupt SMEs in Austria that ensure long‐term survival and competitiveness. The results of our study show that the pivotal factor in turnaround is repositioning, which is characterized by a unique selling proposition combined with some kind of innovation and change, and integration into networks.

An analysis of environmental sustainability in small & medium‐sized enterprises: Patterns and trends

“…We also classified the studies we investigated by continent (Figure ). Most of the research studies we have found occur in Europe, which makes up 41% of the research (e.g., Girgenti, Peano, Baudino, & Tecco, ; Hertel & Menrad, ; Flynn & Davis, ; Jansson, Nilsson, Modig, & Hed Vall, ; Mayr, Mitter, & Aichmayr, ; Torkkeli, Kuivalainen, Saarenketo, & Puumalainen, ; Girella, Zambon, & Rossi, ), Asia accounts for 22% (e.g., Seth, Rehman, & Shrivastava, ; Singh, Olugu, & Musa, ) and South America at 19% (e.g., Lucato, Costa, & de Oliveira Neto, ; Pacheco, Caten, Jung, Navas, & Cruz‐Machado, ; Sarango‐Lalangui, Álvarez‐García, & del Río‐Rama, ).…”

“…We also classified the studies we investigated by continent ( Figure 4). Most of the research studies we have found occur in Europe, which makes up 41% of the research (e.g., Girgenti, Peano, Baudino, & Tecco, 2014;Hertel & Menrad, 2015;Flynn & Davis, 2016;Jansson, Nilsson, Modig, & Hed Vall, 2017;Mayr, Mitter, & Aichmayr, 2017;Torkkeli, Kuivalainen, Saarenketo, & Puumalainen, 2019;Girella, Zambon, & Rossi, 2019), Asia accounts for 22% (e.g., Seth, Rehman, & Shrivastava, 2018;Singh, Olugu, & Musa, 2016) and South America at 19% (e.g., Lucato, Costa, & ables on which SMEs can be categorized (Bar, 2015;Boiral, Ebrahimi, Kuyken, & Talbot, 2019;Groot et al, 2019;Long, Looijen, & Blok, 2018;Malesios et al, 2018;Prieto-Sandoval, Ormazabal, Jaca, & Viles, 2018). Our results show the pattern in the sectors that are studied from 2013 to 2019 (Figure 7).…”

Sustainability and financial performance of small and medium sized enterprises: A bibliometric and systematic literature review

“…They verify a positive relationship between proenvironmental strategies and competitiveness in a case ( Despite the critical nature of the issue, only few articles include the economic crisis in their analysis and attempt to identify essential factors and resources for SMEs to overcome a crisis. However, they identify that a strategic repositioning is the most influential factor in overcoming a crisis and achieving a sustainable turnaround (Mayr, Mitter, & Aichmayr, 2017;Panwar, Nybakk, Pinkse, & Hansen, 2015).…”

Does it pay to be an honest entrepreneur? Addressing the relationship between sustainable development and bankruptcy risk

“…Furthermore, the existence of contexts where the SMEs represent over 90% of the entire economic system denotes their central role in the mechanisms connected to the financial crisis. The central role of the SMEs is related to their high degree of financial dependence on external stakeholders like suppliers and clients (Mayr, Mitter, & Aichmayr, ). In this sense, the negative effects of a bankruptcy impact the entire local economic system (Herbane, ).…”