Montpellier Research in Management

Entrepreneurship

The Entrepreneurship and SMEs group is led by Olivier TORRES and Annabelle JAOUEN (MBS). It brings together faculty members from various disciplines such as entrepreneurship, public management, strategy, HRM, and management. The focus is on entrepreneurship in the broadest sense of the term, beyond just business creation. The group is also cosmopolitan, rich in cultural diversity.

The Entrepreneurship group focuses on entrepreneurship from the perspective of entrepreneurs themselves (health, profiles, entrepreneurial behavior), support structures, and the ecosystem in which they operate (business models, performance, processes, selection, coopetition, competitiveness clusters, stakeholder strategy, governance), and the companies themselves (sustainable development, corporate social responsibility).

The Entrepreneurship group focuses its research in 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 within the framework of Labex Entreprendre. It is divided into two themes.

– The first focuses on entrepreneurial support provided by support structures in the broadest sense of the term. The aim is to work on business model developments and new forms of support. Incubators (the Anglo-Saxon definition of the term) have become businesses like any other. Between cooperation and competition, their strategies are constantly evolving and challenging their business model. New tools need to be invented to maintain a high level of performance in an ecosystem that is being transformed by the arrival of new private players. In parallel with the study of the business models of 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 companies, sustainable companies).

– The second theme focuses on entrepreneurial ecosystems and the pursuit of opportunities. The pursuit of opportunity depends in part on the nature of entrepreneurial ecosystems, which offer conditions that are more or less conducive to it. This program focuses on the emergence and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Many actors are developing initiatives to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, thereby giving rise to micro-ecosystems. The challenge is to better understand the ecosystem strategies implemented by these actors. This program also focuses on the pursuit of opportunity in different contexts, such as local authorities, the internationalization of eco-SMEs, business transfers, and poverty. The objective is to better understand the determinants of the pursuit of opportunity from an individual or collective perspective.

Theme 2: Sustainable development and health

The second focus area is entitled sustainable development and health. It is also divided into two themes.

– The first focuses on studies of executive health in the workplace and its managerial and entrepreneurial consequences. The aim is to produce actionable knowledge on executive health. Cohorts of several hundred business leaders are being formed to monitor their health and feed longitudinal databases, which serve as raw material for research questions. One of the ongoing research projects aims to shape the concept ofsalutopreneurialcapital (a contraction ofsalutogenic and entrepreneurial) and demonstrate its positive impact on both entrepreneurship (particularly by drawing on the concepts of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial vigilance) and on health (measured using both the Pines Burnout Scale and Cohen's GHQ 12).

– The second theme focuses on CSR and sustainable development in SMEs. It examines how SME managers perceive sustainable development (SD), as well as the factors that determine their commitment to SD and the resulting performance. The aim is to study the links between managers' perceptions and their responsible actions. The objective is to observe and understand managers' decision-making and learning processes in relation 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 and on the observation of specific populations and contexts (e.g., women entrepreneurs, networks). Another focus is on studying the influence of personal, organizational, and environmental factors on corporate behavior, control and reporting practices, and the forms and level of performance in its broadest sense. The studies are part of surveys conducted in a dozen countries within 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 beliefs, values, worldviews, and representations of managers and the impact that 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 area, 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 businesses, etc.) and aggregate (regions, industries). The motivations for entrepreneurship, modes of entrepreneurship and market entry (new businesses, takeovers, internationalization, etc.), entrepreneurial behavior, strategic entrepreneurship, and the results of entrepreneurship are also studied.

Group leaders

Olivier TORRES
Group Director
Contact

Jean-Marie COURRENT
Deputy Director
Contact

Permanent Members

Associate Members

Doctoral students

Key conferences on entrepreneurship and SMEs

  • 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 Conference 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 journals in Entrepreneurship and SMEs

  • E&I – Entrepreneurship and Innovation (unclassified journal),
  • 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 – Entrepreneurship Review (CNRS: 4, HCERES: B),
  • RFG – Revue Française de Gestion (CNRS: 4, HCERES: B),
  • RIPME – International SME Journal (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

Subject: The impact on the health of business leaders (SMEs/VSEs) in the context of collective proceedings (reorganization, judicial liquidation)

Thesis keywords: Health of business leaders, Collective proceedings, Emotions, Affectivity

Thesis supervisor: Olivier TORRES

Thesis advisor: Charles PUEL

Constance BANC

Subject: Strategy and performance in innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems

Thesis keywords: Innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, entrepreneurial support, performance, ecosystem strategy,

Thesis advisor: Karim MESSEGHEM

Alexandre BENZARI

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

Thesis keywords: Technostress – Health – Work performance – Employees – Entrepreneurs – Effects

Thesis supervisor: Olivier Torres

Co-supervisor: Anis Khedhaouria

Marcela Contreras-Cruz

Subject: Collective pursuit of international entrepreneurial opportunities for eco-SMEs

Thesis keywords: Eco-SMEs, collective strategies, international entrepreneurship, networks

Thesis advisor: Karim MESSEGHEM

Co-supervisor: Alexis CATANZARO

Véronique Csanyi-Virág

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

Thesis keywords: Inclusion, Diversity, Women,

Thesis supervisor: Marion POLGE

Michèle EL-KHOURY

Subject: Supporting the liberation of companies: a critical approach, methods, and challenges

Thesis keywords: Liberation support, liberated company, organizational agility, paradox theory, critical approaches,

Thesis supervisor: Sylvie SAMMUT

Co-supervisor: Annabelle JAOUEN

Mireille HERAL

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

Thesis keywords: International support, Eco-SMEs, Collaborative strategies, International entrepreneurship, Network,

Thesis advisor: Karim MESSEGHEM

Co-supervisor: Alexis CATANZARO

Emna MAALOUL

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

Thesis keywords: CSR – SMEs – Disengagement – Social dialogue

Thesis supervisor: Jean-Marie COURRENT

Co-supervisor: Olfa ZERIBI BEN SLIMANE

Amandine MAUS

Subject: Towards a new business model for entrepreneurial support?

Thesis keywords: Entrepreneurship, Forms of entrepreneurial support, Generation Y, Public support structures, Private incubators, Performance

Thesis supervisor: Sylvie SAMMUT

Charlotte MOYSAN

Subject: Analysis of the effectiveness of preventive measures on the health of SME managers in collective proceedings (receivership and judicial liquidation)

Thesis keywords: Collective proceedings – Health – Entrepreneurs – SMEs – Business failure – Bankruptcy

Thesis supervisor: Olivier TORRES

Ouafa OUALFI

Subject: Strategies and practices for supporting European academic incubators and the performance of academic spin-offs

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

Thesis advisor: Karim MESSEGHEM