Bridging entrepreneurial competencies and business model innovation: insights on business renewal in the small horticulture businesses in Finland

Authors

• Taina Eriksson University of Turku, Finland
• Hilkka Halla Yrityssalo Ltd., FI-24100 Salo, Finland
• Marikka Heikkilä University of Turku, Finland
• Helka Kalliomäki University of Turku, Finland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.79500

Keywords:

business renewal, competency framework, entrepreneurship, qualitative research

Abstract

Entrepreneurial competencies are connected to venture performance, but the link between these competencies and the business model (BM) innovation is scarcely studied. This article is among the first to study entrepreneurial competencies as a driving force for BM innovation. This paper presents a qualitative empirical study of six innovative horticulture entrepreneurs in Finland. We contribute to two separate literature streams, competence and BM literature, by combining competence categories (Mitchelmore and Rowley 2010) and BM Innovation model (Foss and Saebi 2017) in the analysis of innovative entrepreneurs. This paper provides evidence on entrepreneurial competencies being internal drivers for BM innovation, and also identifies the core entrepreneurial competences related to BM innovation.