Title: Getting by with a little help from my friends: the impact of the pandemic on the collaboration of small Finnish food and beverage ventures

Authors: Erika Perttunen; Teo Keipi; Sooa Hwang; Tua A. Björklund

Addresses: Aalto University Design Factory, P.O. Box 17700, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 15400, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland ' Aalto University Design Factory, P.O. Box 17700, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland ' Department of Marketing, Sogang Business School, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 04107, South Korea ' Aalto University Design Factory, P.O. Box 17700, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University School of Engineering, P.O. Box 14100, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland

Abstract: Ventures' social ties are important enablers of value creation. Particularly during crises, the value of relationships is highlighted as scale-limited ventures can draw from their partners' resources to find opportunities for survival and renewal. Crises also shape ventures' collaboration opportunities by disrupting networks and changing ways of engagement. Yet, longitudinal research on the impact of crises on ventures' collaboration remains limited. In the current study, we combine pre and during-pandemic interviews with social media data from 14 packaged food and beverage ventures to explore the impact of the crisis on venture collaboration. The data illustrates four distinct approaches to collaboration during the pandemic, differing in terms of scope of collaborations, variety of different partner types, proportion of developmental collaborations, and engagement in collaboration due to or despite the crisis. The findings show that the crisis significantly shaped ventures' collaborations, which may shape their social capital beyond the crisis.

Keywords: collaboration; entrepreneurs; COVID-19 pandemic; social media; social capital; bonding ties; bridging ties; small business; crisis response; social tie management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2023.129335

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2023 Vol.27 No.1/2, pp.51 - 76

Received: 17 Dec 2021
Received in revised form: 14 Oct 2022
Accepted: 17 Nov 2022
Published online: 06 Mar 2023 *