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Digital platforms are arguably instrumental for the Circular Economy (CE), yet they frequently fail to deliver. An increasingly popular strategy for developing digital platforms is corporate incubation, where corporations invest in startups. Prior research has nonetheless paid scant attention to the role of corporate incubation in the evolution of digital platforms over time. To shed light on this, we conducted a qualitative case study of a digital platform incubated by one of the largest construction firms in Europe in the context of corporate incubation. Building on prior research suggesting that platform growth and platform scaling are distinct but often conflated phenomena, our analysis reveals four mechanisms through which corporate incubation enables platform growth and (ii) unpacks its role in transitioning to platform scaling. Drawing on boundary work theory, we offer a model explaining how the boundary work frames of organizational actors involved in corporate incubation influence the evolution of digital platforms over time. Our study contributes to the literature on digital platforms for CE by establishing corporate incubation as a promising yet challenging strategy for achieving platform growth, by deciphering the relational and temporal dynamics that condition platform scaling, and by conceptualizing digital platforms as entities performing boundary work.

Small firms’ partner selection is universally acknowledged as a critical stage of alliance formation. However, the performance implications of initial orientation towards a more diverse alliance portfolio are not well understood. Conflicting findings suggest a need for further understanding of what moderates the relationship between preferred alliance partner diversity and small firm performance. Hence, in this study we develop a preference-based measure of partner diversity and empirically test its effects on firms’ performance using an original survey dataset of 1077 Swedish small firms, micro-matched with register records. We show that a more diverse set of partner preferences - that reflect both the awareness of various partner types’ strength and weaknesses and the ability to align specific tasks with a particular partner type - indeed constitutes a competitive advantage for young growing ventures. However, small firms older than six years - especially the ones that experienced zero growth or declined in previous years - should consider fewer partners at the selection stage as they gain no or negative performance benefits from increasing their consideration set. We also show that entrepreneurial orientation positively moderates the effects of preferred partner diversity.

La sélection des partenaires par les petites entreprises est universellement reconnue comme une étape critique de la formation d’alliances. Cependant, les implications en termes de performance d’une orientation initiale vers un portefeuille d’alliances plus diversifié ne sont pas bien comprises. Des résultats contradictoires suggèrent qu’il est nécessaire de mieux comprendre ce qui modère la relation entre la diversité d’alliances entre partenaires privilégiés et la performance des petites entreprises. C’est pourquoi dans cette étude nous développons une mesure de la diversité des partenaires et testons empiriquement ses effets sur les performances des entreprises en utilisant un ensemble de données d’enquêtes originales auprès de 1077 petites entreprises suédoises, micro-appariées avec les données des registres. Nous montrons qu’un ensemble plus diversifié de préférences en matière de partenaires–qui reflète à la fois la sensibilisation aux forces et aux faiblesses des différents types de partenaires et la capacité à aligner des tâches spécifiques sur un type de partenaire particulier - constitue en effet un avantage concurrentiel pour les jeunes entreprises en croissance. Cependant les petites entreprises de plus de six ans d’âge–en particulier celles qui ont connu une croissance nulle ou un déclin au cours des années précédentes–devraient considérer moins de partenaires lors de la phase de sélection, puisqu’elles n’obtiennent aucun avantage en termes de performance, voire un avantage négatif, en augmentant le nombre de partenaires à considérer. Nous montrons également que l’orientation entrepreneuriale modère positivement les effets de la diversité des partenaires privilégiés.

Entrepreneurs traditionally use 'learning-by-doing' and 'learning-by-thinking' as alternative approaches to iteratively build business models for their new ventures. However, both approaches face criticism in how they address novelty and uncertainty, which are crucial to successful entrepreneurship. While Generative AI (GenAI) is increasingly used in entrepreneurial tasks, the practices through which it becomes a learning resource for entrepreneurs remain unexplored. Based on a qualitative study, we present a process model that illustrates how entrepreneurs incorporate GenAI into business model design through five resourcing practices. These practices transform GenAI into a valuable resource for facilitating learning during the design process. This approach, which we term 'Learning-by-Conversing,' introduces a generative startup methodology to complement the lean startup model. We distinguish two modes of learning by conversing - reflexive learning and confirmatory learning - based on how novice and experienced entrepreneurs engage with it. By proposing a learning approach that integrates GenAI with entrepreneurial efforts, we bridge the 'thinking' versus 'doing' debate in business model generation and deepen our understanding of GenAI's role in entrepreneurship

Purpose: This study investigates how small firms develop preferences for varying levels of alliance partner diversity by applying a behavioral perspective.

Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected via an original survey administered by the Swedish National Bureau of Statistics (SCB) of 1026 Swedish firms with 50 employees or less. Hypotheses were tested by specifying a series of fractional response regressions.

Findings: The results show a U-shaped relationship between experienced and preferred alliance partner diversity in small firms, and further show moderating effects of firm age, prior growth and environmental dynamism. The findings suggest that preferences towards diverse alliance portfolios in small firms may arise, not only from well-informed deliberate strategic thinking based on prior experience, but also as a consequence of cognitive bias.

Practical implications: Our findings suggest that: 1) small firms considering a wide variety of alliance partners should carefully investigate whether they are, in fact, capable of mastering a highly diverse alliance portfolio or if they are overconfident novices. 2) Holders of homogenous alliance portfolios should recurringly investigate whether homogeneity is due to informed strategy or inertia.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the literatures on alliance partner diversity and behavioral alliance portfolio configuration by shedding light on the learning mechanisms that shape alliance portfolio strategies of small firms by explicating the complexity of how different experience levels of partner variety affect current alliance portfolio preferences.