Search Results (284)

This study establishes a comprehensive structural isomorphism between Conway’s Game of Life and the entrepreneurial process, analysing the latter as a complex adaptive system governed by non-linear dynamics rather than linear predictability. Through a rigorous qualitative approach based on a systematic literature review and abductive inference, the research identifies and correlates four fundamental dimensions: uncertainty, adaptability, growth, and sustainability. Transcending traditional metaphorical comparisons, this paper introduces a novel mathematical model that modifies Conway’s deterministic logic by incorporating an «Agency» variable (A). This critical addition quantifies how an entrepreneur’s internal capabilities can counterbalance environmental pressures (neighbourhood density) to determine survival thresholds, effectively transforming the simulation into a «Game of Life with Agency» where participants actively influence their viability potential (Ψ). The analysis explicitly correlates specific algorithmic configurations with real-world business phenomena: high-entropy initial states («The Soup») mirror early-stage market uncertainty where outcomes are probabilistic; «gliders» represent the necessity of strategic pivoting and continuous displacement for survival; and «oscillators» symbolise dynamic sustainability through rhythmic equilibrium rather than static permanence. Furthermore, the study validates the «Gosper Glider Gun» pattern as a model for scalable, generative growth. By bridging abstract systems theory with managerial practice, the research positions these simulations as «mental laboratories» for decision-making. The findings theoretically validate iterative methodologies like the Lean Startup and conclude that successful entrepreneurship operates on the «Edge of Chaos», providing a rigorous framework for navigating high stochastic uncertainty. Full article

Despite the growing role of business incubators in fostering digital startups in emerging economies, the mechanism through which business incubator characteristics, specifically relational capital and structural embeddedness, influence startup innovation performance remains underexplored, particularly in the context of open innovation practices. This study examines how relational capital and structural embeddedness of business incubators affect the innovation performance of digital startups in Indonesia, with open innovation as a moderating variable. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 201 startup owners or managers in Jakarta, West Java, and Banten. Partial Least Squares Structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized relationship. The results indicate that relational capital significantly enhances both innovation performance and structural embeddedness. However, structural embeddedness does not directly affect innovation performance nor mediate the link between relational capital and innovation. Notably, open innovation significantly moderates the relationship between structural embeddedness and innovation performance. This study contributes by integrating relational capital, structural embeddedness, and open innovation into a coherent framework within the underexplored context of Indonesian digital startups. The findings reveal that while relational capital is crucial, structural embeddedness alone is insufficient without active open innovation practices, offering nuanced insights for incubator management in emerging economies. Full article

Sustainable transport innovation often faces funding gaps, as traditional public and private sources rarely support early-stage or high-risk initiatives. Crowdfunding, enabled by digital transformation, is emerging as a complementary financing mechanism for this sector. This study presents a literature review combined with bibliometric mapping to examine the evolving research landscape on crowdfunding in transport. Three research questions guide the analysis: RQ1—What are the dominant research areas at the intersection of crowdfunding and transport? RQ2—What types of transport projects are financed via crowdfunding? RQ3—What research gaps and future directions emerge for transport innovation financing? Findings reveal three core research areas: (1) Sustainability and finance, (2) Fintech and blockchain, and (3) Management and consumer behavior. We propose a typology of crowdfunded transport projects comprising five categories: (1) Large-scale transport infrastructure, (2) Sustainable local mobility, (3) Innovative start-ups, (4) New business models, and (5) Advanced systems and technologies. This demonstrates crowdfunding’s versatility beyond traditional infrastructure, supporting high-risk innovations critical for decarbonization and technological transformation. The study highlights domain-specific challenges—such as integrating PPP models with digital finance and ensuring investor protection—and emphasizes crowdfunding’s role as an enabler of low-carbon transition aligned with global climate strategies (EU Green Deal, SDGs). Despite its potential, investor safety remains a major concern. Policy implications include sandbox regulation, standardized risk assessment, and operationalizing PPP–crowdfunding hybrids to unlock large-scale and innovative transport projects. Full article

