The COVID-19 pandemic caused global shock to the entire economic system. As a result of the government restrictions, both production and distribution channels were interrupted. In this situation, however, it was possible to observe that some companies were able to adapt to these new conditions. The demand for the possibility of translating physical business into virtual increased. The COVID-19 restrictions showed that many entrepreneurs do not have enough knowledge about the available online tools and possibilities. Given that the digital transformation of business today often consists only of incorporating existing tools into existing processes, transition to e-commerce could be made easily and quickly. Moving Businesses Online and Embracing E-Commerce: Impact and Opportunities Caused by COVID-19 analyzes the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on business models of enterprises affected most by these restrictions and examines transformational changes induced by the accelerated adoption of internet technologies and transition to e-commerce-based business models. Covering topics such as customer relationship management (CRM), small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and customer loyalty, this book serves as an essential resource for business owners, CEOs, managers, IT consultants, web developers, students, professors, entrepreneurs, researchers, industry professionals, and academicians.

Research in this book enhances the understanding of small and medium-sized businesses as a result of unprecedented challenges presented to them. It elaborates on how some small and medium-sized businesses not only survive, but also thrive amidst uncertainties, by embracing digital solutions or transformations. To achieve this, the book adopts mixed research methods, with a combination of case studies, secondary data analysis and primary data analysis (survey information and/or interviews). Tables and illustrations are also included to provide the reader with a holistic understanding of small and medium-sized businesses from different cultural contexts.

Smaller companies are abundant in the business realm and outnumber large companies by a wide margin. To maintain a competitive edge against other businesses, companies must ensure the most effective strategies and procedures are in place. This is particularly critical in smaller business environments that have fewer resources. Start-Ups and SMEs: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source that examines the strategies and concepts that will assist small and medium-sized enterprises to achieve competitiveness. It also explores the latest advances and developments for creating a system of shared values and beliefs in small business environments. Highlighting a range of topics such as entrepreneurship, innovative behavior, and organizational sustainability, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, business managers, executives, managing directors, academicians, business professionals, researchers, and graduate-level students.

Innovation is how businesses stay ahead of the competition and adapt to market conditions that change in unpredictable and uncertain ways. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, high-end cuisine underwent a profound transformation. Once an industry that prioritized consistency and reliability, it turned into one where constant change was a competitive necessity. A top restaurant’s reputation and success have become so closely bound up with its ability to innovate that a new organizational form, the culinary research and development team, has emerged. The best of these R&D teams continually expand the frontiers of food—they invent a constant stream of new dishes, new cooking processes and methods, and even new ways of experiencing food. How do they achieve this nonstop novelty? And what can culinary research and development teach us about how organizations innovate? Vaughn Tan opens up the black box of elite culinary R&D to provide essential insights. Drawing on years of unprecedented access to the best and most influential culinary R&D teams in the world, he reveals how they exemplify what he calls the uncertainty mindset. Such a mindset intentionally incorporates uncertainty into organization design rather than simply trying to reduce risk. It changes how organizations hire, set goals, and motivate team members and leads organizations to work in highly unconventional ways. A revelatory look at the R&D kitchen, The Uncertainty Mindset upends conventional wisdom about how to organize for innovation and offers practical insights for businesses trying to become innovative and adaptable.

Volume 14 addresses the central issue of entrepreneurial action: while many factors are important to the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship does not happen until someone takes action!

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs have been hit hard during the COVID-19 crisis. Policy responses were quick and unprecedented, helping cushion the blow and maintain most SMEs and entrepreneurs afloat. Despite the magnitude of the shock, available data so far point to sustained start-ups creation, no wave of bankruptcies, and an impulse to innovation in most OECD countries.

In this book, leading researchers on Managerial and Organizational Cognition consider the foundations of individual and social cognition and their effect on strategic decision-making.