Resilience and Digitally-Advanced Entrepreneurship

This book explores the intersection of digital technologies, entrepreneurship, and resilience, focusing on how small businesses and entrepreneurial ecosystems navigate challenges such as technological maturity, digital transformation, and economic crises.

As digitalization reshapes industries and markets, creating a “digital safety net” has emerged as a prominent mechanism for entrepreneurial resilience. Digitally advanced entrepreneurs leverage technology and innovative business models and adopt agile strategies to grow, while digitally uncertain entrepreneurs struggle to maintain their business models and customers. Digital transformation has been pivotal during the Covid-19 pandemic and enabled greater diversification, enhanced adaptability, improved access to global markets, and novel forms of knowledge collaboration, altogether increasing firms’ propensity to survive and grow. Through topics ranging from blockchain applications in vulnerable ecosystems to the impact of digital overload on well-being, the chapters in this volume examine diverse strategies for adaptation in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Understanding the mechanisms behind digital technologies and entrepreneurial resilience is essential for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to develop rapid policy responses.

This book is an indispensable resource for students, scholars, and researchers interested in entrepreneurship, digital innovation, and business resilience. It is also an essential resource for policymakers and business leaders seeking to understand the evolving role of digital technologies.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Entrepreneurship & Regional Development.

David B. Audretsch is Distinguished Professor at Indiana University Bloomington’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, USA. He also leads research at the Institute for Development Strategies and holds a position at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria.

Maksim Belitski is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at ICD Business School in France and Henley Business School at the University of Reading, UK.

Rosa Caiazza is Professor of Management at Parthenope University of Naples, Italy. She is widely recognized for her work on the role of social and institutional factors in shaping global business strategies and is active in bridging academia and practice within the field of management.

Mark D. Drapeau is Partner and Chief Research Officer at RXN Group and Editor In Chief at Data Catalyst Institute, based in Washington, DC, USA. His work centers on data science, strategic research, and innovation in technology-driven ecosystems.

Matthias Menter is Associate Professor at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, specializing in entrepreneurship, innovation, and regional development. His research investigates the intersections of entrepreneurship ecosystems, knowledge transfer, and economic policy.

William Wales is Professor at the School of Business, University at Albany, State University of New York, USA. His research expertise lies in strategic entrepreneurship, with a focus on entrepreneurial orientation, firm performance, and innovation strategy.