This exploratory study examines strategic communication in Galician start-ups led by women, with the aim of analysing reputation management mechanisms, the channels and tools used, and the challenges associated with building a differentiated identity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. A qualitative approach was adopted, combining a focus group with nine female entrepreneurs, documentary analysis and case studies. The results show that this ecosystem is structured around three relevant dimensions: institutional support provided by universities, accelerators and pioneering programmes; territorial roots, as a strategic resource for legitimacy and differentiation; and personal narratives that link innovation with everyday experience and strengthen empathy with audiences. There is a notable progressive professionalisation of communication as an instrument for growth, risk governance and identity consolidation, in which digital platforms play a significant role. Horizontal leadership styles, based on transparency and empathy, are configured as reputational attributes where the status of women founders can generate differential advantages in visibility and credibility, but also challenges in masculinised environments. The discussion identifies three key challenges: overcoming reluctance to public exposure, strengthening peer support networks, and promoting inclusive and understandable language. The findings highlight strategic communication as a cross-cutting resource for business and social legitimacy and sustainability in Galician female entrepreneurship. Full article

This study investigates the transition to the circular economy (CE) model and its increasing application in industrial companies. The research context is the textile district of Prato, Tuscany region, that relies on a long historical tradition of CE application. Some industrial companies have been contacted, and their Administrators and CEOs have been interviewed, focusing on their understanding of the role of circular start-ups (CSUs) in the collaboration and relationships with large companies. The results show that this collaboration started for commercial purposes, since the companies interviewed in this study are producers of recycled yarns used by their customers, including CSUs, for the manufacturing of their garments. Over time, the collaboration further advanced, adding new types of interactions, characterized by environmentally and socially positive outcomes. This study shows that the collaboration between the small CSU Rifò and two of the largest companies of the Prato district as well as the outcomes in terms of environmental, energy and social benefits well extend over the micro, meso and macro levels of the CE model and reveal that the circular and sustainability performances of the selected CSU and its large partners are aligned with the goals of the district and the city of Prato towards consolidating themselves as a reference center of a CE and a circular city, respectively. This is an important result compared to the previous literature that encourages further future research to provide more generalizable results. Further, the case study of the Rifò regenerative circular business model shows the current “limits” of recycling and the need to thoroughly consider the CE model by implementing all CE principles and promoting a timeless and responsible fashion, conveying the emotional, environmental and social values behind garments. Full article

Market volatility and resource constraints pose significant resilience challenges to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although AI-agent automation, agile marketing, and customer relationship management (CRM) offer powerful individual solutions, their synergistic impact on SME resilience remains critically underexplored. This review bridges this gap by proposing an integrated, AI-driven resilience framework designed to enhance the adaptive capacity of smaller firms. Through a systematic analysis of 35 peer-reviewed articles, our study explicitly maps AI-agent automation, agile marketing, and CRM to the dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring, clarifying the causal pathways to SME resilience. The framework defines key inputs (e.g., multi-channel customer data), processes (e.g., iterative sprints), and outputs (e.g., enhanced market responsiveness). We identify APIs and SaaS platforms as the critical technological backbone for implementation. The central finding is that this integrated model empowers SMEs to build dynamic resilience and achieve competitive parity through data-driven, automated workflows. Actionable recommendations include adopting API-first strategies, investing in workforce training, and prioritizing data security. Full article

Early survival is critical for sustainable startups to deliver environmental and social value, yet evidence on its predictors is limited. Drawing on resource-based and institutional perspectives, this study examines 140 university-affiliated green startups from 24 European countries in the “Stage Two” finals (2021–2023). Exploratory logistic regression links survival to financing structure, sustainable business-model archetypes, and public visibility. Non-equity grants and awards emerge as the strongest predictor, with equity capital and a Crunchbase profile adding smaller benefits. Economic-value archetypes outperform purely environmental or social ones, while technology-intensive B2B firms show the highest resilience. By combining resource sufficiency with legitimacy signaling, the study advances sustainable entrepreneurship theory and offers practical levers: mission-aligned grants, credible digital footprints, and archetype-specific funding strategies to support founders, investors, and policymakers in strengthening Europe’s sustainability-driven startup ecosystem. Full article

