Charlotte Belk College Of Business Co-Authors Garner Top Honor From JSBM
A UNC Charlotte small business study was chosen one of the 10 most impactful research papers published in the international Journal of Small Business Management last year. The study offers actionable recommendations and is essential reading for entrepreneurs, policymakers and scholars, say the journal’s editors.
The research offers a new take on why some small businesses fail, suggesting that failures can relate to the owners’ resilience and strategic choices, not just the business models they follow.
Co-authors of the study are all affiliated with the Belk College of Business. They are:
- Franz W. Kellermanns, Addison H. & Gertrude C. Reese Endowed Chair in International Business and Professor of Management, who also holds a joint appointment with the Center for Family Business at the WHU–Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany and is the Academic Director for the Charlotte Doctorate in Business Administration Program
- Lisa Rolan ’20, who is a clinical assistant professor in the Marketing Department with the Belk College and earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Charlotte
- Katrice Branner ’20, who earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Charlotte, previously taught classes in the Business Information Systems and Operations Management Department and is a clinical assistant professor in management science with the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business
- Nicole Gottschalck, assistant professor of economics with WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, who was a visiting researcher at the Belk College and has collaborated with Kellermanns and Rolan on other studies.
The team’s research examines how a small business’s entrepreneurial orientation — known as EO and comprising innovativeness, proactivity and risk-taking — influences the resilience of a firm’s owner. The study also considers how this relationship is shaped by the company’s exploration of new opportunities and exploitation of existing ones, characteristics known as ambidexterity.
Understanding how these orientations interact is critical for small businesses, because “the individual resilience of small business owners is of particular relevance to the survival of a firm,” the paper’s authors say. This is even more important during significant times of stress, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when owners’ resilience was a major factor in business survival.
In the context of small businesses, resilience is the owner’s ability to handle adversity, adapt to unforeseen events and stay committed to business goals, even when facing challenges.