Critical decisions at the early stage of start-ups: a systematic literature review

Marcos Antonio González M (), Orestis Terzidis (), Phillip Lütz () and Benedict Heblich ()
Additional contact information
Marcos Antonio González M: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Orestis Terzidis: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Phillip Lütz: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Benedict Heblich: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2024, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-40

Abstract: Abstract This systematic literature review (SLR) identifies and ranks the decisions that can be considered critical for entrepreneurs at the early stage of the start-up process. The sample (N = 56) derived from the SLR contained primary publications from the A + and A journals of the VHB-Journal ranking. Deductive and inductive approaches were used to define the critical decision domains. Then, the relevance of the domains was evaluated using the frequency of the selected studies. A key implication for founders is to understand that not all decisions that could be taken in the early stage may be critical for success. Most critical seems to invest time and effort in the, what we label the internal business and human core (Core People and Product Definition) and the external business and human core (Market segment selection and Partnerships). This study depicts an integrated view of the fragmented field of critical decisions in the context of early-stage start-ups by using a SLR. Thus, it creates value for theory-building and practitioners in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Keywords: Start-ups; Early-stage start-ups; Critical decisions; Key decisions; Entrepreneurship; Systematic literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s13731-024-00438-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joiaen:v:13:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1186_s13731-024-00438-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://innovation-e ... ip.springeropen.com/

DOI: 10.1186/s13731-024-00438-9

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is currently edited by Elias G. Carayannis

More articles in Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().