Four guidelines for a systemic approach to transition support
Garda, Jacques-Olivier
Four guidelines for a systemic approach to transition support - 2025.
29
Faced with the growing number of injunctions to engage in transition, managers of SMEs, micro-enterprises, and mid-sized companies, as well as the actors who support them, are confronted with a complex, shifting, and often unclear landscape. Discourses multiply, support schemes pile up, and the logics of engagement diverge depending on the stakeholders involved. In this context, it becomes essential not to propose yet another method, but to provide a systemic framework for better understanding the dynamics at play and structuring action. This article proposes four guiding landmarks, informed by various research works and field observations, to think about entrepreneurial engagement in societal and environmental transitions. These landmarks make it possible to analyze: (1) the organization-as-system within its complex ecosystem; (2) the thickness of the norms and conventions shaping it; (3) the understanding of the triggers of engagement; and (4) the processes of organizational transformation over time. These analytical markers can be mobilized both by managers seeking meaning and coherence, and by support professionals eager to adapt their practices to the diversity of entrepreneurial trajectories. They help move beyond a prescriptive vision of transition, turning it into a contextualized strategic lever. Finally, the article opens a discussion on the still unfinished structuring of the support ecosystem and on the role that research can play in this collective capacity-building process.
Four guidelines for a systemic approach to transition support - 2025.
29
Faced with the growing number of injunctions to engage in transition, managers of SMEs, micro-enterprises, and mid-sized companies, as well as the actors who support them, are confronted with a complex, shifting, and often unclear landscape. Discourses multiply, support schemes pile up, and the logics of engagement diverge depending on the stakeholders involved. In this context, it becomes essential not to propose yet another method, but to provide a systemic framework for better understanding the dynamics at play and structuring action. This article proposes four guiding landmarks, informed by various research works and field observations, to think about entrepreneurial engagement in societal and environmental transitions. These landmarks make it possible to analyze: (1) the organization-as-system within its complex ecosystem; (2) the thickness of the norms and conventions shaping it; (3) the understanding of the triggers of engagement; and (4) the processes of organizational transformation over time. These analytical markers can be mobilized both by managers seeking meaning and coherence, and by support professionals eager to adapt their practices to the diversity of entrepreneurial trajectories. They help move beyond a prescriptive vision of transition, turning it into a contextualized strategic lever. Finally, the article opens a discussion on the still unfinished structuring of the support ecosystem and on the role that research can play in this collective capacity-building process.
Réseaux sociaux