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Key challenges in strategic start-up communication: A systematic literature review and an explorative study
Abstract
Der Beitrag "Happy or End: The Role of Strategic Communication in Start-Ups" erhielt den Emerald Impact Award 2019 für den besten Konferenzbeitrag mit Relevanz für die Kommunikationspraxis. Er basiert laus Aussagen der Jury "auf einer sehr fundierten Theorie und bemüht sich, die Forschung auf breitere Konzepte und theoretische Diskussionen zu stützen, die über eine bloße Beobachtung der Startkup-Kommunikation hinausgehen. Basierend auf einer systematischen Literaturanalyse wählten die Autoren einen qualitativ-explorativen Ansatz, der die Außenperspektive von Beratern und Investoren sowie die Innenperspektive bei Existenzgründern und Kommunikationsmanagern (sofern vorhanden) widerspiegelt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen acht Bereiche, in denen Start-ups vor strategischen Kommunikationsherausforderungen stehen, einschließlich der grundlegenden Ausrichtung der strategischen Kommunikation."
Structured Abstract:
Purpose – The paper represents a starting point of a broader research project in strategic start-up communication. The main purpose of this study is to demonstrate the current state of research in this area and to compare those insights with an explorative study on the start-up ecosystem.
Design/methodology/approach – A neo-institutional framework is combined with the dual narrative framework of strategic communication and emergence to explain the emergence of strategic communication in this organizational field (start-up ecosystems). Research questions are derived from a systematic literature review and subjected to exploratory testing in two different qualitative surveys, with experts and investors, reflecting an external perspective, and with start-ups themselves.
Findings – Results from the literature review and the explorative interviews with expert external actors indicate eight areas in which start-ups face strategic communication challenges: the basic orientation of strategic communication, branding, external image, stakeholder relations, allocation of financial resources, owner centricity, human resources and internal communication. External consultants and funders recommend highly planned approaches like target group-oriented communication, well thought-out positioning with uniform messages and precisely applied communication channels. However, the internal perspective of start-ups presents a contrary picture based on emergent products of strategic communication.
Research limitations/implications – The study indicates the importance of both emergence in strategic start-up communication on the one hand, and the demonstration of planned strategic communication on the other hand. Investigating a whole start-up ecosystem in a country regarding the emergence of strategic communication forms, practices and products offers potential for cross-country comparative research.
Originality/value – The article presents the first systematic literature review in the area of strategic start-up communication and a theoretical framework for further investigation. Moreover, the results of the explorative study demonstrate the importance of the different forms of planning and emergence in strategic start-up communication. Hence, this paper provides practical implications for practitioners working and investing in the start-up ecosystem.
Keywords – Strategic start-up communication, Start-up ecosystem, Start-up communication, Emergence, New institutionalism.
... The study of Cantamessa et al. (2018) detects that poor marketing and branding activities are among the main reasons for start-ups to fail. Key challenges identified include a lack of research on branding processes tailored to start-ups, severe resource shortages encompassing time, people, and funding, the pervasive uncertainty and risk of failure, founder-centricity, stakeholder integration, low brand popularity, uncoordinated hiring processes, and a non-linear branding process (Awad and Fatah, 2015;Cantamessa et al. 2018;Chaudhri et al. 2022;Eggers and Kraus, 2016;Morris et al. 2002;Rode and Vallaster, 2005;Wiesenberg et al. 2020;Yang and Aldrich, 2017). ...
... Branding is one of the key challenges for start-ups (Wiesenberg et al. 2020). The literature review exposes the following challenges that ultimately impact a start-ups branding: a lack of research on branding processes for start-ups, resource shortage, a high level of uncertainty and risk of failure, the hiring process, founder centricity and dependency, stakeholder integration, low brand popularity, and a non-linear branding process (Awad and Fatah, 2015;Cantamessa et al. 2018;Chaudhri et al. 2022;Eggers and Kraus, 2016;Krishnan et al. 2020;Morris et al. 2002;Mukul and Saini, 2021;Rode and Vallaster, 2005;Wiesenberg et al. 2020). ...
... Branding is one of the key challenges for start-ups (Wiesenberg et al. 2020). The literature review exposes the following challenges that ultimately impact a start-ups branding: a lack of research on branding processes for start-ups, resource shortage, a high level of uncertainty and risk of failure, the hiring process, founder centricity and dependency, stakeholder integration, low brand popularity, and a non-linear branding process (Awad and Fatah, 2015;Cantamessa et al. 2018;Chaudhri et al. 2022;Eggers and Kraus, 2016;Krishnan et al. 2020;Morris et al. 2002;Mukul and Saini, 2021;Rode and Vallaster, 2005;Wiesenberg et al. 2020). The brand management challenges will be detailed in the following. ...
The necessity for companies to adopt an agile brand management approach to maintain relevance and competitiveness in our dynamic and fast-moving world is a key finding of recent studies. Nevertheless, no study has yet investigated the potential and applicability of the concept of agile branding. Concurrently, start-ups are confronted with the challenge of high failure rates due to shortcomings in brand management. The necessity for start-ups to adopt innovative and dynamic brand strategies arises from the constant internal and external changes that characterise the start-up environment. Previous studies on brand management, by contrast, have mainly focussed on established companies. Given the affinity and need for agility observed in start-ups, agile branding appears to be particularly relevant for start-ups. This study aims to address two research gaps: firstly, to explore the potential of the concept of agile branding and, secondly, to expand academic research of branding practices tailored to start-ups to assist them in overcoming the specific brand management challenges they face. The study draws on an extensive and structured literature review, followed by qualitative semi-structured interviews with eleven experts and 18 start-ups, to discuss the opportunities and challenges of agile branding in the context of start-ups. The results were analysed from the perspective of the five dimensions of agile branding and the dynamic capabilities framework. Agile branding offers start-ups the opportunity to adapt swiftly to market changes, allocate resources efficiently, and reduce risk through data-driven decision-making. Overcoming challenges requires a shift in organisational culture and employee mindset, optimisation of stakeholder feedback processes, and navigation of the complexities of implementation. In conclusion, the advantages of agile branding for start-ups are found to outweigh the disadvantages. The study extends the scarce research on agile branding and provides brand managers and start-up founders with an efficient approach to organising their brand management process with limited resources.
... IPOs can be a pivotal moment in the trajectory of a startup (Li and Zhou, 2023), and effective media management, dialogue, and strategic communication are crucial, given the significant role that media plays in IPOs (Hallahan et al., 2007;Werder et al., 2018;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Additionally, IPOs are a competitive organizational phase, making strategic communication an imperative aspect (Werder et al., 2018). ...
... The selection of an appropriate distribution channel for startups is of utmost importance (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Marketing practitioners and members of the top management team (TMT) must grasp the evolving methods through which the public communicates, connects, consumes, and shares information (Burcher, 2012). ...
... Marketing practitioners and members of the top management team (TMT) must grasp the evolving methods through which the public communicates, connects, consumes, and shares information (Burcher, 2012). However, as a part of the strategic communication process, startups not only choose the right channels of communication but also determine the suitable rhetoric and messages (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). There are three distinct paths of rhetorical research: "rhetoric and identity; rhetoric, culture, and community; and rhetoric and persuasion" (Spinuzzi, 2017). ...
... Understanding the management challenges that can impede the success of startups is crucial (Wiesenberg et al., 2020), and research plays a vital role in assisting aspiring entrepreneurs. For Men (2021), effective communication management is a critical success factor for startups, warranting efficient implementation. ...
... For Men (2021), effective communication management is a critical success factor for startups, warranting efficient implementation. The importance of communication management for startup success is also supported by Wiesenberg et al. (2020), which highlight the need to consider both external and internal aspects in communication management, outlining eight key challenges for strategic communication effectiveness in startups: (1) strategic management, (2) brand management, (3) external image management, (4) stakeholder relationships, (5) financial resources allocation, (6) owner centrality, (7) human resources and (8) internal communication management. The present research specifically focuses on this theme. ...
... Previously seen as merely a support function, it is now recognized as an essential element of business success due to the growing appreciation of intangible aspects (Zerfass et al., 2018). The expectations of society regarding an organization and the management of stakeholders are intertwined with communication management, making it a strategic imperative (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). This argument finds research necessitates not only interdisciplinary collaboration but also novel decision-making approaches to deal with complex situations involving a wide range of variables. ...
Purpose
The aim of this research was to evaluate the maturity level of strategic communication management implemented by Brazilian startups.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), survey and Grey Fixed Weight Clustering modeling techniques. Three experts with extensive academic and practical experience in the subject participated in the AHP process, providing their opinions on the relative importance of eight variables associated with the topic under investigation, thus enabling their prioritization. Concurrently, data were collected through a survey from 23 respondents who have extensive knowledge about the realities of Brazilian startups. The weights derived from the AHP and the survey data were utilized in the Grey Fixed Weight Clustering modeling.
Findings
Based on the opinions of the 23 respondents, the level of implementation of practices related to strategic management, brand management, external image management and internal communication management is superficial. In addition, according to the majority of experts, Brazilian startups exhibited a medium level of maturity to address the key challenges related to communication management. Furthermore, this study reveals that the variables “financial resources allocation,” “stakeholder relationship” and “brand management” were deemed the most significant for the model.
Originality/value
The contributions presented herein can be beneficial for both researchers and startup managers seeking to enhance communication strategies in their organizations. This research also contributes by highlighting how grey systems theory can be extremely useful for conducting decision-making analyses in the context of startups, which is characterized by uncertainty and imprecise information.
... In an overview, Wiesenberg et al. (2020) provided the first assessment of the research status quo concerning entrepreneurial communication and identified six dimensions: resource acquisition, internal communication, external communication, branding, entrepreneurs' communication, and strategic communication. These different dimensions, each garnering many publications, produced a diverse field of research that is extremely complex and heterogeneous. ...
... First, as necessary in emerging and evolving fields (Moritz and Block 2022), we contribute to structuring the research on entrepreneurial communication, showing its thematic evolution. Due to the scattered research landscape, a reliable overview is missing so far (Godulla and Men 2022;Wiesenberg et al. 2020). Primarily through the interplay of two disciplines-communication and entrepreneurship-we contribute by revealing their content structures and identifying trends. ...
... Primarily through the interplay of two disciplines-communication and entrepreneurship-we contribute by revealing their content structures and identifying trends. Since Wiesenberg et al. (2020) have already highlighted initial research areas in their literature review, we extended their approach by further elaborating on the underlying structures of the entrepreneurial communication research field by using bibliometric analyses. Furthermore, our findings are summarized in an integrative framework. ...
