Impossible is nothing: Entrepreneurship in Cuba and small firms’ business performance

While entrepreneurs play a crucial role in shaping the business environment in transitional economies, there is a lack of studies that involve such contexts. Cuba represents an idiosyncratic collectivist economy that is gradually transforming into a socialist market economy, and there is a dearth of literature on entrepreneurship in Cuba. Understanding business performance drivers and challenges faced by small firms in this context may have important theoretical and practical implications. We explore the determinants of small firms’ business performance in Cuba. We combine a capabilities and institutional perspective on entrepreneurship to explain small firms’ business performance in this turbulent transitional market. Specifically, we suggest that managerial capabilities, supply-chain problems, and institutional factors explain small firms’ business performance. We contribute to both the small firm and entrepreneurship literature by contextualizing capabilities and institutional perspectives to identify the critical role played by managerial capabilities and supply-chain problems in economies where supply is constrained.