Montpellier Research in Management

Entrepreneurship

The Entrepreneurship and SMEs group is directed by Olivier TORRES and Jean-Marie COURRENT. It brings together lecturers from different disciplines, including entrepreneurship, public management, strategy, HRM and management. The focus is on entrepreneurship in the broadest sense of the term, going beyond business start-ups. The group is also cosmopolitan, rich in cultural diversity.

It's the act of entrepreneurship that interests the Entrepreneurship group, from the angle of the entrepreneur (health, profiles, entrepreneurial behavior), the support structures and the ecosystem in which they are organized (business model, performance, processes, selection, coopetition, competitiveness clusters, player strategy, governance), and the companies themselves (sustainable development, corporate social responsibility).

The Entrepreneurship group focuses its research on three major non-exclusive areas: entrepreneurial support lab (1), sustainable development and health (2), entrepreneurship and innovation (3).

Research topics

Theme 1: Entrepreneurial Support Lab

Entrepreneurial Support Lab is a group already identified as part of Labex Entreprendre. It is divided into 2 themes.

- The first focuses on entrepreneurial support provided by support structures in the broadest sense of the term. The aim is to work on changes in business models and new forms of support. Incubators have become businesses like any others. Between cooperation and competition, their strategies are constantly evolving, and their business models are being called into question. New tools need to be invented to maintain a high level of performance in an ecosystem renewed by the arrival of new private players. In parallel with the study of business models for support structures, new forms of support are being investigated, such as those provided to specific target populations (artist entrepreneurs), or to companies marked by flagship values such as liberation or sustainable development (liberated enterprise, sustainable enterprise).

- The second theme focuses on entrepreneurial ecosystems and the pursuit of opportunities. Opportunity pursuit depends in part on the nature of entrepreneurial ecosystems, which offer more or less favorable conditions. This program focuses on the emergence and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Numerous players are developing initiatives to foster the dynamics of innovation and entrepreneurship, giving rise to micro-ecosystems. The challenge is to gain a better understanding of the ecosystem strategies implemented by these players. The program also focuses on the pursuit of opportunities in different contexts, such as local authorities, the internationalization of eco-SMEs, business transfers and poverty. The aim is to better understand the determinants of opportunity pursuit from an individual or collective angle.

Theme 2: Sustainable development and health

The second theme is sustainable development and health. It is also broken down into 2 themes.

- The first focuses on studies of the occupational health of managers and its managerial and entrepreneurial consequences. The aim is to produce actionable knowledge on the health of managers. Cohorts of several hundred company directors have been set up, enabling us to monitor their health and feed longitudinal databases, the raw material for research questions. One current research project aims to define the concept of salutopreneurial capital (a contraction of salutogenic and entrepreneurial) and to demonstrate its positive impact on both entrepreneurship (by mobilizing the concepts of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial vigilance) and health (measured by both the Pines burnout scale and Cohen's GHQ 12).

- The second theme focuses on CSR and sustainable development in SMEs. It studies the representations of sustainable development (SD) among SME managers, as well as the determinants of commitment to SD logics and induced performance. The aim is to study the links between managers' representations and their responsible actions. The aim is to observe and understand managers' decision-making and learning processes with regard to sustainable development, and to identify the gaps between thinking, saying and doing. These studies, which favor qualitative methodologies, focus in particular on the determinants of responsible commitment, as well as on the observation of specific populations and contexts (women entrepreneurs, networks, for example). They also examine the influence of personal, organizational and environmental factors on corporate behavior, control and reporting practices, and the forms and levels of performance in its broadest sense. These studies are part of surveys carried out in ten countries by the International Observatory of Sustainable Development in SMEs®(LabEx Entreprendre). CSR issues are also at the heart of this research program. CSR is assessed in particular through the convictions, values, worldviews and representations of managers, and the impact these dimensions can have on the company's management system and the development of socially responsible practices.

Theme 3: Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Finally, the third research axis, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, is based on research into new entrepreneurial behaviors: types of entrepreneurs and innovations, entrepreneurial contexts, individual and collective behaviors. Several levels of analysis are maintained: individual (entrepreneur, owner-manager, teams, family businesses, etc.), organizational (small businesses, cooperative ventures, etc.) and aggregate (regions, industries). Also studied are entrepreneurial motivations, modes of entrepreneurship and market entry (new ventures, takeovers, internationalization, etc.), entrepreneurial behavior, strategic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial outcomes.

