IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jtecht/v49y2024i5d10.1007_s10961-024-10065-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Natural selection or strategic adaptation? Entrepreneurial digital technologies and survival of the species

Author

Listed:
  • David Bruce Audretsch

    (Indiana University Bloomington)

  • Martina Aronica

    (University of Palermo)

  • Maksim Belitski

    (University of Reading
    Loyola University
    IGS-Groupe)

  • Davide Piacentino

    (University of Palermo)

Abstract

Research on firm survival has primarily focused on input and outcomes. We shift the conversation by performing a systematic analysis of moderating role of firm size in the relationship between firm survival and strategic adaptation. After establishing a theoretical framework, we empirically assess the impact of strategic adaptation through digital transformation and public financial aid on the likelihood of firm survival. We find that smart working helped small firms, while home delivery and e-commerce had no effect on their survival. In contrast, liquidity support from the government and deferral of credit benefited micro firms. Our study emphasizes the importance of analyzing survival probabilities by differentiating firms by size, with the ultimate goal of exploring how selection or strategic adaptation processes may variably impact them.

Suggested Citation

  • David Bruce Audretsch & Martina Aronica & Maksim Belitski & Davide Piacentino, 2024. "Natural selection or strategic adaptation? Entrepreneurial digital technologies and survival of the species," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 1631-1659, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:49:y:2024:i:5:d:10.1007_s10961-024-10065-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-024-10065-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10961-024-10065-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10961-024-10065-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bartz, Wiebke & Winkler, Adalbert, 2016. "Flexible or fragile? The growth performance of small and young businesses during the global financial crisis — Evidence from Germany," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 196-215.
    2. Didier, Tatiana & Huneeus, Federico & Larrain, Mauricio & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2021. "Financing firms in hibernation during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    3. Mark Gertler & Simon Gilchrist, 1994. "Monetary Policy, Business Cycles, and the Behavior of Small Manufacturing Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 309-340.
    4. Joern H. Block & Christian Fisch & Mirko Hirschmann, 2022. "The determinants of bootstrap financing in crises: evidence from entrepreneurial ventures in the COVID-19 pandemic," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 867-885, February.
    5. Kolasa, Marcin & Rubaszek, Michal & Taglioni, Daria, 2010. "Firms in the great global recession: The role of foreign ownership and financial dependence," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 341-357, December.
    6. Jianhong Zhang & Désirée Gorp & Henk Kievit, 2023. "Digital technology and national entrepreneurship: An ecosystem perspective," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1077-1105, June.
    7. Nicholas Bloom & James Liang & John Roberts & Zhichun Jenny Ying, 2015. "Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(1), pages 165-218.
    8. Elena Cefis & Cristina Bettinelli & Alex Coad & Orietta Marsili, 2022. "Understanding firm exit: a systematic literature review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 423-446, August.
    9. David Audretsch & Maksim Belitski & Sameeksha Desai, 2015. "Entrepreneurship and economic development in cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 55(1), pages 33-60, October.
    10. Giorgio Fazio & Davide Piacentino, 2010. "A Spatial Multilevel Analysis of Italian SMEs' Productivity," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 299-316.
    11. Maksim Belitski & Christina Guenther & Alexander S. Kritikos & Roy Thurik, 2022. "Economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurship and small businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 593-609, February.
    12. David Byrne & Stephen D. Oliner & Daniel E. Sichel, 2017. "Prices of high-tech products, mismeasurement, and the pace of innovation," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 52(2), pages 103-113, April.
    13. Joern H. Block & Massimo G. Colombo & Douglas J. Cumming & Silvio Vismara, 2018. "New players in entrepreneurial finance and why they are there," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 239-250, February.
    14. Douglas Cumming & Michele Meoli & Silvio Vismara, 2021. "Does equity crowdfunding democratize entrepreneurial finance?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 533-552, February.
    15. Giuseppe Moscarini & Fabien Postel-Vinay, 2012. "The Contribution of Large and Small Employers to Job Creation in Times of High and Low Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2509-2539, October.
    16. Gimenez-Fernandez, Elena M. & Sandulli, Francesco D. & Bogers, Marcel, 2020. "Unpacking liabilities of newness and smallness in innovative start-ups: Investigating the differences in innovation performance between new and older small firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    17. Khurana, Indu & Dutta, Dev K. & Singh Ghura, Amarpreet, 2022. "SMEs and digital transformation during a crisis: The emergence of resilience as a second-order dynamic capability in an entrepreneurial ecosystem," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 623-641.
    18. Robert Fairlie & Frank M. Fossen, 2022. "The early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on business sales," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1853-1864, April.
    19. Angel Belzunegui-Eraso & Amaya Erro-Garcés, 2020. "Teleworking in the Context of the Covid-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Christopher Münch & Evi Hartmann, 2023. "Transforming resilience in the context of a pandemic: results from a cross-industry case study exploring supply chain viability," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(8), pages 2544-2562, April.
    21. John Haltiwanger, 2022. "Entrepreneurship in the twenty-first century," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 27-40, January.
