Business continuity as entrepreneurship
Date
2022
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Small organizations, including businesses and non-profits, serve as the economic engines of their communities, offering jobs to employees, fulfilling critical economic needs, and making space for people to experience public life. COVID-19 disrupted this critical role as organizations waded into uncharted waters. As a result, tough decisions had to be made about how to perform work in entirely new ways. This dissertation explored how the owners, managers, and employees of small organizations performed business continuity as entrepreneurship to survive and create new opportunities for themselves and the community. Instead of lamenting the lack of preparedness among small organizations, this project investigated how small organizations survived the pandemic in three ways: through “business continuity”, “internal reflection”, and “external adaptation.” Business continuity encompassed activities that an organization employed to preserve its value. Under review were the pre-disaster context, existing capacities, and just-in-time planning. Internal reflection went beyond these actions to explore how small organizations reimagined their procedures, updating the organization to match the owner's vision. This process began with vision-planning and included receiving loans, grants, and aid to enable working from home, upskilling employees, forming new relationships with peers, and, perhaps, winding down. Finally, external adaptation consisted of those activities that a small organization could engage in to meet new community needs. These included occupying a central location in the community, engaging in philanthropy, and acting entrepreneurially.
Description
Keywords
Recovery, Entrepreneurship, Disaster science, COVID-19, Business continuity