Abstract
Schumpeter’s theory of creative destruction argues that technological innovation facilitates the growth of innovative new firms and causes the demise of old-technology firms. But not all disrupted firms wither and die – rather, some survive and grow by utilizing strategic entrepreneurship. Whereas the strategic entrepreneurship of disrupter firms has received considerable research interest, the strategies that disrupted firms use to avoid elimination in a disrupted declining industry have been afforded relatively little attention. This paper reports on a qualitative grounded research study of firms in the disrupted printing industry and reveals three main strategies used by survivors: namely, reconfiguration of external networks; exploitation of the untapped potential of intangible assets; and the rebalancing of legacy product exploitation and new product exploration. Propositions are developed regarding entrepreneurial strategies that disrupted incumbents may utilize to survive in disrupted industries.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 22-37 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Journal of Small Business Strategy |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 22 Dec 2021 |
Externally published | Yes |