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/59cr4u3mmr9pobrceptvua5g8c is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Alex Coad & Julian S. Frankish & Richard G. Roberts & David J. Storey, 2016. "Predicting new venture survival and growth: Does the fog lift?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 217-241, June.
    24. Elena Cefis & Cristina Bettinelli & Alex Coad & Orietta Marsili, 2022. "Correction to: Understanding firm exit: a systematic literature review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 447-447, August.
    25. Rajshree Agarwal & David B. Audretsch, 2001. "Does Entry Size Matter? The Impact of the Life Cycle and Technology on Firm Survival," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 21-43, March.
    26. Nofsinger, John R. & Wang, Weicheng, 2011. "Determinants of start-up firm external financing worldwide," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 2282-2294, September.
    27. Stefan Weiergraeber, 2022. "Network Effects And Switching Costs In The U.S. Wireless Industry," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(2), pages 601-630, May.
    28. Jill Juergensen & José Guimón & Rajneesh Narula, 2020. "European SMEs amidst the COVID-19 crisis: assessing impact and policy responses," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(3), pages 499-510, September.
    29. Giones, Ferran & Brem, Alexander & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Michaelis, Timothy L. & Klyver, Kim & Brinckmann, Jan, 2020. "Revising entrepreneurial action in response to exogenous shocks: Considering the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Silvia Muzi & Filip Jolevski & Kohei Ueda & Domenico Viganola, 2023. "Productivity and firm exit during the COVID-19 crisis: cross-country evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1719-1760, April.
    2. Cameron J. Borgholthaus & Joshua V. White & Erik Markin & Vishal K. Gupta, 2023. "Venture creation in the aftermath of COVID-19: The impact of US governor party affiliation and discretion," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 655-674, August.
    3. Bartz, Wiebke & Winkler, Adalbert, 2016. "Flexible or fragile? The growth performance of small and young businesses during the global financial crisis — Evidence from Germany," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 196-215.
    4. David B. Audretsch & Maksim Belitski & Rosa Caiazza & Farzana Chowdhury & Matthias Menter, 2023. "Entrepreneurial growth, value creation and new technologies," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 1535-1551, October.
    5. Gereben, Áron & Rop, Anton & Petriček, Matic & Winkler, Adalbert, 2019. "The impact of international financial institutions on small and medium enterprises: The case of EIB lending in Central and Eastern Europe," EIB Working Papers 2019/09, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    6. Khorshed Alam & Mohammad Afshar Ali & Michael Erdiaw-Kwasie & Md Shahiduzzaman & Eswaran Velayutham & Peter A. Murray & Retha Wiesner, 2022. "Impact of ICTs on Innovation and Performance of Firms: Do Start-ups, Regional Proximity and Skills Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Santos, Susana C. & Liguori, Eric W. & Garvey, Erin, 2023. "How digitalization reinvented entrepreneurial resilience during COVID-19," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    8. HONJO, Yuji & IWAKI, Yunosuke & KATO, Masatoshi, 2024. "Outside or inside the firm? The impact of debt financing on the exit routes of start-up firms," TDB-CAREE Discussion Paper Series E-2023-02, Teikoku Databank Center for Advanced Empirical Research on Enterprise and Economy, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    9. Robert Fairlie & Frank M. Fossen & Reid Johnsen & Gentian Droboniku, 2023. "Were small businesses more likely to permanently close in the pandemic?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1613-1629, April.
    10. Alessandro Arrighetti & Fabio Landini & Andrea Lasagni, 2021. "Swimming upstream throughout the turmoil: Evidence on firm growth during the great recession," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 68(3), pages 322-344, July.
    11. Cristiano Bellavitis & Christian Fisch & Rod B. McNaughton, 2022. "COVID-19 and the global venture capital landscape," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 781-805, October.
    12. Hayoung Park & Taewon Kang & Jeong-Dong Lee, 2019. "R&D Dynamics And Firm Growth: The Importance Of R&D Persistency In The Economic Crisis," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(05), pages 1-24, June.
    13. Audretsch, David B. & Belitski, Maksim & Theodoraki, Christina, 2024. "Micro and macro factors of firm scaling," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    14. Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala & Joanna Błach & Anna Doś, 2021. "COVID-19 Interruptions and SMEs Heterogeneity: Evidence from Poland," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Mina, Andrea & Santoleri, Pietro, 2021. "The effect of the Great Recession on the employment growth of young vs. small firms in the Eurozone," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 184-194.
    16. Irene Bertschek & Joern Block & Alexander S. Kritikos & Caroline Stiel, 2024. "German financial state aid during Covid-19 pandemic: Higher impact among digitalized self-employed," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1-2), pages 76-97, January.
    17. Oznur Ozdamar & Eleftherios Giovanis & Sahizer Samuk, 2020. "State business relations and the dynamics of job flows in Egypt and Turkey," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(4), pages 519-558, December.
    18. Ioannis Giotopoulos & Alexander S. Kritikos & Aggelos Tsakanikas, 2023. "A lasting crisis affects R&D decisions of smaller firms: the Greek experience," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1161-1175, August.
    19. Cristina Fernández & Roberta García & Paloma Lopez-Garcia & Benedicta Marzinotto & Roberta Serafini & Juuso Vanhala & Ladislav Wintr, 2017. "Firm growth in Europe: An overview based on the COMPNET labour module," BCL working papers 107, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    20. Janghee Cho & Hyunbae Chun & Hongjun Kim & Yoonsoo Lee, 2017. "Job Creation and Destruction: New Evidence on the Role of Small Versus Young Firms in Korea," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 68(2), pages 173-187, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:49:y:2024:i:5:d:10.1007_s10961-024-10065-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.