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Entrepreneuriat et PME face aux crises : vers une lecture plurielle articulant événement et processus

Dorian Boumedjaoud, Matthias Pepin, Didier Chabaud and Karim Messeghem

Reprise d’entreprise sous crise : décryptage des facteurs d’influence de la décision de maintien du projet

Julien De Freyman, Sonia Boussaguet and Olivier Giacomin
This research explores the factors that influenced the decision of business buyer candidates to maintain their takeover project during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on a survey of 145 business buyer candidates, our study confirms the importance of support in the face of pre-takeover difficulties, but qualify that of the resilience and the impact of training in these circumstances of great adversity. They lead to theoretical and managerial contributions to better understand the risk of abandonment of takeover projects, both for the would-be buyers themselves and for the support staff.

Crise de la Covid-19 : une taxonomie des modes de gouvernance des entreprises françaises

Bénédicte Affo, Bénédicte Aldebert, Caroline Tarillon and Ophélie Laboury
The 2020 Covid-19 crisis plunged companies into unprecedented uncertainty, forcing them to reassess both their operations and governance. This research aims to understand how firms mobilized their governance during the crisis. Based on 29 interviews with French business leaders, we identify three types of governance structures that emerged during the pandemic. Two key dynamics stand out: a refocus on core stakeholders and a greater formalization of governance mechanisms. These findings highlight the importance of viewing governance as a strategic, adaptable resource in times of crisis.

Innovation de modèle d’affaires et performance globale en contexte de crise soudaine et contraignante : quel rôle pour l’effectuation ?

Ababacar Mbengue and Nathalie Sarrouy-Watkins
This research explores the relationship between business model innovation (BMI) and overall firm performance in the context of sudden and constraining crises (SCCs). Based on a literature review and an analysis of SCCs, four theoretical models were developed and tested: the first assumes that effectuation precedes and facilitates BMI; the second reverses this relationship; the third and fourth propose a bidirectional interaction between BMI and effectuation. Empirical analysis, conducted on 198 SMEs in the French hospitality sector using structural equation model comparisons, reveals that effectuation plays a triple rôle: it is an antecedent to BMI, a direct determinant of overall performance, and a full mediator of the BMI-performance relationship. In SCC contexts, two behavioural sequences positively impact SMEs’ overall performance: a reactive sequence linking the revision of acceptable losses to a financial reconfiguration of the business model, and a proactive sequence based on leveraging available means to transform the business model. This research offers a renewed understanding of SMEs’ strategic behaviours in SCC contexts by highlighting the bidirectional interaction between BMI and effectuation, and its essential role in achieving overall performance.

Gestion des risques en contexte de crise chez les PME : entre l’indifférence et l’apprentissage

Josée St-Pierre, Crispin A. Enagogo, Jean-Pierre D. Menguele and Nazik Fadil
The business environment is becoming increasingly turbulent, particularly given the recurrence of crises that impact the functioning and even the survival of organizations. Risk management (RM) would be an appropriate response to this turbulence. However, this has been relatively little studied among SMEs, so that little is known about their behavior in this regard. A typological analysis of 500 Quebec manufacturing SMEs that have experienced the pandemic shows that these companies engage in RM and that the practices they deploy are particularly responsive to their growth orientation. Also, depending on the attitude and perception of risk of their owner-manager and according to their organizational capabilities and risk culture, some SMEs have learned from the crisis by modifying their RM practices, while others have remained indifferent. On a theoretical level, this study shows that RM is an activity that is carried out in different ways in SMEs, confirming their heterogeneity. It is integrated into overall management without being formalized in a process and evolves according to what SMEs learn from their experiences. From a managerial perspective, it encourages the development of a risk culture conducive to ensuring the continuity of their activities.

L’accompagnement entrepreneurial en quête de légitimité : exploration des pratiques dans le contexte de crise des finances publiques

Romain Lesage
The entrepreneurial ecosystem includes support structures that play a key role for entrepreneurs, whether in terms of resource circulation or connections with other actors. Historically supported by public authorities as a genuine employment policy, entrepreneurial support now faces increasing budgetary constraints that raise questions about the sustainability of business creation initiatives. While entrepreneurial legitimacy has been studied extensively, the legitimacy of support structures remains underexplored, particularly from an ecosystemic perspective. This article examines how support organizations build their legitimacy in a context of public finance crisis. The methodology is based on an exploratory qualitative analysis of eighteen semi-structured interviews conducted with several organizations funded primarily through public resources. The analysis reveals a set of legitimation practices implemented from a multi-level perspective. This research contributes to the literature on the legitimacy of entrepreneurial support in times of crisis and proposes an analytical framework applicable to entrepreneurial ecosystems. It also offers managerial insights by identifying concrete levers that support organizations can mobilize to strengthen their legitimacy with public authorities.

Succession de chocs externes et comportements entrepreneuriaux : comment les créateurs d’entreprise ont-ils abordé leur action entrepreneuriale face à la Covid-19, à la guerre en Ukraine et à l’urgence climatique ?

Cécile Chanut-Guieu and Gilles Guieu
Most works studying the impact of external shocks on entrepreneurship focus on the entrepreneurial action in existing firms, and not in new ventures. Nor have they studied the succession of external shocks. In troubled times, how do entrepreneurs overcome uncertainty? Do new venture creators reinforce planning, frugality and/or emotional support (Giones et al., 2020)? We interviewed ten entrepreneurs who nevertheless decide to create a new venture during the Covid-19 lockdowns, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and climate emergency. The results show that they turned external shocks into opportunities by combining frugality and emotional support to overcome uncertainty.

La transmission des entreprises familiales et entrepreneuriales : aspects psychologiques et comportementaux Sous la direction de Gérard Hirigoyen, Éditions EMS, 2025

Karine Le Rudulier

Cinq clés pour développer sa créativité organisationnelle, Cécile Fonrouge, Les Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2025

Olivier Toutain

Entrevue d’auteur.e

Maripier Tremblay