Entrepreneurial communication is vital for acquiring resources and building stakeholder relations in startups. This research stream has grown rapidly in recent years and has developed as a multidisciplinary field at the interface of communication and entrepreneurship. However, this rapid development and the plethora of associated perspectives have led to a diverse and fragmented research field with different foci and concepts, making structural overviews difficult. Against this background, we conducted a bibliometric analysis to uncover the hidden structure of previous entrepreneurial communication research and to guide scholars toward a future research agenda. First, we identified 383 articles via the Scopus database, published in 245 academic sources, that covered nearly 50 years of research. We then connected the results of previous research using co-occurrence analysis and a thematic map to highlight the intellectual structure of the field and offer insights into its research clusters. Our algorithmic historiographic analysis illustrates the development of the field over time and highlights upcoming topics. Overall, entrepreneurial communication is crucial, particularly for startups engaging in resource acquisition for employee and investor relations with venture capitalists and business angels.
... Communication is a key factor in shaping relationships between entrepreneurs and stakeholders (Collewaert et al., 2021;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Communication is used by investors, customers, and employees to develop and maintain relationships (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). ...
... Communication is a key factor in shaping relationships between entrepreneurs and stakeholders (Collewaert et al., 2021;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Communication is used by investors, customers, and employees to develop and maintain relationships (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Recent research has shown that due to digitalization, entrepreneurial communication increasingly takes place online, and social media channels play an important role in how entrepreneurs present themselves to their stakeholders (Fischer & Reuber, 2014;Yang & Berger, 2017). ...
... First, we supplemented the discussion of entrepreneurs' communication with information about their digital communication styles (e.g., Fisch & Block, 2020;Obschonka et al., 2020). We found that communication was a central concept in entrepreneur-stakeholder relationships, particularly regarding resource acquisition tasks with different communication tactics (Collewaert et al., 2021;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Previous entrepreneurial communication research has focused on calmer times, and we have extended this research by considering the context of a global crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, with its various detrimental economic and psychological effects, for our data. ...
Purpose
Entrepreneurial communication describes the communication activities of entrepreneurs and is an essential tool for entrepreneurs to build relationships. However, there is a lack of research regarding how entrepreneurs adapt their communication styles in times of crisis. Nevertheless, entrepreneurial communication during a crisis is essential because entrepreneurs must continue communicating with their stakeholders and be visible. In this regard, communication has the central aim of preventing the startup from suffering any damage that may result from the crisis. Thus, the present paper explores potential shifts in the communication styles of entrepreneurs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined the digital footprints of 780 entrepreneurs based in the USA on the social network Twitter. This study used a longitudinal dataset with the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to analyze 110,283 tweets sent pre-crisis and during the first wave of COVID-19.
Findings
The results of the exploratory analysis revealed a connection between crisis and both analytical thinking and emotional responses. In the case of emotions, the results also suggest that entrepreneurs who had already received funding from venture capital investors remained emotionally robust during the crisis, as evidenced by the expression of more positive emotions compared to entrepreneurs without funding.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurial communication and adds the context of an exogenous shock to this research stream. Furthermore, this study highlights the effects of venture funding on the digital communication style of entrepreneurs, especially in the context of expressed emotions, and suggests emotional robustness for these entrepreneurs.
... Even though the skills approach can be questioned, "[e]ntrepreneurship is the creation of new organizations" (Gartner, 1988, p. 62) and this person of the entrepreneur is related to this process. Another argument is the rising body of literature on startup communication (e.g., González-Cruz et al., 2020;Men et al., 2018;Simon & Leker, 2016;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). These orient partly on internal communication perspectives of startups, e.g., leadership communication (Men et al., 2018) or team communication (González-Cruz et al., 2020), partly on external communication (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). ...
... Another argument is the rising body of literature on startup communication (e.g., González-Cruz et al., 2020;Men et al., 2018;Simon & Leker, 2016;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). These orient partly on internal communication perspectives of startups, e.g., leadership communication (Men et al., 2018) or team communication (González-Cruz et al., 2020), partly on external communication (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Even though startups can be assumed partly as already existing entities, the term "startup" includes for example, the so-called preseed phase, where the startup itself as a company is not yet found (Kollmann et al., 2020). ...
... Through the lens of formation, the underlying assumption identified assumes entrepreneurial communication either as skill of an entrepreneur (e.g., Iacob & Hristache, 2017) or as communication in/ from/with startups (e.g., Men et al., 2018;Wiesenberg et al., 2020) including entrepreneurial marketing perspective (e.g., Bruhn, 2015;Freiling & Kollmann, 2015). To challenge this assumption, theoretical approaches of entrepreneurship research might support theory development and creation of a research program in entrepreneurial communication in relation to the as-formation metaphora. ...
This article aims to build a better understanding of entrepreneurial communication and strategic communication. The term entrepreneurial is finding its way into the discussion of communication science in general and strategic communication in particular, for example, through the consideration of startups. So far, the term entrepreneurial communication remains vague, is hardly defined and is not systematically distinguished from strategic communication. By applying an analogies lens in the context of problematizing, differences between the terms entrepreneurial and strategic in entrepreneurial communication and strategic communication are explored based on selected given definitions. As a result, three unifying dimensions–development stage, mode, and logic–are developed to highlight fundamental differences between the two terms. To create potential for a future creation of entrepreneurial communication as research program, and to elaborate on future potential for strategic communication in relation to this, central theoretical approaches in entrepreneurship research and their potential to research entrepreneurial communication are explored. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
... Even in academics, there are divergent views on Start-ups and MSMEs. There are research papers that state that Start-ups and MSMEs are similar types of firms (Silva et al., 2020;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Several LRs papers on MSME/SME are considering Start-ups to be a part of MSMEs (Demartini & Beretta, 2019;Hossain & Kauranen, 2016;Nolan & Garavan, 2016). ...
... However, no paper seems to have brought out the commonality among all these firms, which are named differently. Literature reviews on Start-ups revealed that the term Startups and SME/MSME referred to (a) similar types of firms (Silva et al., 2020;Wiesenberg et al., 2020), or (b) different kinds of firms (Hanchi & Kerzazi, 2020;Ojaghi et al., 2019) and (c) in some places, they have been used interchangeably (Silva et al., 2020). There is also a need to investigate how Start-ups are conceptually co-located with MSMEs. ...
... A methodology oriented to help organizations carry out experiments by building an MVP and iterate when looking for an innovative and sustainable business model (Bortolini et al., 2018) Silicon Valley start-ups 2 Silicon Valley start-ups Start-ups, located in Silicon Valley in the US, were known to create innovative companies that became a driving force for countries'/regions' economic growth. Start-ups that have the potential to become an innovative company and moving the regional economy upwards are referred to as Silicon Valley start-ups (Wiesenberg et al., 2020) Corporate spin-off 1 Corporate spin-off A venture that is nested within a large organization, where decision making is influenced by the parent firm (Knight et al., 2020) 22 ...
Start-ups are entrepreneurial ventures, having a high risk of failure (Bortolini et al., 2018; Spender et al., 2017). The risk of failures of Start-ups can be minimized if they are characterized well, and the appropriate macro- and micro-level policy interventions can be introduced. Our literature review (LR) on Start-ups reveals that they are addressed by different names, namely, Hi-Tech firms, University spin-offs, Innovative Start-ups (ISs), Lean Start-ups, Silicon Valley Start-ups and New Technology-Based Firms (NTBF). (Tripathi, Seppanen et al., 2018; Silva et al., 2020; Wiesenberg et al., 2020). It is also observed that Start-ups are referred to as small business and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). A systematic literature review (SLR) of Start-ups is presented here and used as the basis for characterizing them. We propose (proposition-1) that these Start-up firms, addressed by different names, as referred above, can be grouped, characterized and identified as ISs.
Based on a robust characterization of ISs, this article proposes that ISs are a subset of MSMEs. From a comparative study of ISs and MSME, we propose (proposition-2) a framework that shows MSMEs can be conceptually split into ISs and Conventional MSMEs (C-MSMEs), with an intersection between ISs and C-MSME. This study has also identified four new research areas related to Start-ups and MSMEs. The above characterization and differentiation of ISs from other entrepreneurial ventures will help policymakers, entrepreneurs, and investors to understand ISs and C-MSMEs better and develop suitable policy interventions and risk mitigation strategies.
... Even in academics, there are divergent views on Start-ups and MSMEs. There are research papers that state that Start-ups and MSMEs are similar types of firms (Silva et al., 2020;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Several LRs papers on MSME/SME are considering Start-ups to be a part of MSMEs (Demartini & Beretta, 2019;Hossain & Kauranen, 2016;Nolan & Garavan, 2016). ...
... However, no paper seems to have brought out the commonality among all these firms, which are named differently. Literature reviews on Start-ups revealed that the term Startups and SME/MSME referred to (a) similar types of firms (Silva et al., 2020;Wiesenberg et al., 2020), or (b) different kinds of firms (Hanchi & Kerzazi, 2020;Ojaghi et al., 2019) and (c) in some places, they have been used interchangeably (Silva et al., 2020). There is also a need to investigate how Start-ups are conceptually co-located with MSMEs. ...
... A methodology oriented to help organizations carry out experiments by building an MVP and iterate when looking for an innovative and sustainable business model (Bortolini et al., 2018) Silicon Valley start-ups 2 Silicon Valley start-ups Start-ups, located in Silicon Valley in the US, were known to create innovative companies that became a driving force for countries'/regions' economic growth. Start-ups that have the potential to become an innovative company and moving the regional economy upwards are referred to as Silicon Valley start-ups (Wiesenberg et al., 2020) Corporate spin-off 1 Corporate spin-off A venture that is nested within a large organization, where decision making is influenced by the parent firm (Knight et al., 2020) 22 ...
This paper focuses on the risks faced by Start-ups in India, and the way these risks can be mitigated by using various Strategy, Managerial, Operations, and Accounting tools and techniques, which are together referred to lately as “Essential Tools for Management Accountants”, abbreviated here as ETMA. Any Start-up grows, when it is headed by a competent entrepreneur and functions/operates in a conducive market. In addition, effective application of ETMA is expected to cause faster and robust growth of Start-ups. There are also evidences from the literature that a majority of the Start-ups, across the world, fail to grow and perform. The reasons for this are many, but keen analysts of Start-ups have observed that these Start-ups are unable to perceive the risks they face, or do so incorrectly, and/or do not take timely corrective actions. This paper examines relevant ETMA that can be used for identifying and dealing with the risks that Start-ups face.
Many mature and relatively larger corporate organisations, have adequate financial and manpower resources (both, in quantity and quality) available with them for risk management and implement most of the ETMA tools. However, Start-ups do not possess such resources and find risk management a difficult task, and consequently their overall performance suffers in terms of their markets, finances, operations, and even their image or perception held by the stakeholders.
