Embracing the “fail fast and learn fast” mindset: conceptualizing learning from failure in knowledge-intensive SMEs
通过三家知识密集型中小企业的案例研究，揭示了从失败中学习的过程，包括失败识别、互动意义建构和组织适应三个阶段，为中小企业如何有效从失败中学习提供了框架。
Abstract “Fail fast and learn fast” is a principle commonly advanced to quickly grow and scale startups and SMEs. However, the literature lacks detailed insights into how such learning is organized. The paper aims to investigate how knowledge-intensive SMEs learn from failures through organizational learning processes. To answer this question, we present in-depth case studies of three SMEs that operate in a dynamic context where quick adaption to changes, failures, and learning are natural modes of practice. Our findings present the learning from the failure process, which includes three phases: (1) failure recognition, (2) interactive sensemaking, and (3) organizational adaptation. We condense our insights into a framework disentangling how SMEs succeed and fail and how they can learn from failures through their underlying learning processes. We contribute to prior literature on organizational learning in SMEs by focusing on knowledge-intensive SMEs and practices that enable effective learning from failures.