Pivoting to stay the course: How women entrepreneurs take advantage of opportunities created by the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 is unique in the severity of its impact as it is a humanitarian disaster that has caused both a supply and a demand shock to the global economic system. It has disproportionately affected women entrepreneurs as their firms are younger and smaller. In this commentary, we contend that while all businesses must pivot their business models in times of tumultuous change, simultaneously reducing risk and seizing new opportunities, this is particularly difficult for women entrepreneurs, whose businesses are concentrated in the industry sectors most severely affected by the economic shutdown. We draw on recent survey data from the Diana International Research Institute (DIRI) to identify business model pivots in women-owned businesses, and conclude by offering a set of gendered future research questions.

Creative reconstruction: a structured literature review of the early empirical research on the COVID-19 crisis and entrepreneurship

“…Opportunity-seeking even has positive effects for a group of entrepreneurs who were otherwise observed to be suffering disproportionately from the crisis, namely women. Manolova et al ( 2020 ), for instance, focus on several samples of female entrepreneurs and illustrate that startups led by women adopted pivoting based on new opportunities to deal with uncertainty. In their first sample collected early in the first wave, roughly a quarter of women-led firms reported adjusting the business model, while a later sample reported half of the firms had made such an adjustment.…”

“… Uncertainty Primary qualitative Bangladesh 5 entrepreneurial firms Case studies Patriarchal structures affect venture closures Kuckertz et al ( 2020 ) What adversity face startups during a crisis, what are their coping strategies, and how does policy aim to support them? Resilience Primary qualitative and quantitative Germany/global 16 ecosystem actors (qualitative) and 152 international media reports (quantitative) Gioia structures/content analysis Key dynamics model describes startup behavior in the crisis; policy responses to crisis largely neglect innovative startups Manolova et al ( 2020 ) How are female entrepreneurs pivoting their business models in the crisis? Opportunity Primary qualitative and quantitative USA 86 female entrepreneurs, 74 female entrepreneurs, two firms Univariate statistical analysis; case studies A crisis should be responded to with a discovery-driven approach that simultaneously reduces risks and seizes opportunity Mirza et al ( 2020 ) How does COVID-19 affect the behavior of investment funds?…”

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

“…Thorgren and Williams (2020) have already called for more evidence on the interplay of entrepreneurial team characteristics and entrepreneurial crisis management, and the present commentary answers to this call. Obviously, any crisis may have both positive and negative impacts (Lim et al, 2020), and it seems promising that despite the decline in innovative entrepreneurial activity, entrepreneurs are still active and embrace discovery-driven approaches as one option to manage risk (Manolova et al, 2020). These are the ventures that potentially contribute to the proverbial ‘new normal’ that will follow the COVID-19 crisis.…”

“…The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has already triggered empirical research aiming to illuminate how the crisis has affected innovative entrepreneurial activity. For instance, Kuckertz et al (2020) illustrate the challenges for innovative startups posed by infection control measures and how they cope, Nummela et al (2020) describe the challenges faced by cosmopolitan entrepreneurs, Brown and Rocha (2020) document a decline in available early-stage financing for nascent entrepreneurs and Manolova et al (2020) provide initial evidence of entrepreneurs adjusting their business models.…”

La adaptación de las empresas a la realidad COVID: una revisión sistemática

“…No solamente el sector es una variable relevante a estos efectos: el género (Manolova et al, 2020) el país o el tamaño también importan. Así, la concentración de recursos por parte del Gobierno ayuda a crear un entorno empresarial externo que promueve que las empresas se enfoquen en la innovación y el avance tecnológico adecuados (Paul et al, 2020).…”