Teamwork impact on start-up manufacturing enterprise work provision

Abstract

Purpose – clarifying the current risks and organizational issues in start-up manufacturing enterprises in Latvia, to find out the impact of teamwork on work provision in Latvia start-up manufacturing enterprises. Research methodology – to achieve the purpose of this study, a survey of 55 start-up entrepreneurs from fifteen Business Incubators of Investment and Development Agency of Latvia in 2018 was undertaken by an online questionnaire. Findings – the results of the research have indicated that the lack of own team is one of the dominant start-up manufacturing enterprise work risks. Comparative analysis of data showed that mostly the entrepreneurs, who have started development of their business idea individually and whose enterprise’s work is basically based on a single-decision making, have encountered the issue. However, the research outcomes revealed that provision of start-up manufacturing enterprise work outcomes is related to the teamwork factor – both belief in joint work, common understanding about the expected outcomes, mutual trust and support. Research limitations – direct start-up enterprises, which have registered their activity in one of the sub-sectors of the NACE (Rev. 2) Group C “Manufacturing Industry” and receive the support provided by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia Business Incubator for their start-up activity in Latvia, without exceeding a 4-year incubation period, have been chosen for the research. Practical implications – the research outcomes point to the need of Business Incubators of Investment and Development of Latvia to provide not only tangible opportunities for start-up manufacturing enterprises for the business idea development during the incubation period, but also practical knowledge on team building during the business start-up process. Originality/Value – Unlike other studies that are mostly focused on hard benefits in enterprises, as well as in start-ups, this is a specific research which provides insights on whether teamwork is recognized as an important factor of startup manufacturing companie work provision in relation to technological and external risks during the business start-up process and its work result achievement.