Anastasia Laskovaya, Researcher at the Center of Entrepreneurship of the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg State University (GSOM SPbU) has become a leader from Russia at an international association of scholars, the Society for Effectual Action, in which 29 scholars and entrepreneurs from 16 countries and 5 continents agreed to begin joint activities on the studying and dissemination of new knowledge about effectuation.  

 

Effectuation is a specific way of looking at successful entrepreneurs, discovered by scholars during their research. It turned out that experienced entrepreneurs when establishing successful businesses have generally followed five principles: 

 

• Focus on available means; 
• Affordable losses; 
• Leverage contingencies; 
• Partnership and pre-commitments; 
• Control of an unpredictable future.

 

«Effectuation works well in the creation of any projects — whether it be one’s own business or a social initiative. It helps one to see new opportunities and to find creative solutions under conditions of uncertainty, even as overwhelming as the COVID-19 pandemic. A striking example of using this method has been seen by the Russian association «Mesto», where people come together to help each other to co-operate on the creation of new companies and products. We, experienced researchers at GSOM SPbU, have seen the relevance and the high potential of using the principles of effectuation and plan to promote them in our country, through webinars, consultation, and in publica-tions in Russian», — says Anastasia Laskovaya.   

 

 

Every member of the group of leaders in the Society for Effectual Action represents his/her region and contributes available resources to achieve the objectives of the association:

• To disseminate knowledge about effectuation; 
• To broaden the scope of effectuation beyond entrepreneurship education and particularly for addressing social and global challenges; 
• To help with implementation of this approach in business practices.