This editorial, written by the guest editors, introduces the special issue on entrepreneurial marketing, technology, and transformative change. The guest editors provide background information about the theme of the special issue. They introduce a conceptual framework which captures the four papers of the special issue, before summarizing them. The editorial closes with a conclusion.
The initial call for papers for this special issue went out in 2023. The guest editors received 19 submissions. Four papers passed all rounds of the independent review process and were ultimately accepted for publication. The guest editors organize the four papers in a comprehensive framework and summarize them. Finally, the guest editors provide conclusions.
The guest editorial describes how the four papers fit into a conceptual framework, addressing research questions with a focus on entrepreneurial marketing mindsets, processes and/or behaviors in the context of technological advancements and transformative change. The papers provide implications for different stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Specifically, they discuss how technology helps entrepreneurs and new ventures adapt to changes in the entrepreneurial ecosystem or how technology can enact changes in these systems.
Besides providing a conceptual framework and an introduction to the special issue, this guest editorial also summarizes the papers appearing in the special issue. The guest editors provide information about the key findings of the four papers and the major implications for entrepreneurial marketing research.
1. Background
Technologies, especially digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital platforms, can disrupt markets. However, new technologies can also help businesses survive periods of disruption, enabling the creation of new products, processes and business models in turbulent market environments (Forbes Business Council, 2023). Technological advancements have the potential to transform the marketing-entrepreneurship interface (MEI) and entrepreneurial marketing (EM) strategies (Plangger et al., 2022). They disrupt how new ventures navigate the marketplace and enable new forms of EM activities.
Consequently, technological advancements and transformative changes to markets influence EM theories and practices. This special issue advances knowledge of EM by exploring how existing EM frameworks and decision-making models are influenced by technology and transformative change. It investigates the interplay between entrepreneurs, their ventures and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the context of technological advancements and transformative change. It contributes to the academic literature on new venture value creation (e.g. Baumol, 1990), corresponding EM strategies (e.g. Eggers et al., 2020) and the support function of entrepreneurial ecosystems (e.g. Wurth et al., 2022) with a focus on EM mindsets, processes and/or behaviors. Specifically, the papers in this special issue provide implications for entrepreneurs and their ventures by describing how entrepreneurs can implement successful EM strategies when exploiting market opportunities in times of disruption. For policymakers, the papers improve the understanding of how stakeholders (e.g. incubator programs) in the entrepreneurial ecosystem can establish valuable support mechanisms for entrepreneurs and their ventures’ approaches to EM.
Conceptually (Figure 1), the special issue considers entrepreneurs and their ventures which operate within entrepreneurial ecosystems, leveraging EM strategies (e.g. specific business models) to navigate economic markets. Decision-making at the MEI is guided by logics (e.g. effectual and causal logics), shaping entrepreneurial orientation and activities. In turn, entrepreneurial orientation is driven by different types of innovation at the MEI (e.g. product, process and business model innovations), each impacting entrepreneurial outcomes and venture performance. In addition, stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (e.g. incubator programs) provide various resources to stimulate EM innovation activities (e.g. business model innovation). However, if venture goals, represented and executed by EM strategies, do not align with long-term sustainability requirements (e.g. UN Sustainable Development Goals), so called marketing myopia (e.g. greenwashing) may occur. Digital technologies (e.g. digital twins) can aid in the EM testing and evaluation processes, helping ventures to align with society’s sustainability goals.
2. Papers included in the special issue
Before the guest editors summarize the research papers in this special issue, they would like to thank the authors and reviewers for the significant amount of hard work and effort that went into this special issue. The call for papers resulted in a considerable number of 19 submissions. After multiple rounds of revisions, four papers made it through the review process.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the first paper, “Navigating start-ups: A qualitative exploration of causal and effectual decision-making in entrepreneurial marketing” by Breit and Volkmann, explores the entrepreneur’s decision logics and its links to the entrepreneur’s orientation and activities. The authors use a set of in-depth interviews of new venture founders and founders’ associates to investigate entrepreneurs’ decision-making processes at the MEI. In this context, the study focusses on how effectuation and causation principles shape entrepreneurs’ actions. “Effectuation” characterizes entrepreneurs’ (non-predictive) decision-making through leveraging available resources to generate possible outcomes, while “causation” refers to focusing on a predefined goal first and finding ways to achieve it. This study adds to the literature by explaining how both logics are used by entrepreneurs to make decisions about EM. The results provide insights for entrepreneurs and other stakeholders (e.g. incubators) in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The results indicate that entrepreneurs dominantly use a causal logic in EM decisions. This predictive logic guides entrepreneurs in their opportunity focus, proactiveness and risk management. The effectual logic plays a complementary role related to adaptability. Therefore, a mix of the two logics can be useful to EM decision-making.
