Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to indicate how conflicts in foreign business relationships are handled by small firms from a relational point of view and how these conflicts can be used by small firms in a positive way.Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses qualitative study and presents the results of in-depth interviews conducted with six small, Poland-based firms.Findings: The paper indicates the nature of conflicts in foreign business relationships from the perspective of small firms, including the sources of conflict and its outcomes. The main sources of conflict indicated include service or product quality, financial aspects of cooperation and cultural differences. The study exposes the existence of both negative (e.g. financial consequences) and positive (e.g. gaining new experience) outcomes of conflicts. It shows that positive conflict handling often constitutes a significant challenge for small firms and that the authors cannot really speak of one optimal method of conflict handling. Regardless of the method adopted, the costs involved should be taken into detailed consideration.Practical implications: The paper points to actions that could be taken by small firms to handle conflicts in a way that will produce positive outcomes.Originality/value: Managing international relationships is a more challenging task compared with domestic ones, especially for smaller firms. The paper exposes the impact of two categories of conflict (called day-to-day problems and severe conflicts) in a foreign relationship on small firms and considers different methods of handling the conflict situations.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to identify the necessary transformations required to evolve entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) into sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems (SEEs) and to explore the primary challenges involved. By addressing these aspects the study establishes a foundation for future research directions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a conceptual analysis based on the semi-systematic literature review of the concepts of EEs and SEEs. Findings: An SEE intentionally addresses all three dimensions of sustainability—social, ecological and economic. This requires, on the one hand, a genuine will and effort from individual actors to increase their sustainability, and, on the other, an establishment of systemic conditions that will make this transformation easier and allow for a fair distribution of its costs. Originality/value: The paper bridges the research concerning limited studies on SEEs by presenting a model that delineates the conditions for the development of SEE and identifies the requisite changes necessary to foster sustainability within the EE. Furthermore, the paper outlines potential avenues for future research to explore the conceptual advancement and practical implementation of the SEE concept.

Objective: The objective of the article is to discuss the impact of conflicts in foreign business relationships on the performance of SMEs. Two possible ways in which conflicts influence the company’s performance are considered: direct (conflicts → company’s performance) and indirect (conflicts → business relationships → company’s performance). Research Design & Methods: The article uses the case study method and presents the results of a study of 13 SMEs operating in international markets. Findings: The article proposes a model of the positive impact of conflicts in foreign business relationships on SME performance. A model links relational and operational sources of conflicts with their direct and indirect (through relationships) impact on SME performance and positive and negative outcomes. Implications & Recommendations: The article provides information how to transform conflicts in foreign business relationships into positive outcomes. A crucial role in this respect is played by moderators: trust and informal relationship development, cultural awareness and formal action development. Contribution & Value Added: The originality of the study is that it identifies the main operational and relational sources of conflict situations that impact (directly and indirectly) SMEs performance in their international activities. The identified 4 moderators, by positively impacting SMEs foreign relationship in conflict situations, help these companies to obtain positive conflict outcomes.

Purpose: The paper aims to answer the question of how the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem (DEE) shapes the activities of companies from highly traditional industries. In particular, we want to identify different types of actors from the DEE and how they foster the entrepreneurial activities of very traditional companies with a high proportion of manual labor, as well as to identify the kinds of entrepreneurial activities fostered by the DEE. Methodology: This paper applies a case study method based on the analysis of highly traditional companies in the confectionery industry that cooperate through a digital platform to sell their products. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with key informants from three companies in the confectionery industry, as well as with the provider of the digital platform, the IT supplier and a final B2B customer. Findings: The concept of DEE needs to be extended to include an analysis of two settings – digital and traditional – as both interfere with and influence entrepreneurial activities. Digital actors within the DEE play a key role in both the digital and the traditional entrepreneurial activities of highly traditional companies. Traditional actors, meanwhile, play a supporting role in the process. Additionally, the study determines the unique characteristics of the DEE, in which traditional companies are active. Originality: The paper develops the concept of the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. The originality of the paper lies in the analysis of the DEE from the perspective of companies from a highly traditional industry. This is a novel approach towards the DEE that has not been proposed in the literature to date.