Theorizing ‘pivot’ in small and micro business

Abstract

‘Pivot’ is an appealing idea for dealing with uncertainty. As established in the lean startup methodology, it is prescriptive, atheoretical, lacking evidence but boosted with vivid digital examples. Studying the pivot practice and its variation across different contexts helps us with better conceptualization and theorizing. In doing so, we conduct a constant comparison between the literature and five cases of everyday micro-business. We find the literature largely preparadigmatic; descriptive, discussing dimensions but failing to nail down pivot as a concept. However, the review provides an informed account of pivot’s possible scope. Thus, equipped we turn to several examples of pivot in the unglamorous world of everyday small and micro-business and juxtapose it with pivots in the lean startup methodology. We find that pivot belongs to a theory of practice in everyday small business and show how this could shape helpful research. Pivoting as a process in the lean startup is an everyday structured experiment that is triggered in confirmatory search. Differently, in our cases of micro and small business, it is an everyday operational practice that is emergent, organic, and experiential.

Résumé

Le ‘Pivot’ est une idée séduisante pour faire face à l’incertitude. Comme le veut la méthodologie du lean start-up, il s’agit d’une approche prescriptive, théorique, qui manque de preuves mais qui est renforcée par des exemples numériques vivants. L’étude de la pratique du pivot et de sa variation dans différents contextes nous aide à mieux conceptualiser et théoriser. Pour ce faire, nous procédons à une comparaison constante entre la littérature et cinq cas de microentreprises du quotidien. Nous trouvons la littérature préparadigmatique; descriptive, abordant les dimensions mais ne parvenant pas à définir le pivot comme un concept. Cependant, la revue fournit un compte rendu éclairé sur la portée possible du pivot. Ainsi équipés, nous nous tournons vers plusieurs exemples de pivots dans le monde peu glorieux des petites et microentreprises quotidiennes et les juxtaposons dans la méthodologie du lean start-up. Nous constatons que le pivot appartient à la théorie de la pratique dans la petite entreprise quotidienne et nous montrons comment cela pourrait déterminer une recherche utile. En tant que processus dans le cadre du lean start-up, le pivotement est une expérience structurée quotidienne qui est déclenchée dans la recherche de la confirmation. En revanche, dans nos cas de micro et petites entreprises, il s’agit d’une pratique opérationnelle quotidienne qui est émergente, organique et expérientielle.

Keywords:

• Pivoting
• startup
• entrepreneurship as practice
• business model
• micro-business

MOTS-CLES:

• pivotement
• start-up
• entrepreneuriat comme pratique
• modèle commercial
• microentreprise

Acknowledgment

We are thankful for the supports and comments from Professor Malin Brännback and the unknown reviewers who helped us with improving this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayoob Sadeghiani

Ayoob Sadeghiani is a PhD candidate of Management, Information Technology at the Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University. He studies entrepreneurship, innovation, strategy, and research methodology.

Alistair Anderson

Alistair Anderson was a pluralistic scholar who taught many students around the world, supported many junior scholars, served many academic journals and conferences regardless of their rank, location, and organization, and brought a critical social perspective to the entrepreneurship field. He served as the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development for 12 years and built a great community of scholars in the field. The academic entrepreneurship community lost him on March 26, 2021, when he was a Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at Lancaster University.

Sadra Ahmadi

Sadra Ahmadi, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology at the Cyberspace Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University. His research interests include organizational change, change management, and e-business, and cognitive methods in organization and technology studies.

Sajjad Shokouhyar

Sajjad Shokouhyar, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology at the Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University. His research interests include sustainability, operation research, and supply chain.