This paper discusses the main risks that Start-ups in India face, and how ETMA tools and techniques can be used effectively to deal with these risks. Although India provides the geographic context, the observations and insights presented in this paper should be easily adapted and applicable in many other geographic contexts as well. In this sense, this paper does offer generalizable knowledge inputs to academicians as well as practitioners concerning Start-ups. The failures that Start-ups face are listed and various ETMA that will be useful in dealing with these failures are identified and mapped on to the corresponding failures. This is perhaps the first such mapping proposed for Start-ups, and it is based on Indian Start-ups’ experiences that have been identified in research as well as through direct, personal and intensive interviews with relevant experts in this domain. The paper concludes by offering some suggestions to Indian Start-ups to manage risks in a cost effective manner by using the relevant ETMA.
... Even in academics, there are divergent views on Start-ups and MSMEs. There are research papers that state that Start-ups and MSMEs are similar types of firms (Silva et al., 2020;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Several LRs papers on MSME/SME are considering Start-ups to be a part of MSMEs (Demartini & Beretta, 2019;Hossain & Kauranen, 2016;Nolan & Garavan, 2016). ...
... However, no paper seems to have brought out the commonality among all these firms, which are named differently. Literature reviews on Start-ups revealed that the term Startups and SME/MSME referred to (a) similar types of firms (Silva et al., 2020;Wiesenberg et al., 2020), or (b) different kinds of firms (Hanchi & Kerzazi, 2020;Ojaghi et al., 2019) and (c) in some places, they have been used interchangeably (Silva et al., 2020). There is also a need to investigate how Start-ups are conceptually co-located with MSMEs. ...
... A methodology oriented to help organizations carry out experiments by building an MVP and iterate when looking for an innovative and sustainable business model (Bortolini et al., 2018) Silicon Valley start-ups 2 Silicon Valley start-ups Start-ups, located in Silicon Valley in the US, were known to create innovative companies that became a driving force for countries'/regions' economic growth. Start-ups that have the potential to become an innovative company and moving the regional economy upwards are referred to as Silicon Valley start-ups (Wiesenberg et al., 2020) Corporate spin-off 1 Corporate spin-off A venture that is nested within a large organization, where decision making is influenced by the parent firm (Knight et al., 2020) 22 ...
Entrepreneurial ventures can be structurally classified, in terms of their sizes, as Micro, Small, Medium and Large enterprises. Among these ventures, there is a group that can be identified as Disruptive Start-ups (DSU). These are studied in this paper by analysing existing definitions, theoretical models and frameworks in the field of entrepreneurship.
The study has revealed the following typical characteristics of Disruptive Start-ups, viz., (i) they develop and commercialize new products/services through innovation, (ii) they fulfil latent needs of customers or solve customers’ problems, (iii) they are adaptable and they keep pivoting towards implementing scalable and repeatable business models, (iv) they use technology developed from Research & Development (R&D), (v) they have a small, flat organization of creative, capable and innovative employees, and (vi) they operate in a complex and uncertain environment and thus get exposed to high risks of failures.
In this paper, these Disruptive Start-ups have been distinguished from other types of business ventures in the domain of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). This study has revealed that there is a dividing line between Disruptive Start-ups and other Conventional MSMEs (CMSMEs). The above characterization and differentiation will help policy makers, investors and other entrepreneurs to understand both Disruptive Start-ups and Conventional MSMEs.
... Autores como Kollmann y Kuckertz (2006) o Wiesenberg et al. (2020) hablan de una "nueva economía" emergente desde hace dos décadas, en las que se han incrementado las denominadas empresas de nueva creación o startups. Estos autores identifican como rasgos comunes a esta categoría el hecho de que presenten: a) un rendimiento económico superior a la media; b) se encuentran en una fase temprana de desarrollo (inferior diez años); c) presentar un alto grado de innovación; y d) ser escalables en cuanto a volumen de negocio y recursos humanos. ...
... Aunque algunos autores definen "startup" como toda empresa innovadora creada en los últimos 10 años (Kollmann et al., 2016;Spigel, 2017;Wiesenberg et al., 2020) el concepto de startups, al menos en el entorno europeo, supone un periodo más corto de actividad para ser contemplados como tal, esto es 5 años, tal y como se indica en el nuevo proyecto de ley española sobre startups (El País, 2022). Y aunque es deseable que presenten un alto grado innovador, en el caso de Aveiro, sólo la mitad de éstas lo ponen en valor en sus herramientas de comunicación corporativas a través de sus páginas web oficiales. ...
Introducción: la innovación para emprender modelos de negocios responsables y sostenibles es la máxima actual en la lista de prioridades de la Unión Europea, en consonancia con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible marcados por las Naciones Unidas en su Agenda internacional para el 2030. La creación y desarrollo de proyectos y empresas conscientes de su impacto en el planeta a corto, medio y largo plazo generan mucho más valor cuando este liderazgo proviene de una vocación empresarial femenina, al optimizar el valor de la diversidad en la gestión de los recursos, tradicionalmente dirigidos por el ecosistema masculino. Metodología: se aplica una triangulación metodológica con entrevistas en profundidad a informantes clave internacionales, análisis de contenidos digitales en las regiones de Andalucía (España) y Aveiro (Portugal) y la revisión de literatura científica previa. Resultados: las nuevas startups hispano lusas siguen siendo lideradas mayoritariamente por hombres, mientras que la cuota de liderazgo emprendedor femenino abarca en torno a un 26,5% del total de la muestra. Discusión: aunque exista un amplio rango de mejora en presencia y comunicación, las mujeres están incrementando su actividad emprendedora e innovadora. En todo caso, la co-responsabilidad con la comunidad y el cuidado del legado medioambiental son valores de diferenciación profesional aún latentes. Conclusiones: la investigación pone de manifiesto datos objetivos actuales internacionales referentes a la comunicación digital corporativa, que permiten ofrecer una visión completa sobre la realidad de las mujeres que están apostando por modelos de negocios cuya misión, visión y valores se centran en la sostenibilidad.
... Along with this phenomenon, Indonesian startup businesses are also growing significantly. Wiesenberg et al. (2020) revealed that startups are different from other businesses, because they must always innovate and grow. Since startups dominate business markets around the world, the government has finally facilitated a supporting ecosystem (Spiegel 2017 in Wiesenberg et al. 2020). ...
... Wiesenberg et al. (2020) revealed that startups are different from other businesses, because they must always innovate and grow. Since startups dominate business markets around the world, the government has finally facilitated a supporting ecosystem (Spiegel 2017 in Wiesenberg et al. 2020). For example, in Indonesia, there are non-cash banking service facilities that make it easier for startup businesses, which are equipped with e-commerce transaction service features, capital loans, bank assurance, and investment. ...
... Along with this phenomenon, Indonesian startup businesses are also growing significantly. Wiesenberg et al. (2020) revealed that startups are different from other businesses, because they must always innovate and grow. Since startups dominate business markets around the world, the government has finally facilitated a supporting ecosystem (Spiegel 2017 in Wiesenberg et al. 2020). ...
... Wiesenberg et al. (2020) revealed that startups are different from other businesses, because they must always innovate and grow. Since startups dominate business markets around the world, the government has finally facilitated a supporting ecosystem (Spiegel 2017 in Wiesenberg et al. 2020). For example, in Indonesia, there are non-cash banking service facilities that make it easier for startup businesses, which are equipped with e-commerce transaction service features, capital loans, bank assurance, and investment. ...
... As a result, start-ups and the businesspeople who founded them are frequently the key players in the environment. In particular, Wiesenberg et al (2020) observed that It was noted that prior research on ecosystem functions tended to concentrate on "high-growth start-ups" rather than more conventional definitions of entrepreneurship such as "self-employment" or "small businesses," with the justification that it is this type of wealth creation that helps foster, efficiency, and work opportunities. ...
... Poorly developed infrastructure, a cumbersome bureaucracy, opaque rules, a scarcity of trained labor, some of the issues that Myanmar enterprises face include limited market access and limited technological progress. According to Park et al (2017); Rijal et al (2021); Wiesenberg et al (2020), 89 percent of setup in Myanmar based on personal or familial savings or assets for beginning investment, while only 17 % of the entrepreneurs depended on credit facilities from the beginning, and % had not implemented for a mortgage in the two years prior to the establishment the enterprise. ...
On daily basis a number of startups are founded all over the world, including in Kenya. However, a few live to celebrate their first birthday. Therefore, this article delves into the financing need, relevance, facets and the constraints facing startups in Kenya. There is evidence that the global financial situation has adversely affected not only the establishment and continuation of enterprises but also innovative incapability to access finance from
conventional financial systems. This study was based on desktop review where secondary
data was analyzed to ascertain the misapprehension surrounding financing start-ups in Kenya.
The findings indicated that there is need for various stakeholders in the startup space to come
up with relevance innovative startup financing options to overcome the constraints they
experience from the funds provided for the MSMEs and from other conventual financing
systems in the country. With proper financing the government can tap on the start
uniqueness and ability to scale within a short time and provide solution to the larger
unemployment rate in the county.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Startup Ecosystem, Startup Financing, Startup Infrastructure,
Kenya
... Research focused on start-up branding is informed by diverse disciplinary lenses which may explain the varied perspectives on the role of communication within this domain (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Using entrepreneurial behavior as their point of departure, Mueller et al. (2012) found that start-up entrepreneurs in both early and growth stages spend a majority of their working time communicating with others. ...
... The 4C dimensions emerging from our research demonstrate the role and relevance of strategic communication in the start-up brandbuilding process. Through this, we show how entrepreneurial practices are communicatively enacted and embrace the call to abandon a functional and linear branding approach centred on visual design in favor of an innovative communication approach (Cornelissen et al., 2012;Van Ruler, 2018;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Below we delineate the implications of our research. ...
The proliferation of start-ups and their contribution to the global economy is well-documented as is their high failure rate, a paradox attributable in large part to the inadequate attention start-ups ascribe to establishing a strong brand. Premised on the idea that brand-building is an active process of meaning-making and an assemblage of layers of professional and material activities, our study offers an empirically grounded approach to start-up branding. Based on an inductive analysis of interviews with co-founders of 15 start-up and scale-up brands, we propose a process framework of start-up branding that highlights the strategic communication processes by which entrepreneurs bring their products to market. Through this contribution, we make clear that entrepreneurial brand building is not a one-size-fits all process and that there is no linear pathway. While the framework is not predictive of success, it is indicative of a new formulation of how strategic communication can be used to understand and evaluate brand processes within entrepreneurial organizations.
... Both national and organisational culture, communities of practice and even personality traits could all be questioned to gain more in-depth insight into how such expectations are formed. Managing knowledge in start-ups, in particular, is quite challenging due to the increasing complexity of a growing company (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Thus, ensuring an effective internal communication mechanism in such initiatives is critical to overcoming the socio-psychological barriers debated. ...
