Collective Intelligence and Entrepreneurial Resilience in the Context of Covid-19

Research on the covid-19 pandemic, conducted to date, has clearly shown its negative impact on entrepreneurs. However, there are few relevant studies on the resilience of these entrepreneurs. Even economic stimulus packages developed by governments ignore collective intelligence, which is seen as an appropriate posture and path that can lead to the resilience of entrepreneurs in unpredictable situations. Thanks to the theoretical anchoring of collaborative management, we have developed and tested a conceptual model through the approach of deconstructing collective intelligence into (i) the sharing of capacities (ii) mutual aid (iii) collective competence and (iv) dynamic capacity. The data production was carried out through 15 semi-structured interviews and 282 surveys of Cameroonian and Chadian entrepreneurs. The results showed that mutual support (β = 0.32) and ability to share (β = 0.29) are indirectly the best predictors of economic and strategic entrepreneurial resilience. Because they participate effectively in building the collective competence of entrepreneurs in a context of crisis. This collective competence positively generates the level of variation in economic resilience (β = 0.38) and that of strategic resilience (β = 0.36). These results are the manifestation that covid-19 is boosting social dialogue between entrepreneurs. On the other hand, dynamic capacity appears less effective for the entrepreneurial economic resilience (β = 0.04) and strategic entrepreneurial resilience (β = 0.02) of the entrepreneurs studied due to the measures to combat covid-19. These findings contrast with previous research focused on entrepreneurial resilience through collective intelligence. They lead us to stress the importance of continuing research on the subject and to draw comparisons between entrepreneurs in crisis situations and those working in a stable ecosystem. The article is useful for researchers who find proven evidence that is more relevant. Then entrepreneurs will find new factors to make their entrepreneurial project viable. Finally, governments and their partners are urged to further promote entrepreneurship education based on dynamic capacity at the expense of confrontation and selfishness. Our article is part of the theory of collaborative management and organizational theory and reveals the existence of a relational contingency in the different stages of the entrepreneurial resilience process.

Entrepreneurial Alertness Research: Past and Future

The construct of entrepreneurial alertness has been gaining considerable interest from academics because it is at the heart of the entrepreneurial process. Consequently, there has been a substantial increase in the number of academic papers over the years. However, this is a highly fragmented field of research that aggregates contributions from researchers in the fields of economics and strategy, entrepreneurship, and psychology. Also, in recent decades, the concept of entrepreneurial alertness has been studied from different perspectives, being considered, on one hand, as cognitive capacity, a dynamic capacity or a skill of the entrepreneur and, on the other hand, as an organizational factor that affects a company’s performance and a source of competitive advantage. The analysis reveals a set of future research avenues that may contribute to the development of the entrepreneurial alertness research field.

Heraldic Hierarchies

Early modern heraldry was far from a nostalgic remnant from a feudal past. From the Reformation to the French Revolution, aspiring men seized on these signs to position themselves in a changing society, imbuing heraldic tradition with fresh meaning. Whereas post-medieval developments are all too often described in terms of decadence and stifling formality, recent studies rightly stress the dynamic capacity of bearing arms. Heraldic Hierarchies aims to correct former misconceptions. Contributing authors rethink the influence of shifting notions of nobility on armorial display and expand this topic to heraldry’s share in shaping and contesting status. Moreover, addressing a common thread, the volume explores how emerging states turned the heraldic experience into an instrument of power and policy. Contributing to debates on social and noble identity, Heraldic Hierarchies uncovers a vital and surprising aspect of the pre-modern hierarchical world.