What pivot is: Touching an elephant in the dark

The term ‘pivot’ first appeared in the practical literature, demonstrating its role in the Lean Startup, and immediately emerged in the academic literature. However, it suffered from conflicting perceptions and practice-academy divide. Moreover, recently, a growing number of scholars introduced it a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDigital business (Amsterdam) Vol. 3; no. 1; p. 100056
Main Authors Sadeghiani, Ayoob, Anderson, Alistair
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.06.2023
Elsevier
Subjects
Business model
Construct clarity
Pivot
Pivoting
Startup
Strategy
Strategy
Business model
Pivot
Pivoting
Construct clarity
Startup
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Summary:The term ‘pivot’ first appeared in the practical literature, demonstrating its role in the Lean Startup, and immediately emerged in the academic literature. However, it suffered from conflicting perceptions and practice-academy divide. Moreover, recently, a growing number of scholars introduced it as a response to the pandemic crisis, at times as an umbrella term. In this study, we first test the concept ‘pivot’ against clarity criteria and find its problematic issues based on a qualitative content analysis of the literature; then, using a multi-case study, we get a critical distance from the pivot's origin; parsimoniously reposition it as ‘substitution’, differentiate it from ‘pivoting’ as its process theory; and discuss it in relation to vision, strategy, and business model. Finally, we propose a conceptual basis and some rules for operationalization.
ISSN:2666-9544
2666-9544
DOI:10.1016/j.digbus.2023.100056