Knowledge sharing has become the critical success factor for effective knowledge management since it bridges the gap between knowledge creation and utilisation. So far, socio-psychological factors have yet to attract the attention of scholars despite numerous barriers impeding the flow of knowledge. The current study is, therefore, designed to develop a self-reporting measurement instrument that uncovers hidden sharing barriers triggered by negative outcome expectations. To test the psychometric properties of the newly designed instrument, a stepwise procedure was applied. The findings indicate that the instrument aimed at developing is a multidimensional construct consisting of 13 items and four dimensions (assumption of being ignored, assumption of not meeting expectations, assumption of being non-sense and assumption of conflict avoidance). The results of this study provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the 13-item negative outcome expectation scales as a measure of hidden assumptions towards knowledge sharing.
... In particular, external factors represent barriers to market entrance and product adoption, which are sector-specific, as documented by Lim and Anderson (2016) for the healthcare case. Wiesenberg et al. (2020) identifies that the factors determining the success of new entrepreneurial activity in an existing ecosystem do not have an immediate impact. Instead, they can carry a delayed effect in the evolutionary process of a startup hub. ...
In our work, we model the dynamics of a startup ecosystem through a delayed differential equation that considers the system growth’s driving factors. The work presents a theoretical and numerical analysis to study the equilibrium and the stability of the described time delay model. The former ensures the model’s desirable characteristic and the equilibrium solution’s local stability. The latter serves the purpose of studying global stability by varying the equation parameters. This study can devise helpful insights for policymakers, who take action to foster business incentives in their area of operation, and entrepreneurs, who can observe a quantitative assessment of an information spillover in a given startup ecosystem.
... For Wiesenberg et al., (2020), reputation represents one of the key challenges in strategic communication for startups, as it can significantly influence their differential success. In a wider perspective, Men et al., (2021) define strategic communication as the coordinated set of actions covering various disciplines, aimed at fulfilling an organisation's mission and achieving its objectives. ...
Effective PR management is considered essential in the first years of a startups's life, as it contributes to its viability and sustainability through strategic communication planning. The overall objective of this study4is to analyze the startups landscape in Andalusia, Spain, with a special focus on the Public Relations (PR) strategies of women-led companies. Secondary objectives include: 1) To identify trends in female entrepreneurship in Andalusia and their relationship with PR; 2) To analyze the professional profile of women in PR roles in Andalusian startups; and 3) To propose communication strategies aimed at attracting clients and investors. The methodology combines a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis with data from Web of Science and VOSviewer, together with a questionnaire applied to 31 Andalusian startups. This approach allowed to analyse patterns in PR management and female representation. The findings show an increase in citations of articles on female entrepreneurship, highlighting the provinces of Malaga and Seville, which account for 61% of entrepreneurial initiatives in the region. Improving policies in these areas could boost businesses performance and the growth of new companies. In addition, the results reveal a growth in female leadership, although it still faces challenges, such as under-representation in senior positions. Key strategies include the use of social media, educational content and collaborations with influencers, which are essential to improve visibility and attract investors. This study highlights the need to strengthen PR in startups, professionalise its management and promote female leadership to foster sustainability and competitiveness in a dynamic environment.
... Digital marketing presents startups with several challenges, including limited resources, a lack of experience, and fierce competition. Budgetary constraints prevent startups from investing in all-encompassing marketing plans, which may hinder their ability to successfully use cutting-edge digital tools and platforms (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). Smaller firms find it difficult to handle the complexities of digital marketing, from social media management to SEO, which is made worse by the absence of internal experience (Mukul et al., 2022). ...
... Recent branding studies have pointed to the key role of digital channels in building the brands of startups (Wiesenberg, 2020), especially technology startups, where staff are often highly skilled in digital platforms (Ferri et al., 2020). In this vein, Witt and Rode (2005) support the importance of developing the corporate brand already at an early stage of the business through a brand strategy based on coordination with stakeholders and a sound definition of corporate values and identity. ...
Purpose
Through the theoretical lens of social practice theory, the aim of this research is to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) high-tech startups build their brands in an omni-digital environment, particularly by focusing on the most important digital touchpoints implemented to interact with stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative analysis was performed by conducting 36 semi-structured interviews with key informants operating in B2B high-tech startups, including founders, CEOs, managing directors, marketing managers and other actors from this sector.
Findings
The results reveal the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of startups in their brand-building processes across digital touchpoints in an omni-digital environment.
Originality/value
This study offers new theoretical insights into new ventures’ brand management strategies through the development of a theoretical framework in which the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of the brand-building process of startups are identified. Although the recent literature has addressed the topic of startup brand building, this is the first study, to the authors’ knowledge, focused on the brand-building process of B2B high-tech startups in an omni-digital environment.
... Startups often face a range of challenges in the early stages of their development, including limited resources, intense competition, and the need to build brand awareness quickly (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). In this environment, internal marketing can play a critical role in helping companies achieve their goals by engaging and motivating employees, fostering a positive corporate culture, and aligning employees' goals with the company's overall mission and vision (Wolf et al., 2022). ...
Background
The startup scene in Croatia has been accelerating in development in the last decade, partly due to the available European Union funds. Organisational culture is one of the main prerequisites for the growth and development of successful startups. Internal marketing is often crucial to reshaping positive organisational culture and fostering innovative employee behaviour.
Objectives
The purpose of this article was to investigate a main characteristic of the startup culture in the Republic of Croatia in order to recommend actions and activities of internal marketing that can help companies achieve their goals faster by engaging and motivating their employees and fostering a positive culture change.
Methods/Approach
Survey research was conducted on a sample of employees of Croatian startups. The main informant approach was used to collect the answers.
Results
The analysis reveals that as startups grow, they enhance gender diversity and opportunities for idea sharing yet face challenges in maintaining autonomy and constructive feedback. Additionally, mentoring, as one of the venues of internal marketing within startups, significantly bolsters adherence to company principles and fosters a culture of constructive problem-solving, highlighting the critical role of mentorship in shaping a positive organisational environment.
Conclusions
Results show that startups in the Republic of Croatia still have an opportunity to develop further and improve employee-focused culture and to apply several internal marketing activities in order to engage and retain their employees, such as internal communication, professional development, employee benefits, employee recognition and employee engagement.
... As they are characterized by "innovative business concepts, high growth potential and a relatively young age" (Wolf et al., 2022, p. 255), start-ups are also influenced by limited processes and routines as well as financial and human resources (Men et al., 2018). While a start-up's success is therefore dependent on a complex set of variables and contexts (Baker & Welter, 2018), founder centricity (also referred to as owner centricity, founder focus, or founder centrality) is often mentioned as a specific, grand liability (Özkoyuncu & Aslan, 2021;Wiesenberg et al., 2020). As Morris et al. (2013) reference when summarizing previous research in the field, it is generally accepted in the literature "that the entrepreneur/founder is one of a number of key factors that determine the performance of new ventures" (p. ...
Digital transformation is a driver for increased media intra- and entrepreneurship in journalism, which in turn forces journalistic decision-makers to renegotiate professional roles and identities and to apply entrepreneurial thinking. Simultaneously, however, media entrepreneurship research indicates that journalistic entrepreneurs often only apply a normative creator perspective and founding teams are too homogeneous. This is problematic because the entrepreneur plays a decisive role for start-up performance, a concept coined as founder centricity. As this concept is often mentioned but rarely defined, this study elaborates on it by focusing on the founder as both a central personality (characteristics) and as a focal actor for decisions (areas of impact). Using an interdisciplinary scoping review (N = 44), this paper introduces a Founder Fit Framework and maps seven areas of impact of the founder, which are derived from the literature and discussed to be influenced by the founder fit. Based on these results, a roadmap for future research and practice of media entrepreneurship is developed.
... Organizacijos pasakojimai ir argumentai apie jų teikiamas paslaugas, veiklą gali nulemti bendravimą su suinteresuotomis išorinėmis auditorijomis, ir galiausiai tai padeda kurti deramą įvaizdį, pasitikėjimą ir pan. Prielaida tam yra santykių su konkrečiais žmonėmis kūrimas, o tai, kaip rodo moksliniai tyrimai, daro didelę įtaką organizacijos veiklai (Wiesenberg et al., 2019). ...
The article analyses organizational communication, external communication, organizational communication models and digital communication. A practical quantitative study provides an analysis of the digital communication of Šiauliai District Municipality from the point of view of users. The study reveals how observers perceive the digital communication of Šiauliai District Municipality. Keywords: organizational communication, external communication, corporate communication models, digital communication.
... In other words, the founder's reputation becomes the startup's reputation. In addition, it is a fundamental competitive lever for startups, as it affects the ability to raise funds [20]. ...
This research study explores the effect of promotion practices, training initiatives, and leadership style on employee career development in a start-up company. The study employs a mixed-methods research design, including quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, to gather comprehensive data. The findings from the quantitative analysis indicate a positive correlation between promotion opportunities and employee career advancement, as well as a positive relationship between the effectiveness of training programs and perceived skill development. The qualitative analysis reveals the importance of supportive and empowering leadership behaviors and the impact of specific training initiatives on employee career growth. The integration of quantitative and qualitative findings provides a holistic understanding of the factors influencing employee career development in start-up companies. The implications of the study contribute to theoretical knowledge and offer practical recommendations for start-up companies to optimize promotion practices, training initiatives, and leadership styles to support employee career development.
... Although some authors define "startup" as any innovative company created in the last 10 years (Kollmann et al., 2016;Spigel, 2017;Wiesenberg et al., 2020) the concept of startups, at least in the European environment, assumes a shorter period of activity to be contemplated as such, that is 5 years, as indicated in the new Spanish draft law on startups (El País, 2022). And although it is desirable that they present a high degree of innovation, in the case of Aveiro, only half of them give it value in their corporate communication tools through their official websites. ...
Female sustainability and startups: analysis of the leadership in communication by women entrepreneurs in Spain and Portugal Sostenibilidad femenina y startups: análisis de la comunicación del liderazgo de mujeres emprendedoras en España y Portugal Rocío Torres-Mancera Universidad de Málaga. Spain.
... Although some authors define "startup" as any innovative company created in the last 10 years (Kollmann et al., 2016;Spigel, 2017;Wiesenberg et al., 2020) the concept of startups, at least in the European environment, assumes a shorter period of activity to be contemplated as such, that is 5 years, as indicated in the new Spanish draft law on startups (El País, 2022). And although it is desirable that they present a high degree of innovation, in the case of Aveiro, only half of them give it value in their corporate communication tools through their official websites. ...
