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Marketing agility in underdog entrepreneurship: a qualitative assessment in post-conflict Sub-Saharan African context

Marketing agility in underdog entrepreneurship: a qualitative assessment in post-conflict Sub-Saharan African context
Marketing agility in underdog entrepreneurship: a qualitative assessment in post-conflict Sub-Saharan African context
Extant entrepreneurship literature lacks specific research on how underdog entrepreneurs survive and strive in post-conflict environments. This study seeks to explore the role of marketing agility as an essential capability to survive and exploit business opportunities in post-conflict Sub-Saharan Africa, where institutional voids and volatility coexist. The empirical research design comprises of multiple case studies of sixteen underdog (war-affected) entrepreneurs in Liberia and Sierra Leon; both countries which went through civil war and violent internal strife in recent past. The study findings reveal that marketing agility and its dimensions, i.e., robustness, responsiveness, and proactiveness, are critical for underdog entrepreneur’s business’s survival. Finally, the findings also show that institutional context, volatility, and individual experiences of entrepreneurs tend to influence the manifestation of this marketing agility.
Conflict, Marketing agility, Sub-Saharan Africa, Underdog entrepreneurship
0148-2963
Arslan, Ahmad
e40e0b53-83d9-4ac1-a325-d0b7a09d8327
Kamara, Samppa
32a74c93-cdbc-44e9-836b-390292709231
Tian, Anna Yuniao
1d698523-0ea0-47a0-8801-3a6dab4f0ade
Rodgers, Peter
78e39552-3d65-4b44-b0e1-10043ba3ff5d
Kontkanen, Minnie
d8bb17e6-fe22-4b27-aa63-782f7935724b
Arslan, Ahmad
e40e0b53-83d9-4ac1-a325-d0b7a09d8327
Kamara, Samppa
32a74c93-cdbc-44e9-836b-390292709231
Tian, Anna Yuniao
1d698523-0ea0-47a0-8801-3a6dab4f0ade
Rodgers, Peter
78e39552-3d65-4b44-b0e1-10043ba3ff5d
Kontkanen, Minnie
d8bb17e6-fe22-4b27-aa63-782f7935724b

Arslan, Ahmad, Kamara, Samppa, Tian, Anna Yuniao, Rodgers, Peter and Kontkanen, Minnie (2024) Marketing agility in underdog entrepreneurship: a qualitative assessment in post-conflict Sub-Saharan African context. Journal of Business Research, 173, [114488]. (doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114488).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Extant entrepreneurship literature lacks specific research on how underdog entrepreneurs survive and strive in post-conflict environments. This study seeks to explore the role of marketing agility as an essential capability to survive and exploit business opportunities in post-conflict Sub-Saharan Africa, where institutional voids and volatility coexist. The empirical research design comprises of multiple case studies of sixteen underdog (war-affected) entrepreneurs in Liberia and Sierra Leon; both countries which went through civil war and violent internal strife in recent past. The study findings reveal that marketing agility and its dimensions, i.e., robustness, responsiveness, and proactiveness, are critical for underdog entrepreneur’s business’s survival. Finally, the findings also show that institutional context, volatility, and individual experiences of entrepreneurs tend to influence the manifestation of this marketing agility.

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AAM JBR underdog entrepreneurship - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 29 December 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 January 2024
Published date: February 2024
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2023
Keywords: Conflict, Marketing agility, Sub-Saharan Africa, Underdog entrepreneurship

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 486061
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486061
ISSN: 0148-2963
PURE UUID: 6942e381-da30-4e26-a460-a7d7e6970ecf

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Date deposited: 08 Jan 2024 17:38
Last modified: 22 Mar 2024 19:05

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Contributors

Author: Ahmad Arslan
Author: Samppa Kamara
Author: Anna Yuniao Tian
Author: Peter Rodgers
Author: Minnie Kontkanen

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