The effectiveness of coping strategies used by entrepreneurs and their impact on personal well-being and venture performance

This paper analyzes effectiveness of coping strategies that entrepreneurs use to daily manage work related stress. Coping is the process of expending efforts to solve personal and interpersonal problems and reducing stress induced by unpleasant and stressful situations. Two broad strategies of coping are identified; problem-based coping refers to a cognitively-based response behavior that includes efforts to alleviate stressful circumstances while emotion-based coping involves behavioural responses to regulate the affective consequences of stressful events. The purpose of this research is to analyze relationships among the coping strategies used by entrepreneurs and a set of antecedents influencing the selection of coping strategies. The methodology used is based on structural equation modeling and empirical data of 469 entrepreneurs from two European countries. Our results show that problem based coping facilitates well-being and venture performance. In addition, our findings also support interaction effects of founder centrality and contextual conditions of venturing on the extent entrepreneurs engage in coping. We believe that our insights can help in training entrepreneurs in the development of effective coping strategies that are context dependent. In specific, our results suggest entrepreneurs to engage in problem-focused strategies when they want to effectively address the economic aspects of their lives whereas when they engage in emotion based strategies they seem to increase the self-knowledge they need to start subsequent ventures and facilitate learning from failure. Future studies on coping strategies could study the interplay of coping strategies used to resolve challenging social situations that various stakeholders of practicing entrepreneurs impose

Učinkovitost strategija suočavanja poduzetnika sa stresom i njihov utjecaj na osobnu dobrobit i uspješnost poduzeća

This paper analyzes effectiveness of coping strategies that entrepreneurs use to daily manage work related stress. Coping is the process of expending efforts to solve personal and interpersonal problems and reducing stress induced by unpleasant and stressful situations. Two broad strategies of coping are identified; problem-based coping refers to a cognitively-based response behavior that includes efforts to alleviate stressful circumstances while emotion-based coping involves behavioural responses to regulate the affective consequences of stressful events. The purpose of this research is to analyze relationships among the coping strategies used by entrepreneurs and a set of antecedents influencing the selection of coping strategies. The methodology used is based on structural equation modeling and empirical data of 469 entrepreneurs from two European countries. Our results show that problem based coping facilitates well-being and venture performance. In addition, our findings also support interaction effects of founder centrality and contextual conditions of venturing on the extent entrepreneurs engage in coping. We believe that our insights can help in training entrepreneurs in the development of effective coping strategies that are context dependent. In specific, our results suggest entrepreneurs to engage in problem-focused strategies when they want to effectively address the economic aspects of their lives whereas when they engage in emotion based strategies they seem to increase the self-knowledge they need to start subsequent ventures and facilitate learning from failure. Future studies on coping strategies could study the interplay of coping strategies used to resolve challenging social situations that various stakeholders of practicing entrepreneurs impose.U ovom radu analizira se učinkovitost strategija suočavanja sa stresom koje poduzetnici upotrebljavaju na dnevnoj osnovi radi upravljanja stresom uzrokovanim poslom. Suočavanje sa stresom je proces usmjeren na rješavanje ljudskih i međuljudskih problema i reduciranje stresa kojeg izazivaju neugodne i napete situacije. U širem smislu riječi, identificirane su dvije strategije suočavanja: problemski orijentirano suočavanje, koje se odnosi na kognitivno utemeljene bihevioralne odgovore s ciljem ublažavanja stresnih okolnosti, te suočavanje zasnovano na emocijama, koje uključuje bihevioralne reakcije usmjerene na reguliranje afektivnih posljedica stresnih događaja. Cilj istraživanja je analizirati odnose između poduzetničkih strategija suočavanja te set čimbenika koji utječu na odabir istih. U radu se koristi metoda modeliranja strukturnih jednadžbi i empirijske podatke 469 poduzetnika iz dviju europskih zemalja. Rezultati analize pokazuju pozitivan utjecaj problemski orijentiranih strategija suočavanja na dobrobit poduzetnika i uspješnost njihovih poduzeća. Dobiveni rezultati potvrđuju i interakcijske učinke centralnosti poduzetnika i kontekstualnih odrednica poduzetništva na razinu suočavanja poduzetnika sa stresom. Vjerujemo da će rezultati našeg istraživanja pridonijeti obuci poduzetnika u području razvoja učinkovitih strategija suočavanja ovisnih o kontekstu. Preciznije, dobiveni rezultati sugeriraju poduzetnicima primjenu problemski orijentiranih strategija u slučajevima kada se žele efektivno usmjeriti na ekonomske aspekte svojih života. S druge strane, pokazalo se da suočavanje zasnovano na emocijama povećava poznavanje samog sebe koje je potrebno za poduzimanje budućih poduzetničkih pothvata i olakšavanje učenja iz neuspjeha. Buduća istraživanja strategija suočavanja mogla bi obuhvatiti njihovo međusobno djelovanje u funkciji rješavanja zahtjevnih društvenih situacija koje poduzetnicima nameću različiti dioničari

