The role of entrepreneurial orientation in developing SMEs resilience capabilities throughout COVID-19

Abstract

Through the lens of entrepreneurial orientation, this study investigates operational practices that (small and medium-sized enterprises) have either adopted or improvised to support small and medium-sized enterprises’ resilience in the face of coronavirus disease 2019. Qualitative data were collected through 43 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurial resource providers, owners and managers of several small and medium-sized enterprises across different industrial sectors in Jordan. The study contributes to the further understanding of small and medium-sized enterprises’ resilience by conceptually advocating a five-pillars practitioner-grounded framework of small and medium-sized enterprises’ resilience capability (efficiency-based capability, adaptive-capability, collaborative-capability, change-capability and learning-capability). Entrepreneurial orientation has been found to transition and mobilise small and medium-sized enterprises’ resilience to survive major disruptions and threats. Entrepreneurial orientation, in this study, grounded on risk-taking, innovation and proactivity, facilitates developing new capabilities that shield the firm against different threats. Practically, the study suggests several recommendations for small and medium-sized enterprises to meet the challenges of coronavirus disease 2019 and similar future major shocks. Notably, the study suggests that small and medium-sized enterprises should balance short-term operational actions with long-term strategic thinking to build a resilience capability pool.

Embracing Crisis: What Change in Business Resilience and Growth Strategy After Pandemic

“…However, resilience post crisis hits different level to SMEs. It is not only related to characteristics, motivation and competitive advantages, but also relates to social capital (Torres et al, 2019), innovation ambidexterity (Aldianto et al, 2021), social network (Pham et al, 2021), set of capabilities (Zighan et al, 2021) and storytelling (Haloub et al, 2022) . Recent research also ties SMEs resilience to various crises and how some SMEs can survive crises and some not (Saad et al, 2021).…”

The 4Rs supply chain resilience framework: A capability perspective

“…Developing organizational resilience could be achieved through several strategic and tactical approaches (Zighan, Abualqumboz, et al, 2021). However, despite the growing body of research on organizational resilience during COVID-19, none, as noticed, has explored resilience from an operational repurposing perspective, and therefore empirical and conceptual gaps remain.…”

“…While the similarities in economic decline, the COVID‐19 was more impactful in terms of supply chain (SC) disruptions and on a larger scale around the globe due to borders closure, factories closure and other governmental procedures. Many manufacturing companies suffered significant disruptions concerning material flow caused by lockdown and border closures in many countries (Zighan, Abualqumboz, et al, 2021).…”

Dimensionality Analysis of Entrepreneurial Resilience amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparative Models with Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling

“…Entrepreneurial resilience (ENTR-RISC) represents the qualities of entrepreneurs that enable them to survive and succeed in times of adversity. Over five decades ago, the concept of ENTR-RISC captured the attention of academics, professionals, and policymakers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Even though these attempts have substantially expanded our general knowledge of ENTR-RISC best practices before, amid, and after the economic crash, the current COVID-19 crisis has entirely different conditions, and its effects on ENTR-RISC need more investigation.…”

“…In this context, several empirical studies have investigated the impacts of ENTR-RISC on numerous disciplines, including tourism management [1,3,4,21], supply chain management [5][6][7][8], SMEs' performance [9][10][11][12], competitive advantage [13][14][15][16]22], and firm performance [17][18][19]23,24]. Some of these research studies investigated and operationalize ENTR-RISC as an unobserved latent multidimensional concept that encompasses several distinctive but connected factors measured by some variables that reflect each factor.…”