The adoption of artificial intelligence has risen, yet research on its impact on innovation processes between actual businesses remains sparse. This research fills the present gap by investigating ten workers from a tech startup who utilize artificial intelligence tools in operational and creative activities. The paper analyzes business-related AI functionality through a qualitative analysis of ten tech start-up employees. The examination reveals that AI produces significant enhancements in problem resolution by executing mundane actions while analyzing large datasets to deliver data-driven suggestions to users. The interview respondents mentioned that AI’s role in diminishing supply chains is 15%, while allowing AI to manage customer service without employee engagement in 80% of interactions. The implementation costs, along with data dependency and occasional contextual blindness in AI systems, represented some of the problems in this system. Analysis demonstrated that AI tools enable the development of innovative concepts and challenge established viewpoints, prompting participants to create a gamified loyalty system and dynamic content planning. Participants in the study emphasized the need for human involvement to refine AI-based insights, recognizing how human imagination complements AI capabilities effectively. The work enhances academic discussions about AI-related problem-solving and creativity while offering specific business-related recommendations for implementation. The recommendations begin with establishing initial experimental programs, while providing support for employee’s skills development, and fostering strong alliances between technical AI personnel and professional subject matter experts. Research topics focused on AI application fields and the anticipated impacts on company decision-making, as well as the ethical ramifications, need further exploration. This research confirms the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence systems for problem-solving methods, but requires proper execution, along with human supervision, to fully realize their advantages. Full article

Entrepreneurial endeavors are pivotal to development and growth. Therefore, it is critical to recognize and prioritize the need for building new, sustainable businesses that will create and offer products and services aligned with the interests of diverse stakeholders. Considering that the success of early-stage firms is shaped by both internal factors and external conditions, the aim of this study is to examine the prospects for sustainability of entrepreneurial start-ups by assessing how their strategic ecosystem influences market performance, a key metric of their capacity to successfully compete and survive. To identify performance precursors, we surveyed the founders of 108 new ventures regarding a broad range of internal determinants—including strategic factors, human resources, networking with external partners, pre-entry funding choices, and board profiles—while controlling for external influences. Our findings suggest that the performance differentials across these firms can be largely attributed to their human assets, strategic foundation, and board heterogeneity, as reflected in gender diversity in decision boards and the number of founders. Service start-ups and those that have been found in urban centers were also associated with better performance compared to manufacturing new ventures and those located in a country’s periphery. In the opposite direction, funding choices and established partnership-based networks were not related to successful market penetration. Likewise, the impact of start-ups’ industry growth, the rate of technology obsoletion, as well as several other macro-environmental influences show limited impact. Full article

Early-stage start-up selection is a critical yet challenging task for venture capital (VC) investors due to high uncertainty, limited historical data, and rapidly evolving business environments. Traditional evaluation processes often fall short in systematically handling multiple qualitative and uncertain factors that influence start-up success. As a result, there is a growing demand for robust decision models that can support VC firms in identifying promising early-stage ventures more accurately and consistently. This study presents a hybrid fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach tailored to the needs of venture capital investment under uncertainty. The model integrates expert judgment using the proportional spherical fuzzy AHP method to evaluate the relative importance of key dimensions. Then, spherical fuzzy TOPSIS is applied to rank investment alternatives based on their overall performance rankings. The proposed framework enables VC decision-makers to incorporate both subjective insights and data ambiguity in a structured and transparent way. It offers a practical tool to enhance the reliability of early-stage investment evaluations and improve the effectiveness of venture capital portfolio strategies. Full article

To contribute to the emerging knowledge on the sustainability impacts of small, circular clothing reuse businesses in the US, we employed a case study research methodology to empirically test the case of Circular Thrift, an innovative, community-based startup business model with potential to create a circular fashion ecosystem on the firm level. Primary data on circular activities were collected on site within the first year of business operation. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology was conducted to assess environmental impact avoidance. The social impact of reused products was assessed to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the benefits of born circular business models. Tangible environmental benefits accounted for the collection of 10,772 apparel units and resulted in the diversion of 2311.05 kg (approximately 5095 pounds) of clothing from the local landfill. Social impact accounted for 45.86% of the collected items that were given back to the local community. Empirical testing of the environmental benefits of a Circular Thrift business model makes a strong case for scaling up reusable efforts as a means to address post-consumer textile waste at the local community level within the US, where formal and government-regulated resource collection and recovery systems still do not exist. Full article