Developing and validating a multi-dimensional scale for operationalizing industrial service offering

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a new scale for measuring the scope (i.e. breadth and depth) of industrial service offering. Design/methodology/approach – The scale and its constructs are developed by combining the key insights from prior literature and practitioners gained through expert interviews; validating the constructs by 3 item-construct validation rounds with 9 academic experts; and by testing and further revising the scale, with a sample of 91 manufacturing firms. Findings – The distinct contribution of the study is the construction and validation of a new multi-dimensional scale for operationalizing the scope of industrial service offering. In addition, the identified service categories (i.e. pre-sales services, product support services, product life-cycle services, R&D services and operational services) extend the current literature on service typologies. Research limitations/implications – The data are somewhat biased toward small- and medium-sized industrial firms. Hence, the development of the measurement in the context of large industrial firms provides one fruitful avenue for further research. Practical implications – For managers of industrial firms, the identified service categories provide novel insight on how to develop, bundle and commercialize industrial services to their varying customer segments. Originality/value – This study develops a multi-dimensional, fine-grained, statistical and relationship-level scale for measuring the scope of industrial service business. Moreover, this study tests and further develops the scale with quantitative empirical data.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A survey study of the transitioning towards high-value industrial product-services

Servitization literature suggests that traditional manufacturing companies are increasingly offering industrial services in order to increase their position in the global competition. However, little is known about extent and profit potential of different types of such offers in current industry. This paper offers an overview of such offers and concludes that maintenance based business models are most closely linked to increased revenue generation while add-on services have a negative effect. Future trends, suggest that business models such as R&D services and functional services will be increasingly important in the future.© 2014 Elsevier. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Startups versus incumbents in ‘green’ industry transformations : A comparative study of business model archetypes in the electrical power sector

Scholars have recently argued that startups and incumbents play differential roles in the disruptive transformations of industries toward sustainability and that the transformations are only likely to succeed if both startups and incumbents contribute. To understand their respective contributions and, thus, to understand how industries make the transition toward sustainability, comparative studies of incumbents versus startups during this transformation have been identified as a central pursuit, but yet they are mostly lacking. Since business models have become a principal way of characterizing firms, the present study takes a business model perspective and derives business model archetypes in the electrical power sector from an analysis of 280 startups and incumbents in three different countries. The selected countries (USA, UK, and India) represent three different energy profiles and leading instances of disruption in the energy sector. The article, then, undertakes a comparative analysis of startups and incumbents based on the empirically distilled business model archetypes and develops propositions on startups, incumbents, and business models in industry transformations. This analysis produces several important insights. First, incumbents do not seem to engage in less business model experimentation than startups. Second, incumbents have adopted several new business models that are not pursued by startups. Third, startups have espoused some business models that are not pursued by incumbents. Fourth, foreign firms can also affect the ‘green’ transformation of an industry in a focal country. Finally, the identified business model archetypes are likely to be of interest to scholars and practitioners who are seeking an improved understanding of business models in the electrical power industry and the industry's competitive landscape.© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)This research project is financially supported by the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse and is part of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research SCCER CREST. Innosuisse had no influence on study design, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, and on the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. We thank the editors, three anonymous reviewers, as well as Rolf Wüstenhagen for their helpful comments.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Implementation intentions in the entrepreneurial process: concept, empirical findings, and research agenda

Prior studies find sizable gaps between entrepreneurial intentions and subsequent actions. We extend models of entrepreneurial intentions by drawing on action phase theory to better understand how entrepreneurial intentions translate into actions. Our study focuses on the effects of implementation intentions on taking entrepreneurial action. The analysis uses two waves of survey data on 422 individuals, from the Swedish general population, who had an explicit interest in starting a business and who reported on their actions 6 months later. We test and find support for a moderated mediation model in which implementation intentions mediate the effects of goal intentions on taking entrepreneurial action. We further find the mediated effect to be even stronger for those confirming a strong intention to start a new business. We provide an in-depth discussion of the concept of implementation intention and an extensive research agenda.Peer reviewe