Industry crises regularly threaten the existence of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and place demands on their resilience while simultaneously providing opportunities for cross-industry innovation (CII). The current literature on CII has not examined how SMEs engaged in CII during a crisis. Using in-depth interviews conducted prior to the oil crisis in 2014 and at the end of the crisis in 2018, we evaluate how the disposition of nine SMEs towards CII contributes to their resilience. We show that CII capabilities strategy and mindset promote absorptive and adaptive resilience. Further, the longitudinal aspect highlights the mismatch between CII opportunities identified during prosperity and SMEs’ ability to realise these opportunities during a crisis. This is often rooted in the challenges of understanding the industry structure of the new CII segment. Successful CII is positive for SMEs’ resilience, and policy initiatives should strive to bridge industries, providing transparency for SMEs pursuing CII.

中文翻译：

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危机前后中小企业的韧性和跨行业创新

行业危机经常威胁中小企业（SME）的生存，对其弹性提出要求，同时为跨行业创新（CII）提供机会。目前有关 CII 的文献尚未研究中小企业如何在危机期间参与 CII。通过 2014 年石油危机前和 2018 年危机结束时进行的深度访谈，我们评估了 9 家中小企业对 CII 的部署如何增强其抵御能力。我们表明，CII 能力战略和思维方式可促进吸收和适应能力。此外，纵向方面凸显了繁荣期间发现的关键信息基础设施机遇与中小企业在危机期间实现这些机遇的能力之间的不匹配。这往往源于理解新 CII 细分市场的行业结构的挑战。成功的 CII 对中小企业的复原力有积极作用，政策举措应努力在行业之间架起桥梁，为追求 CII 的中小企业提供透明度。