The Three Conditions for the Emergence of Early Symbiotic Entrepreneurship

Résumé

The state of the art reveals a plethora of themes where notions take place that can inform us about the specificity of entrepreneurship. This is the case with the positive role of SMEs in countering the phenomenon of environmental and social degradation.

This specificity of entrepreneurship based on the dialectical relationship linking the entrepreneur and sustainable development raises a debate around the ability of SMEs to include sustainable orientation in their business model and encourages to advance this question: why only a handful of SMEs are very committed to sustainable development, while for others the sustainable orientation is only very weakly integrated into their strategies?

To answer this question, at first attempt seems to be looming for us, to simply state this hypothesis: an SME is able to understand sustainable development actions when an entrepreneurial symbiosis occurs within it. At the origin of this symbiosis, the hybridization of three irreducible types of dimensions: a sustainable orientation, strategic direction and organizational direction. To identify this specificity, three questions will be considered: What is an entrepreneurial symbiosis? What are these foundations? And how does a symbiotic SME forge a strong sustainability orientation?

Many authors like Williamson et al., 2006, Cohen et Winn (2007), Spence et al., 2007, Patzelt et Shepherd (2010), York et Venkataraman (2010), etc., invite us to consider the positive role of the Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to counter the phenomenon of environmental and social degradation.

This is very strategic invitation, nevertheless it arouses a debate around the ability of SMEs to include sustainable orientation in their business model and raises this question along the way, why only handful SMEs are very committed to sustainable development, while for others the sustainable orientation is only integrated very low into their strategies?

To answer this question, at the first attempt it seems to be able to make it possible to simply state this assumption: a SME is able to understand the actions of sustainable development when an entrepreneurial symbiosis occurs. At the origin of this symbiosis, the hybridization of three types of orientation or symbiont: a sustainable orientation experienced as a business opportunity, a strategic orientation that involves the simultaneous search for opportunities and strategic advantages related to sustainable development, an organizational orientation focused on the processes and activities through which SMEs wish to engage in sustainability orientation.

By placing our thinking around the concept of symbiotic entrepreneurship, we focus on the appropriate context for its development. To explore this context, three questions will be addressed: What is an entrepreneurial symbiosis? What are these bases? And how does a symbiotic SME forge a strong sustainability orientation?