Innovation in undertaking responsible and sustainable business models is currently at the top of the list of the European Union's priorities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in its international Agenda expected to be reached by 2030. The creation and development of activities, projects, and companies aware of their impact on the planet in the short, medium, and long term, generate much more value when this leadership comes from a female entrepreneurial vocation, by enriching and optimizing the value of diversity in the management of resources, traditionally directed by the male ecosystem. Methodology: a methodological triangulation is applied through in-depth interviews with international key informants, analysis of digital contents in the regions of Andalusia (Spain) and Aveiro (Portugal), and the review of previous scientific literature. Results: The new Spanish-Portuguese startups are still mostly led by men, while the share of female entrepreneurial leadership represents 26.5% of the total sample. Discussion: although there is a wide range for improvement in presence and communication, women are increasing their entrepreneurial and innovative activity. In any case, co-responsibility with the community and care for the environmental legacy are still latent values for professional differentiation. Conclusions: The research highlights current international objective data on entrepreneurial corporate digital communication, providing a complete picture of the reality of women who are committing to business models whose mission, vision, and values are focused on sustainability.
... This is particularly important for startup companies that are creating the foundation for their scaleup phase. Although startup companies tend to use social media actively (Almotairy et al., 2000), network oriented social media platforms are important for identity construction of entrepreneurs' individual and their organization's identity (Horst et al., 2020), and they have become widely followed on social media platforms, research focusing on startups' strategic online narratives is scarce (Wiesenberg et al., 2020). These narratives become articulated in social interactions, texts, and other media. ...
In this qualitative case study, positioning itself within the social constructionist approach, we aimed to investigate and interpret identity narration and organizational identity in strategic external and internal communication at the health technology startup company Naava Group Oy. By analyzing three different datasets (Twitter, blog posts, and interviews), we examined how organizational identity was emerged and which way it was strategic in storytelling and narratives. The results indicate that the startup's strategic social media identity storytelling seemed strategically crafted, as various voices were detected to narrate the same stories that repeated the same narrative content. The study also interestingly reveals that the four identities emerging from narrative storytelling were interpermeable and strongly connected to the narratives’ content. The social media narratives and identities varied slightly during the 8-year period that the datasets, in total, covered. However, the identities communicated on social media were more coherent than the internal identities expressed by employees. The findings suggest that, in strong startup identity creation, the cohesiveness of the identity storytelling, the voices that narrate the identity construction, and the content and temporal dimensions of the narrated stories are strategic key factors.
... Future strategic communication studies should pay attention to whether or how SSEs justify scalability (or the lack of it), because the latter have non-trivial implications for SSEs' ability to foster "local ties, communal trust-building, and imprinting of the founder's values and morals" (Smith et al., 2012, p. 11). Relatedly, future entrepreneurial communication may explore how the personalities of the SSEs founders are described (by themselves or by others) because anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that a focus on highlighting the founders' passion (for the social mission) and their tolerance for starting and leading SEs in uncertain ecosystems (Wiesenberg et al., 2020) tends to obscure the business mission. For example, in a local business weekly report, Sandra the founding executive director of the SEHW was described as "a tireless advocate for social justice and equality" who "bring people together and motivate them to do more than they thought they could do by themselves." ...
Supported social enterprises (SSEs) are organizations that rely on both public subsidies and commercial activities to support underserved individuals’ social and economic integrations. As such, SSEs must manage paradoxes embedded in their double-bottom line that binds market and welfare logics. Having to pass through such authoritative and discordant filters, SSEs are inevitably compelled to vacillate between risky alignment strategies. Deploying an SSE serving immigrant women in the U.S. Southwest as a case study, this study takes a critical discourse approach to examine cross-status articulations of organizational identities, ideologies, and paradoxes underlying the work of the focal SSE. Interview discourses revealed how members of the SSE experience and respond to paradoxes of belonging, organizing, and institutional embeddedness stemming from employee profiles, workfare programs, and ideological contestations, respectively. Because the identified paradoxes are inherent in the work of SSEs, we propose integration and differentiation as flexible yet complementary entrepreneurial communication strategies for managing paradoxes and divergent logics. Additionally, integration and differentiation can help SSEs foster cross-status awareness and commitment to both social and business missions that are crucial in the processes of revamping legitimacy among SSEs stakeholders.
Kommunikation spielt eine Schlüsselrolle im Kontext von Unternehmensgründungen. Um das Leistungsangebot eines Startups sichtbar zu machen, die Vision zu vermitteln und Zugang zu strategisch wichtigen Ressourcen zu erhalten, ist Kommunikation mit Stakeholdern unerlässlich. Was mit dem Begriff Gründerkommunikation oder Entrepreneurial Communication beschrieben wird, gewinnt in Forschung und Praxis zunehmend an Bedeutung. Dieser Beitrag liefert daher einen Einblick in die konzeptionellen Hintergründe der Kommunikation im unternehmerischen Kontext und zeigt auf, welche Zielgruppen und Aufgabenstellungen damit adressiert werden. Darüber hinaus wird die Digitalisierung und insbesondere künstliche Intelligenz (KI) als Transformationstreiber der Kommunikation diskutiert.
This paper is a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) on artificial intelligence (AI) applications in consumer financial behavior research, highlighting the evolving interface between AI technologies and consumer financial decisions. Employing a hybrid methodology combining bibliometric analysis and a domain‐based systematic review, we analyzed 89 peer‐reviewed articles from Scopus, Web of Science, and manual search. Our findings reveal an exponential growth in publications from 2016 to 2024, emphasizing the burgeoning interest and significant advancements in applying AI in consumer financial behavior research. Drawing on the Theory‐Context‐Construct‐Method (TCCM) review framework, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of the dominant theoretical frameworks, financial scenarios, key variables and their associations, data sources, and research approaches employed in recent AI and consumer financial behavior research; it also suggests fertile areas for future research. Specifically, three key research areas have been identified: (1) consumers' acceptance and interaction with AI technologies and their subsequent financial behaviors, (2) use of AI methodologies to investigate consumer financial behavior, and (3) ethical and regulatory challenges associated with the development of AI. Insights from expert interviews further validate these findings, providing academic, industry, and regulatory perspectives that offer nuanced understanding and practical implications for AI's role in consumer finance. Finally, this review identifies gaps overlooked by existing research and discusses directions for future research. By offering insights into the strategic integration of AI in financial practices, this study serves as an essential resource for academics, industry practitioners, and policymakers aiming to use AI in consumer financial behavior research responsibly and effectively.
Social networks are among the key players in the current communication ecosystem used by companies. Adaptation to generate value in these environments requires understanding the nature and dynamics of social media. In this context, startups, which stand out as being innovative and technology-focused, seek to take advantage of the new media ecosystems to enhance communication with their target audiences. This research involved quantitative analysis to measure the presence and activity of the 100 best-valued startups in Peru in 2023, specifically how they used Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter, and YouTube. The results allow us to recognize a type of management that is still incipient and mostly oriented toward visibility but lacks a strategic approach that turns startups’ communication via social networks into a point of contact that adds value.
The aim of this book is to present the basic aspects of promotion and public relations, as well as to familiarize its readers with the fundamental principles of their application in the sports industry. Highlighting trends and perspectives is present throughout the text, both through theoretical concepts and a large number of examples from sports practice.
Teknolojideki değişim yeni sektörlerin ortaya çıkmasına neden olmaktadır. Teknoloji odaklı firmalar bu yeni sektörlerde yerini almakta ve yüksek/ileri teknoloji kullanan ya da yeni teknolojilere yönelik firmalar olarak kendilerini konumlandırmaktadır. Üniversitelerin yöneticiliğinde kurulan Teknoloji Geliştirme Bölgeleri (TGB) üniversite-sanayi iş birliğinde bilimin teknolojiye dönüşmesi için faaliyet göstermektedir. Bu çalışma, Türkiye’de faal 89 Teknoloji Geliştirme Bölgesinden biri olan Kahramanmaraş TGB’nin yönetici şirketi Kahramanmaraş Teknokent Yönetici A.Ş. bünyesindeki firmaların markalaşma çabalarını incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu kapsamda farklı sektörlerde faaliyet gösteren on firma yöneticisi ile görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Çalışmada nitel bir veri toplama tekniği olan derinlemesine görüşme yöntemiyle toplanan veriler, nitel araştırma desenlerinden betimsel analiz yöntemiyle analiz edilmiştir. Markalaşma süreci ile ilgili hazırlanan görüşme soruları Al ve Laura Ries (2011) tarafından yazılan “Marka Yaratmanın 22 Kuralı” kitabından yararlanarak hazırlanmıştır. Firma yöneticileriyle yapılan görüşmelerden elde edilen veriler incelenmiş ve bu verilerden yola çıkarak araştırmanın sonuç kısmı oluşturulmuştur. Sonuç bölümü dikkate alınarak tartışma ve öneriler bölümü geliştirilmiştir. Araştırma, TGB’lerde faaliyet gösteren firmaların markalaşma süreçleri için faydalı öneriler sunmaktadır.
The research aims to map the key elements of startup brand identity and analyze positioning strategy to overcome challenges in the development of startups in information technology (IT) arena. The focus of the study is on exploring how IT startups create identity and position themselves in the market, as well as identifying the specifics of these processes. In addition to the theoretical framework, the paper includes a case study of the startup Match IT – an application for connecting IT companies and job candidates. Match IT was founded in response to observed issues in recruitment, selection, and connection between IT companies and candidates. Regarding the key elements of startup identity, the research demonstrates that a startup’s identity can be dynamic and adaptable, shaped in interaction with users and aligned with their needs. In the case of positioning, startups should rely on building relationships with users through product functionality and benefits, thereby differentiating from competitors.
Purpose
This study aims at proposing and testing a model delineating how and when the quality of a special B2B professional service, investment relations (IR), would drive corporate intangible value.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a proprietary dataset on voting records of an annual investment relations (IR) awards event and the corresponding company-level archival data for analysis. Regression analysis is used to test hypotheses.
Findings
IR service quality not only directly enhances corporate intangible value, but also indirectly boosts it via information transparency. While competitive intensity does not moderate the relationship between IR service quality and corporate intangible value, its moderating effect on the relationship between information transparency and this value is negative.
Research limitations/implications
The findings advance academic understanding of the mechanism and boundary conditions underlying the complex and dynamic relationships among IR service quality, information transparency, corporate intangible value and competitive intensity. Future research endeavors to verify the present findings in other service and/or geographic settings would help establish their external validity.
Practical implications
The findings advise companies to expand the traditional role of IR by taking it as a powerful communication and relationship marketing tool to improve their visibility and attract investors.
Social implications
The findings suggest that superior IR service would strengthen the company’s social bonding with institutional investors and effectively signal to them its commitment to good corporate governance practices.
Originality/value
Matching a proprietary dataset on IR voting records with the corresponding company-level archival data over a five-year period to investigate the performance implications of IR service quality within the Hong Kong context rectifies methodological limitation and geographic confinement of prior IR research.