In today’s fast-moving digital economy, service start-ups are reshaping industries; however, they face intense uncertainty, limited resources, and fierce competition. This study introduces an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered process modeling framework designed to give these ventures a competitive edge by combining big data analytics, machine learning, and Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). While past models often overlook the dynamic, human-centered nature of service businesses, this research fills that gap by integrating AI-Driven Ideation, AI-Augmented Content, and AI-Enabled Personalization to fuel innovation, agility, and customer-centricity. Expert insights, gathered through a two-stage fuzzy Delphi method and validated using DEMATEL, reveal how AI can transform start-up processes by offering real-time feedback, predictive risk management, and smart customization. This model does more than optimize operations; it empowers start-ups to thrive in volatile, data-rich environments, improving strategic decision-making and even health and safety governance. By blending cutting-edge AI tools with process innovation, this research contributes a fresh, scalable framework for digital-age entrepreneurship. It opens exciting new pathways for start-up founders, investors, and policymakers looking to harness AI’s full potential in transforming how new ventures operate, compete, and grow. Full article

In the context of both domestic and international economic landscapes, regional policy has emerged as an increasingly influential factor shaping the developmental trajectories of Chinese enterprises. Despite its growing significance, the extant literature lacks a comprehensive and systematically visualized synthesis that encapsulates the scope and trends of research in this domain. This study addresses this critical gap by conducting an integrative bibliometric and qualitative review of the academic output related to regional policy and Chinese firm growth. Drawing on a final dataset comprising 3428 validated academic publications—selected from an initial pool of 3604 records retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection between 1991 and 2022, the research employs a two-stage methodological framework. In the first phase, advanced bibliometric tools, and software applications, including RStudio, Bibliometrix, VOSviewer, and CitNetExplorer, are utilized to implement techniques such as keyword co-occurrence analysis, thematic clustering, and the tracing of thematic evolution over time. These methods facilitate rigorous data cleansing, breakpoint identification, and the visualization of intellectual structures and emerging research patterns. In the second phase, a targeted qualitative review is conducted to evaluate the influence of regional policies on Chinese firms across three critical stages of business development: start-up, expansion, and maturity. The findings reveal that regional policy interventions generally exert a positive influence on firm performance throughout all stages of development. Notably, a significant concentration of citation activity occurred prior to 2017; however, post-2017, the volume of scholarly publications, journal-level impact (as measured by h-index), and author-level influence experienced a marked increase. Among the 3428 analyzed publications, a substantial portion—2259 articles—originated from Chinese academic institutions, highlighting the strong domestic research interest in the subject. Furthermore, since 2015, there has been a discernible shift in keyword co-occurrence trends, with increasing scholarly attention directed towards sustainable development issues, particularly those related to carbon dioxide emissions and green innovation, reflecting evolving policy priorities and environmental imperatives. Full article

This research examines the shifting geography of small firm innovation in the U.S. by tracking the location of small business innovation research (SBIR) and small business technology transfer (STTR) awardees between 2010 and 2024. The SBIR and STTR are “seed fund” awards coordinated by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and funded through 11 U.S. federal agencies. Of particular interest is whether the number of individual SBA awards, awarded firms, and/or funding amounts are (1) becoming increasingly concentrated within regional innovation hubs and (2) exhibiting a shift toward or away from urban centers and other walkable, transit-accessible urban neighborhoods, particularly since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. While the rise of remote work and pandemic-related fears may have reduced the desirability of urban spaces for both living and working, there remain significant benefits to spatial agglomeration that may be especially crucial for startups and other small firms in the knowledge- or information-intensive industries. The results suggest that innovative activity of smaller firms has indeed trended toward more centralized, denser, and walkable urban areas in recent years while also remaining fairly concentrated within major metropolitan innovation hubs. The pandemic appears to have resulted in a measurable, though potentially short-lived, cessation of these trends. Full article

In October 2024, a DANA (Isolated Depression at High Levels) triggered torrential rains across the Valencian Community, causing 227 deaths, severe infrastructure damage, and economic losses estimated at €17.8 billion. In this context of crisis, startups, despite having fewer resources and less experience than large corporations, played a significant role in crisis communication, shaping public perception and operational continuity. This study explores the communication strategies adopted by startups during and after the disaster, focusing on their activity on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook between October 2024 and January 2025. Using a mixed-methods approach, we conducted a quantitative analysis of digital discourse through the Fanpage Karma tool, assessing metrics such as engagement, reach, and posting frequency. Sentiment analysis was performed using GPT-4, an advanced natural language processing model, and in-depth interviews with startup representatives provided qualitative insights into reputational impacts. The findings reveal that startups which aligned their discourse with the social context, prioritizing transparency and emotional proximity, enhanced their visibility and credibility. These results underscore how effective crisis communication not only mitigates reputational risk but also strengthens the local entrepreneurial ecosystem through trust-building and social responsibility. Full article