“Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Convergence of Digital Transformation, Supply Chains, and Generative AI in Small Business Economics and Resilience”
DETAILS
Call for Papers – Special Issue: “Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Convergence of Digital Transformation, Supply Chains, and Generative AI in Small Business Economics and Resilience”
Journal: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Submission deadline: 30 April 2026
This special issue investigates how digital transformation, supply‑chain innovation, and generative AI jointly reshape entrepreneurship, innovation, and resilience in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It targets the intersection where technology‑driven change meets SME‑level strategy, operations, and policy support, with a strong focus on smoothing transitions to more agile, sustainable, and crisis‑resilient business models.
Why this issue matters
SMEs are central to economic dynamism but are more vulnerable to disruptions than large firms, especially under shocks like the recent pandemic, supply‑chain crises, and rapid technological change.
While digital‑technology and AI research often centres on large corporations, SMEs face distinct challenges and opportunities—limited resources, fragmented digital skills, and constrained policy ecosystems—making tailored research urgent.
This SI links three powerful forces—digital transformation, supply‑chain resilience, and generative AI—into a unified frame for understanding how SMEs can turn digital‑ and AI‑capabilities into economic resilience and innovation advantage.
Key themes and research topics
Contributions may be empirical, conceptual, or mixed‑method, and are encouraged to draw on entrepreneurship, innovation‑management, operations, and policy‑analysis literatures. Topics include:
1. Digital transformation in SMEs
Barriers and enablers of SME digitalisation (e.g., finance, skills, resistance to change).
Case studies of “digital‑leapfrogging” or innovative digital‑implementations in SMEs.
How digitalisation drives sustainable‑business practices (e.g., resource efficiency, low‑waste operations).
2. Supply‑chain resilience and digitalisation
Role of digital tools (IoT, blockchain, analytics) in improving supply‑chain visibility and disruption‑response for SMEs.
Design of sustainable and resilient supply chains for SMEs (e.g., diversified sourcing, circular‑logic, localisation strategies).
3. Generative AI in small‑business innovation
Use of generative AI for product design, process automation, and new‑business‑model creation in SMEs.
Overcoming technical, financial, and ethical barriers to AI adoption (e.g., data quality, transparency, bias, labour‑displacement concerns).
4. Integrated frameworks and policies
Conceptual and empirical frameworks that integrate digital transformation, AI, and supply‑chain resilience into SME‑level strategies.
Examination of policy instruments and government support that help SMEs adopt these technologies for resilience and sustainability.
Guest editors
Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Kamal, University of Exeter Business School, UK
Prof. Joan Lockyer, (UK)
Prof. Steve T. Walsh, University of New Mexico, USA
Dr. Muhammad Awais Shakir, University of Portsmouth, UK
Submission details
Submission platform: ScholarOne Manuscripts for IJEBr:
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijebrWhen submitting, select the special issue title “Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Convergence of Digital Transformation, Supply Chains, and Generative AI in Small Business Economics and Resilience”.
Key deadlines:
Abstract submission: 30 September 2025 (to m.m.kamal@exeter.ac.uk)
Full‑paper submission window: 1 January 2026 – 30 April 2026
All manuscripts must be original and not under consideration elsewhere, and must follow the journal’s Author Guidelines.
This SI is ideal for entrepreneurship, innovation, and operations‑management scholars who wish to explore how digitalisation and generative AI can be harnessed to strengthen the economics and resilience of SMEs in an evolving global‑and‑regulatory context.
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