Traditional strategies for waste management in developing countries face high-cost problems, severe pollution, limited viable data, lack of global coverage, inefficiency, and slowness. The rapid expansion of the Internet have made new opportunities in waste management, especially waste collection. Online waste management in developing countries can create a revolution and help the government and society to achieve the goals of sustainable development. In this study, a modified three-layer business model canvas (TLBMC) was used to describe the duties of each actors involved in waste management and interactions between different elements in order to show the existing capacities in view point of economic, social, and environmental dimensions. In this online marketplace, the flow of information, the flow of materials and the flow of money in any company or entity or person active in the field of waste, are effectively connected to each other. Supply and demand information is provided in the created platform, and various waste actors are connected to look for options to trade. After agreement between the customer and the buyer, the information is delivered from the website or platform created by the supplier to the applicant. This network can have its usual structural features and create appropriate mechanisms for the continuation of its business operation and the realization of sustainable development of waste management, especially the recycling industry.
Strategic communication is becoming more relevant in communication sciences, though it needs to deepen its reflective practices, especially considering its potential in a VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The capillary, holistic and result-oriented nature that portrays this scientific field has led to the imperative of expanding knowledge about the different approaches, methodologies and impacts in all kinds of organisations when strategic communication is applied. Therefore Strategic Communication in Context: Theoretical Debates and Applied Research assembles several studies and essays by renowned authors who explore the topic from different angles, thus testing the elasticity of the concept. Moreover, this group of authors represents various schools of thought and geographies, making this book particularly rich and cross-disciplinary.
The declining informal collaboration corresponds to less civic engagement, political equity, solidarity, trust, and tolerance as well as associational life. In 2020, a case study of two NPOs revealed that one was adopting a strong entrepreneurial orientation, while the other integrated the traditional community orientation with more professionalization, confirming to partial marketization tendencies. The NGO-ization of society, visible in the increasing number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) at the national and transnational level, tend to somewhat contradict Putnam’s thesis. On the other hand, the number of NGOs is not per se revealing of the quality of citizen participation in those organizations. The terms NGOS and nonprofit can be applied to the same organizational forms – some authors tend to consider the former as a type of nonprofit. Interestingly enough, in the diversity of approaches, and even definitions of this object, there is a common use of the excluding element to classify it: nongovernmental and nonprofit.
This handbook brings together multidisciplinary and internationally diverse contributors to provide an overview of theory, research, and practice in the nonprofit and nongovernmental organization (NGO) communication field. It is structured in four main parts: the first introduces metatheoretical and multidisciplinary approaches to the nonprofit sector; the second offers distinctive structural approaches to communication and their models of reputation, marketing, and communication management; the third focuses on nonprofit organizations' strategic communications, strategies, and discourses; and the fourth assembles campaigns and case studies of different areas of practice, causes, and geographies. The handbook is essential reading for scholars, educators, and advanced students in nonprofit and NGO communication within public relations and strategic communication, organizational communication, sociology, management, economics, marketing, and political science, as well as a useful reference for leaders and communication professionals in the nonprofit sector.
The differences between social ventures, traditional for-profit businesses, and nonprofit organizations have important implications for social entrepreneurship communication. To create and scale social ventures, entrepreneurs must mobilize resources from stakeholders that span organizational, industry, and sectoral boundaries and navigate ecosystems that are more diverse than purely commercial and social purpose organizations. However, the business and social-impact messages of social entrepreneurs, combined with hybrid organizational designs that blur business and nonprofit categories, make it difficult for stakeholders to evaluate social ventures. If social entrepreneurs cannot craft coherent and persuasive communication about their ventures, they will struggle to acquire financial, social, and human resources. This chapter provides a state-of-the-literature review that synthesizes research on social entrepreneurship communication with an emphasis on how entrepreneurs create social venture narratives to communicate with their stakeholders. The main insights from the literature are organized to create multi-stage and multi-level frameworks that explain how the content of social venture narratives influences communication practices and outcomes. The frameworks can help social entrepreneurs develop persuasive narratives and assist scholars in identifying research opportunities.
Start-ups differ from established organizations in having limited routines and undergoing constant change that shapes their communicative structures. Although they are dependent on successful internal communication, its importance as a strategic discipline seems underestimated in practice. In addition, research on internal communication in start-ups has so far only focused on several sub-areas. In this article, internal communication is, in a first step, defined as a subdiscipline of strategic communication and elaborated on from the perspective of the Four Flows Model in order to allow a holistic view on internal communication. Secondly, we ask what role is attributed to strategic internal communication in start-ups across different stages of development in academic research and practice. Answers are provided through a multi-method design consisting of a systematic literature review in the fields of strategic communication, business management, and entrepreneurship, and 12 guided interviews with representatives of start-ups. Although both literature and interviewees identify internal communication as crucial to the success of start-ups, it mainly results from routine and is rarely strategically derived or evaluated. This study provides a more detailed insight into the role of strategic communication in start-ups, to which further studies can refer in order to fill the research gaps discussed.
This editorial introduces start-ups as critical drivers of growth in modern economies and gives an overview on existing research about young and innovative companies in the field of strategic communication. It also provides an overview of the articles published in this special issue.
This study took a personification approach and examined how strategic communication influences the development of startup corporate character and associated outcomes in China. Specifically, it examined the relationships among startups’ symmetrical communication model, startup characters of agreeableness, enterprise, competence, and ruthlessness, customer identification with the startup, and eventually, customer advocacy. Results from an online survey with 641 startup customers in China revealed the importance of practicing symmetrical communication at startups, which effectively helps shape startup character. In turn, startup corporate character would affect customer identification with the startup, which eventually contributes to customer advocacy. This study provides valuable theoretical grounds to advance the growing literature on corporate character, stakeholders-organization identification, and symmetrical communication, emphasizing a unique startup context in the culturally distinctive market of China. It also provides practical insights for startup leaders, communication practitioners, and entrepreneurs on how to build a favorable corporate character, strengthen connections with customers, and win support from customers.
Start-ups operating under conditions of uncertainty and limited resources face several challenges for strategic internal communication. Meanwhile, their efforts in welcoming newcomers are of vital importance for the achievement of organisational success. This study investigates what the start-up context means for strategic organisational entry communication. Following a review of research at the intersection of HRM and entrepreneurship with implications for strategic entry communication, entrepreneurs and newcomers in six start-ups were interviewed. A thematic analysis resulted in the identification of three themes of challenges for strategic communication connected to welcoming newcomers in start-ups, namely: Aspects related to the overall organisational context and situation, aspects related to newcomers’ job content and design, and finally entrepreneurs’ communication skills, knowledge, and time resources. The discussion shows implications of the start-up context for strategic organisational entry communication as regards opportunities for strategic communication, as well as the content and form of the strategic entry communication. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on strategic communication in start-ups by drawing on research from the intersection of HRM and entrepreneurship, as well as generating new empirical insights highlighting challenges to strategic internal communication in start-ups, especially for the purpose of welcoming newcomers.
This study explores how startup leadership communication influences employee outcomes. Specifically, drawing upon interdisciplinary insight from public relations, leadership, and managerial psychology, this study tests how startup CEO charismatic leadership communication, which is characterized by envisioning, energizing, and enabling behaviors help nurture quality employee relationships with the startup and engage startup employees. Employees’ psychological need satisfaction was examined as a potential mediator in this process. This study sets its context in mainland China where startups are rapidly developing alongside increased governmental policy and financial support encouraging innovation. Through a quantitative survey of 1,027 Chinese startup employees from a variety of industries in China, this study showed that startup leader charismatic communication meets employee psychological need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which ultimately contributes to quality employee-startup relationships and employee engagement. This study provides important theoretical implications for public relations, internal communication and management scholars and offer practical insights for entrepreneurs and startup leaders on how to utilize strategic communication to engage startup employees.
This study examined how startup CEOs’ communication influences employees’ relational and behavioral outcomes. Specifically, it tested the influence of startup leaders’ communication responsiveness, assertiveness, and authenticity on employee-startup relationships and organizational citizenship behavior. Through an online survey of 744 startup employees across various industries in Mainland China, the study found that startup CEOs’ communication responsiveness, assertiveness, and authenticity all positively influenced employee relationships with the startups; though assertiveness showed much weaker impact on employee-startup relationships than the other two attributes. Assertive communication also showed a small significant positive effect on employees’ organizational citizenship behavior. The quality of employee-startup relationships mediated the effects of startup CEOs’ communication attributes on employees’ organizational citizenship behavior.
Der 6. Deutsche Startup Monitor repräsentiert 1.550 Startups, 3.763 Gründerinnen und Gründer sowie 17.647 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter. ||| Drei Ziele: Entwicklung und Bedeutung von deutschen Startups und deren Gründer/-innen aufzeigen. | Identifikation von Verbesserungspotenzialen im deutschen Startup-Ökosystem | Entrepreneurship-Gedanken weiter in der Gesellschaft fördern, um mehr Menschen zum Gründen zu bewegen. ||| Zehn Fakten aus dem DSM 2018: Die Digitale Wirtschaft stellt das wichtigste Gründungsumfeld der DSM-Startups dar und bereits jetzt ist ein deutlicher Einfluss der Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) auf ihre Geschäftsmodelle erkennbar. | Der Anteil von Gründerinnen in deutschen Startups steigtdas vierte Jahr in Folge auf nunmehr 15,1%. | Auch die durchschnittliche Mitarbeiterzahl hat sich im Vergleich zum letzten Jahr erhöht: Im Mittel beschäftigen Startups 12,3 Personen. | Gründer/-innen arbeiten durchschnittlich
56 Stunden pro Woche und verfügen dennoch über eine eine ausgewogene Work-Life-Balance sowie eine hohe Arbeits- und Lebenszufriedenheit. | Startups denken nicht nur ökonomisch: Über 32 % ordnen sich der Green Economy und/oder dem Bereich Social Entrepreneurship zu. | Für die meisten DSM-Startups ist eine (weitere) Internationalisierungn von zentraler Bedeutung. Im Fokus stehen dabei die europäischen Märkte gefolgt von Nordamerika und Asien. | Die DSM-Startups haben große Schwierigkeiten bei der Rekrutierung von Informatiker/-innen. | Im Vergleich zum Vorjahr haben weniger
Gründer/-innen einen Studienabschluss in MINT-Fächern. | Die DSM-Startups erachten Maßnahmen zur Förderung digitaler Bildungsinhalte für sehr wichtig, um den Startup-Standort Deutschland nachhaltig aufzuwerten. | Startups erwarten von der Großen Koalition insbesondere eine bessere Unterstützung in der Kapitalbeschaffung sowie im Breitbandausbau.
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to focus on how narratives are used to acquire social venture resources. Social entrepreneurship is a phenomenon of increasing significance. A key challenge for social ventures is resource acquisition. However, how social entrepreneurs gather the resources necessary to grow their organizations is not clear.
