Business Model Innovation as a tool for SMEs in the Food and Beverage Industry

Entrepreneurship

Strategy

How Business Model Innovation Helps Food and Beverage SMEs Overcome Crises such as COVID-19

The purpose of this project is to shed light on how SMEs can use temporary business model innovations to navigate and recover from crises.

Start & End Date

15/06/2021 - 15/12/2021

Main Applicant

Cruz, M., EHL Hospitality Business School

Partner

Enzo Bivona, University of Palermo (Italy)

External Funding

HES-SO

Project Description

This project explores how small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the food and beverage industry (F&B) use business model innovations (BMIs) to navigate and recover from crises such as COVID-19. Building on an in-depth multi-case study of four SME breweries in Switzerland, this project aims at developing a generalizable framework to help SMEs in the F&B industry to understand how to create BMIs to coping and recovering from crises.

Scientific Output

Bivona, E., & Cruz, M. (2021). Can business model innovation help SMEs in the food and beverage industry to respond to crises? Findings from a Swiss brewery during COVID-19. British food journal, 123(11), 3638-3660.

Cruz, M. and Bivona, E. (Forthcoming). Unlocking potential: collaborative approaches to crisis management and business model innovation for SMEs. European Journal of Innovation Management.

Our Team

Dr. Margarita Cruz

Associate Professor - EHL Hospitality Business School

Margarita Cruz holds a PhD in Economics and is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at EHL. Her research explores the intersection of organizational theory and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on how social evaluations influence entrepreneurial outcomes, such as founding new ventures and launching new products.