PhD - Support for entrepreneurial teams: modalities and challenges

LABORATOIRE : MRM groupe MRM Entrepreneuriat

Statut : Equipe d'accueil (EA 4557)

Directeur.s de thèse :

Directrice de thèse : Sammut Sylvie       

Université de Montpellier

sylvie.sammut@umontpellier.fr

Co-directrice de thèse : Jaouen Annabelle

Montpellier Business School

a.jaouen@Montpellier-BS.com

More and more support structures (incubators and accelerators in particular) refuse solo entrepreneurs and require at least two business partners (Miliani, 2015 ; Jaouen, 2022). However, the main cause of failure of companies in good health comes from a conflict or disagreement between partners (Crutzen & Van Caillie, 2009 ; Chabaud et Condor, 2014). Thus, entrepreneurs are encouraged to create as a team while the risks associated with this mode of governance are little known, and the structures rarely offer support on managing the relationship between partners (Jaouen, 2022).

From an academic point of view, the literature remains rather sparse regarding the specificities of the different forms of entrepreneurial teams: as a couple, with family, between friends, strong link or weak link, dyads, triads or 4+ team, student entrepreneurship, university spin-offs, female entrepreneurship, inclusive entrepreneurship (Ben-Hafaïedh, 2020 ; Boncler et al., 2006 ; Chabaud & Condor, 2009, 2014 ; Gundolf et Jaouen, 2009 ; Lalonde, 2012 ; Parak, 2014). To our knowledge, no comparative study has been carried out and the specificities of each category have never been exhaustively put into perspective. However, all of these teams have specific psycho-sociological and cognitive characteristics, but also different goals and values that must be considered to optimize the support and thus to guarantee a better survival rate for the firms supported (Lalonde, 2012 ; Miliani, 2015 ; Foliard & Le Pontois, 2017 ; De Mol et al., 2020).

The thesis aims to study the methods and challenges of supporting entrepreneurial teams. The first step is to carry out a state of the art on the different types of collective entrepreneurship in order to identify the common points and the differences, the risk and failure factors specific to each of them, as well as the entrepreneurial support needs. This will highlight the theoretical gaps to fill in order to improve knowledge on entrepreneurial teams. Thus, the doctoral student will be able to identify differentiated methods for the actors of entrepreneurial support.

Skills

PhD student will have to possess a methodological opening. This will allow him(her) to master the qualitative and quantitative methods which could be applied in this thesis and to realize the data processing.

A good knowledge of English language is also necessary in order to be able to read and draft research articles in international journals.

The candidate will also have to possess an interest for the transverse approaches.