Design/methodology/approach – This topic is examined using a multi-study, inductive, theory-building design based on 121 interviews, observation and archival data. In Study 1, 75 entrepreneurs, investors and ancillary participants were interviewed in the social enterprise sector. In Study 2, case studies of eight technology-focused social ventures were constructed.
Findings – The result of this study is a framework explaining how differences in entrepreneurs’ narrative tactics and characteristics are associated with differences in their resource acquisition success. Specifically, from Study 1, this paper develops a typology of social enterprise narratives, identifies three narrative-types (personal, social-good and business) and shows that they possess unique elements. Evidence from Study 2 suggests that the three narrative-types serve as the building blocks for communication with external stakeholders.
Originality/value – These findings contribute to three studies that formed the basis of the study – social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial resource acquisition and organizational narrative theory – and have implications for work on competing organizational logics. They also produce several practical implications for social entrepreneurs.
Informed decisions about sampling are critical to improving the quality of research synthesis. Even though several qualitative research synthesists have recommended purposeful sampling for synthesizing qualitative research, the published literature holds sparse discussion on how different strategies for purposeful sampling may be applied to a research synthesis. In primary research, Patton is frequently cited as an authority on the topic of purposeful sampling. In Patton's original texts that are referred to in this article, Patton does not make any suggestion of using purposeful sampling for research synthesis. This article makes a unique contribution to the literature by examining the adaptability of each of Patton's 16 purposeful sampling strategies to the process of qualitative research synthesis. It illuminates how different purposeful sampling strategies might be particularly suited to constructing multi-perspectival, emancipatory, participatory and deconstructive interpretations of published research.
This study explores the differential benefits of media reputation for young firms obtaining venture capital (VC) under different levels of technical and market uncertainty. The analyses of the media reputation and VC funding of 414 information technology firms show that media reputation has a positive effect on the amount of VC funding they receive. This effect is particularly pronounced under conditions of market optimism, when VC investors are pressed to disburse more capital and to evaluate a larger number of young firms in a short period of time. The study contributes to reputation research and practice by drawing attention to the contingent benefits of reputation depending on the industry context in which stakeholders evaluate and compare competing firms.
Purpose
The aim of this study is to test the assumption that ability to handle communication and liability of newness (LoN) is enhanced by academic entrepreneurship education and/or previous start‐up experience.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collection includes a questionnaire with a total sample of 392 responding entrepreneurs in Sweden. Statistical analyses are made between entrepreneurs with academic entrepreneurship education respectively previous start‐up experience.
Findings
The findings show that entrepreneurs with experience from entrepreneurship education report more developed communicative skills in the dimensions of openness as well as adaptation, whereas the dimension of other‐orientation is found to be learned by previous start‐up experience. When it comes to perceived problems related to LoN the differences between the groups were not as strong as assumed. However, the differences observed imply that also for handling LoN the authors identify a combined effect of possessing start‐up experience as well as experience from entrepreneurship education. Consequently, entrepreneurs with experience from both, show in total the most elaborated skills.
Practical implications
One way to improve future entrepreneurship educations is to make students more aware of the mutual profit in a business agreement and how to communicate this in a marketing situation. Another suggestion is to include starting business as a course work.
Originality/value
This study not only meets the call for actual outcome from entrepreneurship educations in terms of changed behaviour but also for interdisciplinary research in the entrepreneurship field in integrating leadership research with focus on communication.
Gaining and sustaining support for novel ventures is a vital yet difficult entrepreneurial process. Previous research on this topic has generally focused on the social competence and social capital of those creating new ventures, and their ability to align their ventures, with collective norms of novel ventures as sensible, acceptable and legitimate. We suggest that sensegiving – the ability to communicate a meaningful course for a venture – to investors and employees may also play a direct role in achieving support for a venture. Based upon a micro-ethnographic study of two individuals who were in the process of creating new ventures, we demonstrate how they give sense, to others in real time that involve not just their speech but also their gestures. Overall, we find evidence that in the early stages of the commercialization of a venture, metaphors in both speech and gesture are consistently used to emphasize agency and control and the predictability and taken-for-grantedness of a novel venture.
Results of a two-year inductive field study of British ventures show that entrepreneurs are more likely to acquire resources for new ventures if they perform symbolic actions—actions in which the actor displays or tries to draw other people's attention to the meaning of an object or action that goes beyond the object's or action's intrinsic content or functional use. We identify four symbolic action categories that facilitate resource acquisition: conveying the entrepreneur's personal credibility, professional organizing, organizational achievement, and the quality of stakeholder relationships. Our data show that entrepreneurs who perform a variety of symbolic actions from these categories skillfully and frequently obtain more resources than those who do not. Our data also suggest three factors—structural similarity, intrinsic quality, and uncertainty—that moderate the relationship between symbolic management and resource acquisition. We theorize how the various symbolic action categories shape different forms of legitimacy that help entrepreneurs acquire resources.
In this paper, we explore the processes and mechanisms of reputation-building by new ventures (NVs), using a grounded theory-building approach from case studies. Based on interviews with experienced entrepreneurs, supplemented by secondary data on their NVs, we identify several types of activities that may help NVs build their initial reputations. We find that NVs accumulate one of two types of reputation: generalized reputation with large groups of distant stakeholders or local reputation with a small group of local stakeholders. Our analyses suggest that using symbolic activities, as well as investments in human capital and social capital may help an NV accumulate generalized reputation, whereas investments in product quality together with building close relationships with customers may help an NV build local reputation. What type of reputation an NV would try to achieve and what activities it would emphasize appear to be related to the type of product that the NV offers.Corporate Reputation Review (2008) 11, 320–334. doi:10.1057/crr.2008.27
The aim of this contribution is to analyze the development of a corporate brand in the early phases of start-ups. In particular, this paper looks at processes that occur due to decisions regarding corporate culture, corporate behavior, corporate design and corporate communication. Start-ups or new business ventures provide a specific context to research corporate branding in its evolvement phases, as internal structures and processes do not yet exist. As empirically-based research in this area is very scant, the aim here is to close this gap by documenting results gathered from a qualitative research approach. The results show insights into how entrepreneurs develop their companies' corporate identity by crystallizing the major challenges that occurred due to the specific context of new ventures. The paper advances contemporary knowledge by pointing towards the crucial role of the entrepreneur during the initial phases of corporate brand development.Corporate Reputation Review (2005) 8, 121-135; doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540244
The term ‘investor relations’ (IR) often refers only to the very formal and primarily anonymous relations and communication between publicly traded companies and their (potential) shareholders. Especially for young and not yet publicly traded companies (so-called start-ups), it can be shown that the individual contact to a very small and well-known group of investors (e.g., venture capital investors) is essential for survival. Using conjoint analysis, this paper examines the communicative needs of venture capital investors, as they are the formative influence on the communication strategy of young, unlisted start-ups.
We define cultural entrepreneurship as the process of storytelling that mediates between extant stocks of entrepreneurial resources and subsequent capital acquisition and wealth creation. We propose a framework that focuses on how entrepreneurial stories facilitate the crafting of a new venture identity that serves as a touchstone upon which legitimacy may be conferred by investors, competitors, and consumers, opening up access to new capital and market opportunities. Stories help create competitive advantage for entrepreneurs through focal content shaped by two key forms of entrepreneurial capital: firm-specific resource capital and industry-level institutional capital. We illustrate our ideas with anecdotal entrepreneurial stories that range from contemporary high-technology accounts to the evolution of the mutual fund industry. Propositions are offered to guide future empirical research based on our framework. Theoretically, we aim to extend recent efforts to synthesize strategic and institutional perspectives by incorporating insights from contemporary approaches to culture and organizational identity. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization
and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and
the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises:
rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to
change them. We describe three isomorphic processes--coercive, mimetic, and
normative-leading to this outcome. We then specib hypotheses about the impact of
resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty,
and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest
implications for theories of organizations and social change.
Purpose – This paper aims to shed light on the specificity of branding approaches for young companies for the reason that branding is a crucial activity for the survival and success of a newly established firm as it facilitates finding and maintain customers. Design/methodology/approach – Adopting a case study methodology, mainly through in-depth interviews with CEOs and communication managers, 15 of the largest and most successful start-up companies of Switzerland were analyzed. Findings – The paper establishes an overview on the current practices and rational of the brand building activities choices, and on the emblematic pitfalls regarding branding of new ventures. It suggests that young companies should not be forced to compare their branding strategies to multinational firms and proposes a framework and key guidelines for start-up branding. Research limitations/implications – Given that this study focuses specifically on Switzerland, the findings might not be fully applicable to different economic situations. Nevertheless analyzing the biggest start-ups of a single country allows salient comparisons of the approaches towards branding within the same environment. Practical implications – The proposed framework and guidelines can be relevant for future entrepreneurs and brand consultants, to orient and better motivate their decisions toward branding creations and development for new and young ventures. Originality/value – This research investigates branding issues that are specific for newly created companies, in order to support them in making informed decisions on branding activities, a crucial activity for the survival of start-ups, given their lack of resources and fundamental need to find and maintain clients.
The idea that strategic communication is not only planned, but also emergent, has gained increasing attention in the field of strategic communication research. However, embracing the idea of emergence comes with several definitional, methodological, and programmatic challenges. This article responds to these challenges by proposing a dual narrative framework of strategic communication. The framework introduces an approach that explains both practice (strategizing process) and product (strategized communication) of strategic communication as narratively constituted and draws a distinction between preceding and proceeding forms of emergence. Preceding forms of emergence address the impact of strategic fashions and peripheral forms of strategizing on strategic communication. Proceeding forms of emergence address strategy attribution and strategy reframing that accompany strategic communication. The article contributes to a meaningful integration of the idea of emergence without tautologizing the concept of strategic communication.
This article draws on a decade of research in strategic communication and especially on the contributions in this special issue to propose a new and more comprehensive definition of strategic communication. We argue that strategic communication encompasses all communication that is substantial for the survival and sustained success of an entity. Specifically, strategic communication is the purposeful use of communication by an entity to engage in conversations of strategic significance to its goals. Entity includes all kind of organizations (e.g., corporations, governments, or nonprofits), as well as social movements and known individuals in the public sphere. Communication can play a distinctive role for the formulation, revision, presentation, execution, implementation, and operationalization of strategies. While there are many ways to investigate these research objects, strategic communication as a discipline takes the perspective of the focal organization/entity and its calculus to achieve specific goals by means of communication under conditions of limited resources and uncertainty. The article takes a critical look at the current state of the field and outlines several requirements that will help scholars and practitioners alike to build a unique body of knowledge in strategic communication.