Group managers

Olivier TORRES
Group Manager
Contact

Jean-Marie COURRENT
Assistant Manager
Contact

Permanent members

Associate members

Doctoral students

Main Entrepreneurship and SME conferences

  • AIMS - International Association for Strategic Management,
  • AOM (ENT div.) - Academy Of Management - Entrepreneurship division,
  • BCERC - Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference,
  • CAEI - Congress of the Academy of Entrepreneurship and Innovation,
  • CIFPME - International Francophone Congress on Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
  • ECSB - European Council of Small Business,
  • EURAM - European Academy of Management,
  • ICSB - International Council of Small Business,
  • IECER - Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship Research,
  • NCSB - Nordic Conference on Small Business Research,
  • RENT - Research in Entrepreneurship and Small Business.

Leading entrepreneurship and SME journals

  • E&I - Entreprendre et Innover (unclassified magazine),
  • ERD - Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (CNRS: 3, HCERES: B),
  • ET&P - Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice (CNRS: 1, HCERES: A),
  • FBR - Family Business Review (CNRS: 2, HCERES: A),
  • IJEI - International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CNRS : 4, HCERES : B),
  • ISBJ - International Small Business Journal (CNRS: 2, HCERES: A),
  • JBV - Journal of Business Venturing (CNRS: 1, HCERES: A),
  • JIE - Journal of International Entrepreneurship (CNRS: 3, HCERES: B),
  • JSBM - Journal of Small Business Management (CNRS: 2, HCERES: A),
  • RE - Revue de l'Entrepreneuriat (CNRS: 4, HCERES: B),
  • RFG - Revue Française de Gestion (CNRS : 4, HCERES : B),
  • RIPME - Revue Internationale PME (CNRS : 4, HCERES : B),
  • SBE - Small Business Economics (CNRS: 2, HCERES: A),
  • SEJ - Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (CNRS: 2, HCERES: A).

Conferences :

Videos :

Articles :

Theses :

Bernard Marie AUGUSTIN

Topic: The impact of insolvency proceedings on the health of company directors (SMEs).

Thesis key words: Corporate health, Collective proceedings, Emotions, Affectivity

Thesis supervisor: Olivier TORRES

Thesis sponsor: Charles PUEL

Constance BANC

Topic: Strategy and performance in innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems

Thesis key words: Innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, entrepreneurial support, performance, ecosystem strategy,

Thesis supervisor: Karim MESSEGHEM

Alexandre BENZARI

Topic: Technostress & Health: Comparative study of the effects of technostress on the health and work performance of employees and entrepreneurs.

Thesis key words : Technostress - Health - Work performance - Employees - Entrepreneurs - Effects

Thesis supervisor: Olivier Torres

Thesis co-supervisor: Anis Khedhaouria

Marcela CONTRERAS-CRUZ

Topic: Collective pursuit of international business opportunities for eco-SMEs

Thesis key words: Eco-SME, collective strategies, international entrepreneurship, networks

Thesis supervisor: Karim MESSEGHEM

Thesis co-supervisor: Alexis CATANZARO

Véronique CSANYI-VIRAG

Topic: "To what extent do women in the building trades develop strategic inclusion behaviors?"

Thesis key words: Inclusion,Diversity,Women,

Thesis supervisor: Marion POLGE

Michèle EL-KHOURY

Topic: Accompanying the liberation of companies: a critical approach, methods and challenges

Thesis key words: Accompanying liberation, liberated enterprise, organizational agility, paradox theory, critical approaches,

Thesis supervisor: Sylvie SAMMUT

Thesis co-director: Annabelle JAOUEN

Mireille HERAL

Topic: International support for eco-SMEs: the case of collaborative strategies

Thesis key words: International support,Eco-PME,Collaborative strategies,International entrepreneurship,Network,

Thesis supervisor: Karim MESSEGHEM

Thesis co-supervisor: Alexis CATANZARO

Emna MAALOUL

Topic: Development of CSR in Tunisian SMEs in the context of post-revolutionary social dialogue.

Thesis key words : CSR - SME- Disengagement - Social dialogue

Thesis supervisor: Jean-Marie COURRENT

Thesis co-supervisor: Olfa ZERIBI BEN SLIMANE

Amandine MAUS

Topic: Towards a new business model for entrepreneurial support?

Thesis key words: Entrepreneurship, Forms of entrepreneurial support, generation Y, public support structures, private incubators, performance

Thesis supervisor: Sylvie SAMMUT

Charlotte MOYSAN

Topic: Analysis of the effectiveness of preventive measures on the health of SME managers in situations of collective proceedings (receivership and liquidation).

Thesis key words : Collective proceedings - Health - Entrepreneurs - SMEs - Business failure - Filing for bankruptcy

Thesis supervisor: Olivier TORRES

Ouafa OUALFI

Topic: Support strategies and practices of European academic incubators and performance of academic spin-offs

Thesis keywords: Academic incubators, academic spin-offs, entrepreneurial support, incubator performance.

Thesis supervisor: Karim MESSEGHEM