Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

Strategic entrepreneurship combines the proactive pursuit of novel business opportunities with the disciplined planning and resource orchestration of strategic management. It emphasises the dual imperatives of exploration—seeking new markets, technologies and value propositions—and exploitation—leveraging existing assets and capabilities for competitive advantage. Central to this field is the concept of organisational ambidexterity, which describes the ability of firms to balance innovation with operational efficiency. Innovation management within this context addresses the processes, structures and leadership behaviours that enable firms to identify, develop and commercialise new products, services and processes. Theoretical foundations draw on the resource-based view, dynamic-capabilities theory and evolutionary economics, yielding insights into how knowledge creation, spillovers and collaborative networks drive sustained performance. Practical applications span small and medium-sized enterprises seeking growth through learning orientation and strategic resource management, large incumbents navigating digital disruption and public-sector bodies aiming to renew service delivery. Research has highlighted the importance of entrepreneurial leadership in shaping innovation culture, of ambidextrous structures in fostering strategic flexibility, and of cross-boundary collaboration in achieving sustainable supply-chain advantages. Globally, strategic entrepreneurship and innovation management are recognised as engines for economic resilience, social value creation and the transition to more sustainable business models.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in strategic entrepreneurship and innovation management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Strategic Entrepreneurship: The integration of entrepreneurial opportunity-seeking and strategic management practices to create and sustain competitive advantage.

Dynamic Capabilities: The firm’s ability to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments.

Organisational Ambidexterity: The capacity to pursue simultaneous exploration of new possibilities and exploitation of existing competences.

Collaborative Advantage: The performance gains achieved through inter-organisational cooperation and resource sharing.

DEMATEL: A systems-analysis technique used to model cause-and-effect relationships among complex factors.

References

1. Strategic entrepreneurship and knowledge spillovers: spatial and aspatial perspectives. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal (2016).
2. THE ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP AND CONFIGURING CORE INNOVATION CAPABILITIES TO ENHANCE INNOVATION PERFORMANCE IN A DISRUPTIVE ENVIRONMENT. International Journal of Innovation Management (2019).
3. Entrepreneurship as a Strategic Management Tool for Renewal—The Case of the Swedish Public Employment Service. Administrative Sciences (2019).
4. Analysing the Barriers of Strategic Entrepreneurship: A DEMATEL Approach. Sustainability (2024).
5. Strategic entrepreneurship: Mapping the field and charting a path for future research. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (2023).
6. Strategic Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Supply Chain Innovation from the Perspective of Collaborative Advantage. Sustainability (2023).