This study examined the strategic use of social media for stakeholder engagement in startup companies in China. Guided by the theoretical framework of stakeholder engagement, in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 entrepreneurs in China, and a content analysis was performed with 419 corporate social media posts on Weibo and WeChat. Findings suggest that generating awareness, along with information sharing and word-of-mouth, cultivating long-term relationships, developing new businesses, and building image and reputation, are the primary purposes for stakeholder engagement. Thought leadership building, co-branding, and influencer endorsement were identified as new social media engagement strategies for startups. Message tactics and appeals utilized by startups and measurement and evaluation issues were also examined. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
To compare and contrast institutional theories used in organizational analysis, the theoretical frameworks and arguments of leading contributors to institutional theory are reviewed and recent empirical studies using institutional arguments are examined. Both approaches reveal considerable variation in the types of concepts and arguments employed, and it is argued that further improvement and growth in institutional theory is dependent upon analysts dealing more explicitly with these differences. In addition, the relation between institutions and interests is explored to show that institutional features of organizational environments shape both the goals and means of actors. Attention is called to the two primary types of actors shaping institutional environments in modern societies- the state and professional bodies-and to the way in which their interests and mode of action shape institutional patterns and mechanisms.
Entrepreneurs in newly started businesses need to think of communication in a strategic way since they lack a “track record” and suffer from liability of newness. The aim of this paper is to capture entrepreneurs’ communicative skills using a framework of leadership theories focused on the dimensions (i) other-orientation, (ii) openness and (iii) adaptation. The data is collected through structural observations “shadowing” five entrepreneurs in Sweden. The findings show that the entrepreneurs are both oriented toward others and open to input from them. They often adapt to the situation and act in accordance with the co-actor’s interest. However, they also withhold their standpoint when they find it necessary. The entrepreneurs with high-growth orientation were those that showed the most frequent other-oriented and opened behaviour during the observations. They were also adaptive in their communication with different counterparts.
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:
What do accelerators do? Broadly speaking, they help ventures
define and build their initial products, identify promising
customer segments, and secure resources, including capital and
employees. More specifically, accelerator programs are programs of
limited-duration—lasting about three months—that help cohorts of
startups with the new venture process. They usually provide a small
amount of seed capital, plus working space. They also offer a
plethora of networking opportunities, with both peer ventures and
mentors, who might be successful entrepreneurs, program graduates,
venture capitalists, angel investors, or even corporate executives.
Finally, most programs end with a grand event, a “demo day” where
ventures pitch to a large audience of qualified investors.
You may think this all sounds familiar. After all, don’t
incubators and angel investors help nascent ventures? Accelerators
certainly are similar to incubators and angel investors. Like them,
accelerators aim to help nascent ventures during the formation
stage. Thus we might expect that many of the activities provided by
accelerators would also be provided by angels and incubators. But
accelerators differ in several ways. Perhaps the most fundamental
difference is the limited duration of accelerator programs as
compared to the continuous nature of incubators and angel
investments. This one small difference leads to many other
differences, as I discuss in more detail below. (See table 1
for a summary of the differences between incubators, angel
investors, and accelerators.)
Incubators and Angel Investors
According to the National Business Incubation Association,
incubators shelter vulnerable nascent businesses, allowing them to
become stronger before becoming independent. According to the
association’s website, 93 percent of all incubators are nonprofit
organizations focused on economic development, and roughly a third
are affiliated with a university. While no two incubators are
exactly the same, in general, incubators receive rent and fees from
tenant firms in exchange for office space and administrative
support services. Several incubators also provide introductions to
financiers, and connections to legal, technology transfer, and
accounting consultants. When they are affiliated with a university,
they may also provide services related to intellectual property;
the university may also use them to transfer knowledge from faculty
members to firms that are commercializing the university’s
intellectual property.
Click for larger view
Table 1.
Key Differences between Incubators, Investors, and
Accelerators
Some of what incubators provide to entrepreneurs, however, might
not be consistent with what the nascent firms actually need. For
example, ventures might develop in a way that allows them to
survive inside of an incubator, but not outside of it, and thus in
a manner that is not optimal for the market. Some firms may survive
longer in an incubator than they would otherwise. Survival may seem
attractive, but if the firm will inevitably fail, then the
resources it is consuming might be better used by other, more
fruitful endeavors. Moreover, if ventures are being shielded from
market forces, they might be missing out on important feedback that
could enable them to adapt. Early adaptation is critical for
early-stage firms before they become more rigid with age, which
occurs naturally.
Angel investors also aim to help fledging ventures. Angels are
individual investors, or groups of individual investors, who
provide seed capital and varying amounts of advice to young firms.
According to the Center for Venture Research, 28,590
entrepreneurial ventures received $9.7 billion in investment during
the first quarter of 2013. Clearly, angel investors are an
important part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Often, but not
always, they are entrepreneurs who want to help the next generation
of entrepreneurs. They also may be friends or family members who
provide financial investment. Angel investors help their portfolio
firms in a unstructured manner, often providing advice and
introductions as needed. The lack of structure often translates
into limited involvement and mentorship.
Comparing Accelerators and Incubators
Accelerators also help fledging nascent ventures.
Philosophically, incubators tend to nurture nascent ventures by
buffering them from the environment to give them room to grow. In
contrast, whereas accelerators speed up market interactions in
order to help nascent ventures adapt quickly and learn.
Practically, accelerators and incubators differ in four key
ways.
Duration
The limited duration of accelerators, usually three months, is
the characteristic that most clearly defines accelerator
programs...
This study adds new insights to the growing body of research showing that entrepreneurs' communication skills and personal attributes influence investor decision making. Twenty-four business angels attending a UK investor forum completed questionnaires evaluating 32 ‘presentational’ and ‘non-presentational’ aspects of three entrepreneurs' oral pitch presentations. The business angels' level of investor interest was significantly related to their evaluations of the quality and content of the entrepreneurs' presentations: the higher an entrepreneur's overall presentation score, the greater the likelihood that the business angels would be interested in pursuing that investment opportunity. Presentational factors (relating to the entrepreneurs' style of delivery, etc.) tended to have the highest influence on the overall score an entrepreneur received as well as on business angels' level of investment interest. However, the business angels appeared to be unaware of (or were reluctant to acknowledge) the influence presentational factors had on their investment-related decisions: the stated reasons for their post-presentation intentions were focused firmly on substance-oriented non-presentational criteria (company, market, product, funding/finance issues, etc.). More generally, comments about the entrepreneurs' presentations centred on presentational issues relating to clarity/understandability and structure, the level of information provided, the entrepreneurs' personal characteristics, and their ability to sell themselves and their investment opportunity.
The general topic of this chapter is the relation of the society outside organizations to the internal life of organizations. Part of the specific topics have to do with the effect of society on organizations, and part of them concern the effects of organizational variables on the surrounding social environment. I intend to interpret the term “social structure” in the title in a very general sense, to include groups, institutions, laws, population characteristics, and sets of social relations that form the environment of the organization. That is, I interpret “social structure” to mean any variables which are stable characteristics of the society outside the organization. By an “organization” I mean a set of stable social relations deliberately created, with the explicit intention of continuously accomplishing some specific goals or purposes. These goals or purposes are generally functions performed for some larger structure. For example, armies have the goal of winning possible military engagements. The fulfillment of this goal is a function performed for the larger political structure, which has functional requirements of defense and conquest. I exclude from organizations many types of groups which have multiple purposes (or which perform multiple functions for larger systems, whether these are anyone's purposes or not), such as families, geographical communities, ethnic groups, or total societies. 1 also exclude social arrangements built up on the spur of the moment to achieve some specific short-run purpose. For instance, I will not consider a campaign committee for some political candidate as an “organization,” although a political party would definitely meet the criterion of continuous functioning and relatively specific purposes.
This study discusses the establishment and evolution of effective internal communications in pre-IPO start-ups, with a focus on 6 variables: employee communications, organizational structure and culture, public relations and communication models, leadership styles, decision-making approaches, and employee motivation. The qualitative study explores how these variables establish effective internal communications in growing pre-IPO start-ups. In addition, the study provides an ideal internal communications model to guide entrepreneurs in establishing start-ups. The findings also emphasize human resources (HR) as a 7th influential variable.
Institutional theory and institutionalization improve our understanding of strategic communication, but are largely neglected in communication research. This article discusses the varying perspectives of institutional theory and their benefits for broadening the theoretical foundation of communication management. Institutional theory is no monolithic concept but covers different schools and camps. Three main branches of institutional theory—new institutional economics, historical and political institutionalism and organizational institutionalism—are discussed with a specific focus on the latter. Organizational field and institutional logics can be applied to strategic communication. By using a three pillar model of institutions the explanatory power of each strand of institutional theory leads to new insights and future research for strategic communication.
To gain and sustain support for novel ventures, entrepreneurs must use symbolic means to signal to resource providers that their venture is feasible and legitimate. Previous research has generally focused on how entrepreneurs use language to symbolically represent their ventures as compatible with more widely established sets of activities. This paper suggests that entrepreneurs' use of visual symbols also plays a direct role in achieving support for a venture. Based upon a visual ethnographic study of three entrepreneurs, this paper demonstrates how entrepreneurs use visual symbols to: present an appropriate scene to stakeholders; create professional identity and emphasize control; and regulate emotions. The types of visual symbols used by the entrepreneurs are: setting, props, dress, and expressiveness. Overall, the results suggest that more experienced entrepreneurs are more effective at using a wider range of visual symbols during interactions.
Based on ten months of field research in a high technology start-up, and using ethnographic and grounded theory methodologies, this study identifies six basic narrative types (founding, visionary, marketing, strategy, historical, and conventional) in three main categories (personal, generic, and situational) that are essential in founding and governing a new company. These stories enable founders to (a) justify the existence of the company; (b) convince others to devote funds and other key resources to the company; and (c) make key decisions in the short and intermediate term. Also described in the paper is the interaction of these narratives, which in this case were often conflicting and even contradictory. The paper argues that a key competence of the founder and entrepreneur is not only the ability to develop narrative competence across the three categories but also to develop a command of their interactivity, or intertextuality. oui
In this paper, we develop a multi-stage formative measurement model to investigate which factors constitute the corporate brand of a start-up as seen from within the firm (corporate identity) and as perceived from outside (corporate image). Furthermore, we propose a structural model for brand building in start-ups, i.e. the causal relation between corporate identity and corporate image. We test this model empirically for a sample of 311 German start-ups. The study proves the importance of well-balanced and timely corporate branding activities in new ventures. It shows that internal branding activities are at least as important as those communication measures that are directly targeted at external audiences like customers and investors.
Adopting an entrepreneurial perspective in the study of strategic communication
- E Invernizzi
- S Romenti
Do the stories they tell get them the money they need?
From the ground up: building young firms' reputations
- A P Petkova