Research at the Intersection of Entrepreneurship, Supply Chain Management, and Strategic Management: Opportunities Highlighted by COVID-19

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, research at the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategic management has flourished, as has work at the intersection of strategic management and supply chain management. In contrast, little inquiry has occurred at the intersection of entrepreneurship and supply chain management. This presents a tremendous opportunity, as does the relative lack of work bringing together all three fields. We seek to set the stage for exploiting these opportunities by first describing how incorporating a series of key supply chain concepts—omni-channel, last-mile delivery, supply chain agility, supply chain resiliency, and service recovery—could enrich entrepreneurship research. We then explain how the boundaries of key entrepreneurship concepts—opportunity, entrepreneurial orientation, optimal distinctiveness, bricolage, and fear of failure—could be extended to the supply chain context. Both of these moves bring strategic management concepts into play, as well. In accomplishing our tasks, we draw on examples from how firms attempted to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic via moves spanning entrepreneurship, supply chain management, and strategic management.