Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Exploratory Quantitative Study

Héctor Montiel-Campos

doi:10.4067/s0718-27242021000100023

Abstract

Entrepreneurial alertness refers to the ability to process information and signals from the environment so that individuals can recognize business opportunities, whereas innovation modes depict the variation in firms’ approaches to innovation. Innovation modes have important implications in the way firms compete; however, little research has been done about the relationship among entrepreneurial alertness, innovation modes, and business model in firms. This study explores whether entrepreneurial alertness dimensions influence business models through their effect on firms’ innovation modes. Using survey data from analysis of 119 manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises in Mexico using structural equation modelling, this study shows that entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial alertness dimensions have different impacts on innovation modes, which thus have different effects on the efficiency and novelty of business models

Highlights

Entrepreneurs have increased their attention toward their business models so that their firms will remain competitive in the current markets (Velu & Jacob, 2014)
The study of the recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities has secured an important place within the entrepreneurship research, and some studies highlight the contributions that have been made in this regard due to the concept of entrepreneurial alertness (e.g., Sharma, 2019)
Recent studies have begun to go beyond the study of opportunity recognition by considering the effect of entrepreneurial alertness at the organizational level (Adomako et al, 2018; Roundy et al, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

Entrepreneurs have increased their attention toward their business models so that their firms will remain competitive in the current markets (Velu & Jacob, 2014). Despite the importance that a business model has for the firm, research on what influences or precedes a business model remains scarce (Amit & Zott, 2015). Entrepreneurial alertness helps individuals to understand how opportunities are initiated and pursued (Tang et al, 2012). Entrepreneurial alertness has become related to other variables regarding recognizing influence at the organizational level, such as innovation (Urban, 2017), strategic decisions (Roundy et al, 2018), firm performance (Adomako et al, 2018), and business models (Zhao et al, 2020). Entrepreneurial alertness can help to understand the process of opportunity recognition, and its effects on organizational processes

Methods

Results

Conclusion