IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-04480487.html

Fostering SME survival through insolvency proceedings: a legitimacy perspective on retrenchment, age, and firm-specific distress

Author

Listed:
  • Rachid Achbah

    (UL2 UFR SEG - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UFR de Sciences économiques et de gestion - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2, COACTIS - COnception de l'ACTIon en Situation - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne)

  • Marc Fréchet

    (UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne, COACTIS - COnception de l'ACTIon en Situation - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne)

Abstract

This study examines the interaction between insolvency proceedings and strategic variables and their relationship with firm survival. Unlike previous research, this study considers the firm's legal status, including insolvency proceedings, and fills a gap in the literature by considering legal considerations in business studies. Adopting a legitimacy perspective, we employ a Cox proportional hazards model to construct a survival model based on a theoretical framework encompassing insolvency proceedings retrenchment, firm age, and causes of financial distress. Our sample consists of French SMEs facing financial difficulties. The findings reveal that initiating insolvency proceedings is negatively associated with firm survival. However, retrenchment of employees or assets during insolvency proceedings is associated with a higher likelihood of survival. Contrary to expectations, firm age showed a negative association with firm survival during the insolvency proceedings. Moreover, the study revealed a positive association between insolvency proceedings and firm survival in cases of firm-specific financial distress. This research provides new insights into the relationship between insolvency proceedings and firm survival.

Suggested Citation

  • Rachid Achbah & Marc Fréchet, 2024. "Fostering SME survival through insolvency proceedings: a legitimacy perspective on retrenchment, age, and firm-specific distress," Post-Print hal-04480487, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04480487
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-024-00874-7
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04480487v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-04480487v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-024-00874-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fisher, Greg & Kuratko, Donald F. & Bloodgood, James M. & Hornsby, Jeffrey S., 2017. "Legitimate to whom? The challenge of audience diversity and new venture legitimacy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 52-71.
    2. Shepherd, Dean A. & Wiklund, Johan & Haynie, J. Michael, 2009. "Moving forward: Balancing the financial and emotional costs of business failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 134-148, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rachid Achbah & Marc Fréchet, 2024. "Fostering SME survival through insolvency proceedings: a legitimacy perspective on retrenchment, age, and firm-specific distress," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 1585-1614, December.
    2. Maw–Der Foo & Marilyn A. Uy & Charles Murnieks, 2015. "Beyond Affective Valence: Untangling Valence and Activation Influences on Opportunity Identification," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(2), pages 407-431, March.
    3. Thomas, Llewellyn D.W. & Snihur, Yuliya, 2025. "Ecosystem framing and infomediary resonance: Amazon’s early years (1995–2003)," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Ju Xu & Yitu Fu & Xueying Zhang, 2023. "Does entrepreneurship education in China develop entrepreneurial intention? the role of self-efficacy and experience," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(7), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Balachandran, Chanchal & Wennberg, Karl, 2025. "Director turnover in new venture boards: From homophilous to resource-contingent processes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(5).
    6. Vismara, Silvio, 2019. "Sustainability in equity crowdfunding," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 98-106.
    7. Stroe, Silvia & Sirén, Charlotta & Shepherd, Dean & Wincent, Joakim, 2020. "The dualistic regulatory effect of passion on the relationship between fear of failure and negative affect: Insights from facial expression analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    8. Krukowski, Kipp A. & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Rutherford, Matthew W., 2023. "Winning the opportunity to pitch: Piquing startup investors’ interest by sending the right signals in executive summaries," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 75-86.
    9. Jenni Dinger & Michael Conger & David Hekman & Carla Bustamante, 2020. "Somebody That I Used to Know: The Immediate and Long-Term Effects of Social Identity in Post-disaster Business Communities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 115-141, September.
    10. Donald F. Kuratko & Greg Fisher & James M. Bloodgood & Jeffrey S. Hornsby, 2017. "The paradox of new venture legitimation within an entrepreneurial ecosystem," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 119-140, June.
    11. Alterskye, Alex & Fuller, Ted & Caputo, Andrea, 2023. "Field dynamics as context – A multi-perspective combined analysis of the effects of context on entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    12. Stephanie Duchek, 2018. "Entrepreneurial resilience: a biographical analysis of successful entrepreneurs," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 429-455, June.
    13. Stefanie Weniger & Svenja Jarchow, 2024. "Corporate venturing in times of crisis: securing resources through legitimacy," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(12), pages 3639-3693, December.
    14. Jiaxin Liu & Boram Lee & Ruth Rentschler, 2025. "Leveraging entrepreneurial identity and technology: legitimacy of art securitization platforms," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 49(2), pages 327-354, June.
    15. Krzeminska, Anna & Lundmark, Erik & Härtel, Charmine E.J., 2021. "Legitimation of a heterogeneous market category through covert prototype differentiation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(2).
    16. Rittstieg, Pauline Tilla, 2022. "Convincing investors: A study of personal, adapted storytelling and strategic behavior in entrepreneurial fundraising," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 7(5), pages 1193-1223.
    17. Tanweer, Syeda Zainab & Shah, Muhammad Saud & Nabi, Agha Ammad & Mukhi, Aftab Ali & Ahad, Muhammad, 2023. "Accelerating Growth: Unleashing the Power of Accelerator Programs as Strategic Investments for Startups in Pakistan," MPRA Paper 117474, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 28 May 2023.
    18. Alessandra Colombelli & Elettra D’Amico & Emilio Paolucci, 2023. "When computer science is not enough: universities knowledge specializations behind artificial intelligence startups in Italy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 1599-1627, October.
    19. Kuratko, Donald F. & Devin Burnell, & Stevenson, Regan & Neubert, Emily & Fisher, Greg, 2023. "Enacting entrepreneurial hustle," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 237-249.
    20. Seyb, Stella & Shepherd, Dean A. & Maitlis, Sally, 2025. "Meaningful venturing: Examining how entrepreneurs generate meaning in life," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(5).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04480487. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.