Navigating uncertainty through the integration of ecosystems, sustainability and effectuation: evidence from New Zealand’s agritech SMEs

This study examines how New Zealand agritech SMEs navigate uncertainty and build international traction by aligning entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), sustainable business models (SBMs), and effectual decision-making. In small, resource-constrained economies, entrepreneurs face a practical coordination problem: they must mobilise ecosystem resources, strategically configure sustainability, and adapt to uncertainty, yet existing research treats these domains largely in isolation. Drawing on an exploratory multiple-case study of three innovation-driven agritech SMEs, we show that international traction emerges not from any single domain, but from their dynamic configuration. Ecosystem mobilisation enables access to resources and legitimacy; sustainability configuration supports differentiation and partner attraction; and effectual adaptation operates as the cross-cutting mechanism that aligns these elements. The study extends EE, SBM and effectuation scholarship by offering a processual account of sustainable entrepreneurial strategy in a small-economy context and provides integrated implications for SMEs, policymakers, and ecosystem builders.