Exploring the success factors of hybrid micro-enterprises

This research explores hybrid micro-entrepreneurs’ founding motivations and the transformation of those motivations into visions of success, by applying multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA). We find that entrepreneurs of hybrid micro-enterprises are driven mostly by noneconomic goals and that those influence their vision of success. The success framework consists of seven indicators (training, professional development, marketing, management, external factors, infrastructures, and organizational aspects). Human capital is perceived as the most important for success – translating the professional motivations for founding. Reversely, external factors, which are usually considered crucial to attain legitimacy, are perceived the least important factors. Given the findings, are hybrid micro-entrepreneurs ready to succeed?info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Stakeholder Salience for Small Businesses : A Social Proximity Perspective

This paper advances stakeholder salience theory from the viewpoint of small businesses. It is argued that the stakeholder salience process for small businesses is influenced by their local embeddedness, captured by the idea of social proximity, and characterised by multiple relationships that the owner-manager and stakeholders share beyond the business context. It is further stated that the ethics of care is a valuable ethical lens through which to understand social proximity in small businesses. The contribution of the study conceptualises how the perceived social proximity between local stakeholders and small business owner-managers influences managerial considerations of the legitimacy, power and urgency of stakeholders and their claims. Specifically, the paradoxical nature of close relationships in the salience process is acknowledged and discussed.Peer reviewe

Organizing corporate social responsibility in small and large firms: Size matters

Based on the findings of a qualitative empirical study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Swiss MNCs and SMEs, we suggest that smaller firms are not necessarily less advanced in organizing CSR than large firms. Results according to theoretically derived assessment frameworks illustrate the actual implementation status of CSR in organizational practices. We propose that small firms possess several organizational characteristics that are favorable for promoting the internal implementation of CSR-related practices in core business functions, but constrain external communication and reporting about CSR. In contrast, large firms possess several characteristics that are favorable for promoting external communication and reporting about CSR, but at the same time constrain internal implementation. We sketch a theoretical explanation of these differences in organizing CSR in MNCs and SMEs based on the relationship between firm size and relative organizational costs