VESLIN Alexis 

thesis subject :

Towards an entrepreneurial interpretation of the turnaround of microbusinesses and SMEs: implications for supporting business leaders.

Thesis start date :

octobre 2025

Name of thesis supervisor(s) :

JOUISON Estèle

Thesis abstract :

Very small, small, and medium-sized enterprises (VSEs–SMEs) constitute the majority of the French economic fabric and employment base. When facing economic difficulties, these firms often find themselves in a position of fragility, where crisis management becomes particularly complex due to a fragmented administrative and institutional environment. Supporting struggling SMEs has thus become a major challenge for ensuring business continuity and protecting employment.
Despite this critical issue and while many researches on it, several recent reports, including the 2024 French Court of Auditors report, highlight that the support system for SME leaders in difficulty remains insufficient, fragmented, and poorly coordinated. Entrepreneurs face multiple obstacles: the coexistence of actors with divergent logics (bankers, accountants, tax and social authorities), a lack of training in crisis management, and an overly complex support ecosystem.
This research aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by SMEs in difficulty, focusing on the unbalanced relationships between external stakeholders and the lack of coordination in their interventions. It explores possible alignments among these actors to enhance the effectiveness of support mechanisms and improve the chances of business recovery.
Drawing on multiple academic fields — law, accounting, economics, finance, and psychology — this research contributes to the broader study of entrepreneurial hardship and support mechanisms. However, it addresses a notable gap in existing literature: the absence of an explicitly entrepreneurial perspective on the recovery phase and its impact on the surrounding ecosystem. By adopting this lens, the thesis seeks to better define and understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurial recovery support within the ecosystem of struggling SMEs, in a systemic and collaborative approach.