Resource orchestration mechanisms and the growth of the very small enterprise (VSE) with entrepreneurial support
The literature on resource orchestration provides a process-based and complexity perspective for understanding the growth of the VSE with support. However, few studies have focused on the representations of entrepreneurial actors about the managerial and entrepreneurial actions which explain growth. Yet, finer knowledge about the mechanisms underlying the orchestration of resources would be useful to actors and entrepreneurial support professionals facing this challenge. To that end, this article proposes the use of critical realism which purpose is to develop a research design based on the Group Concept Mapping (GCM) as a bottom-up mixed methodological framework. The GCM method is used to produce intercase research representations to examine the conceptual representations shared by entrepreneurial actors owners of VSEs at the growth phase and evolving in distinct support systems ; one in Quebec (NQC = 25) and the other in France (NFR = 15). The intercase results presented in this article contribute in two ways to the theoretical concepts underpinning resource orchestration. First, four self-reinforcing growth-generating mechanisms are identified in line with the antecedents of growth. Second, conjectures formulated by retroduction to the theoretical notions contribute to an articulation of the resource orchestration framework for the VSE with support.