The second article (Figure 1) relies on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of new ventures as its starting point. In “Entrepreneurial Orientation and SME Growth: The Mediating Effect of Product, Process, and Business Model Innovations,” Gameti and Morrish investigate how EO influences business model innovation in the context of new ventures. The authors survey owners and managers of small and medium size firms to explore the venture owner’s and manager’s strategic orientation and decision-making style. In this context, they focus on business model innovation as an important dynamic capability. Their study contributes to the EM and business model innovation literatures and improves our understanding of the factors mediating EO and firm growth. Their quantitative analysis indicates that EO is positively related to firm growth. This direct effect is mediated by business model innovations. Thus, their results inform entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem on the critical role of business model innovations. Different types of innovation can contribute to firm growth. However, comparing business model innovation with product and process innovation, the results indicate that business model innovations outperform the two other types of innovation in terms of facilitating growth.
The third paper, “Incubating Innovation: The Role of Incubators in Supporting Business Model Innovation” by Braun and Suoranta, complements the Gameti and Morrish study because it explores how incubators can stimulate the new venture’s ability to create business model innovations (Figure 1). The authors use semistructured interviews from a sample of directors of incubator programs and new venture founders. They investigate the role of incubator programs, which are structured startup programs providing entrepreneurs with resources such as mentoring, financial support and network access. They add to the literature on incubator programs in new venture development and enrich our understanding of incubators’ effectiveness in improving new venture performance. They offer implications for entrepreneurs and their ventures as well as managers of incubator programs and policymakers. Their results highlight the crucial role of incubator programs in the context of business model innovations. Incubators are an important stakeholder in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, offering entrepreneurs a structured environment, expertise and access to networks and partnerships. Those interviewed report that important support activities include business reviews, emotional support, external perspectives, idea validation and expert hosting. In particular, incubator programs help entrepreneurs build resilience by providing emotional support, which is critical to business model innovation.
Finally, “Employing Digital Twin Technology in the Pursuit to Avert Sustainable Marketing Myopia” by Nyquist, Farshid and Brown explores how entrepreneurs can use digital twin technology to facilitate their EM strategies. Digital twins represent a type of technological advancement that could transform the MEI. Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical systems, combining virtual test environments with real-time data (Uhlemann et al., 2017). The ability of a firm to test and evaluate the impact of their marketing operations in a cost-conscious and flexible digital environment can help the firm achieve its marketing performance and sustainability goals. The article relies on in-depth interviews of managers from marketing and sustainability agencies and technical experts in the field of digital twin technology. In the paper, the authors explore digital twin technology in the context of EM with a focus on avoiding sustainable marketing myopia. They contribute to the EM and sustainability literatures and highlight opportunities for entrepreneurs and their ventures to provide transparent visualizations of a venture’s long-term (e.g. environmental) impact. Real-time modeling and simulation with digital twin technology facilitates market response modeling, which can decrease resource input and help firms quickly adjust their EM strategies to suit changing market conditions. As a public policy lever, supporting new ventures with digital twin technology could make them more sustainable. Overall, this study offers a new perspective on how digital technologies can be leveraged through EM to align with sustainability goals.
3. Conclusion
New ventures are drivers of innovation and transformative change. However, failure rates of new ventures are high, and entrepreneurs require well-designed EM strategies and supportive ecosystems to survive (Eggers et al., 2020). Overall, this special issue contributes to the literature on EM, and it is our hope that it will encourage scholars, practitioners and policymakers to think more critically about how EM allows new ventures and small firms to adapt to changes in the market environment and to enact changes in the marketing environment. The special issue also improves our understanding of entrepreneurial decision-making, investigating decision logics that enable and facilitate innovation. Furthermore, the special issue improves our understanding of how EO can benefit small firms, emphasizing the critical role of business model innovations. Furthermore, the results of the studies in the special issue underscore the importance of support mechanisms in stimulating innovation within entrepreneurial ecosystems. Finally, the special issue describes how digital twins serve as enablers of transformative change in EM activities and how EM strategies can use digital twins to create lasting impact. The empirical studies consider samples of entrepreneurs, managers and other stakeholders in entrepreneurial ecosystems in different countries, using qualitative and quantitative research designs. The guest editors believe that the results of studies tied to the special issue will help entrepreneurs and their new ventures at different stages of the venture life cycle. The key findings from this special issue are generalizable to different industries and business models. Finally, the results may hold for different types of support programs implemented in local entrepreneurial ecosystems.
