Navigating Adversity: Entrepreneurial Challenges and Resilience in Morocco’s Traditional Tanning Microenterprises

Traditional artisanal microenterprises in developing economies often remain structurally marginalized by severe institutional voids. Drawing on institutional theory and entrepreneurial bricolage, this article examines entrepreneurial challenges and resilience strategies among traditional tanning microenterprises in Fez, Morocco, a heritage craft industry operating within a “post-corporatist void.” Using an inductive Gioia-based approach informed by sensemaking, the study draws on 50 in-depth interviews and face-to-face observations. The analysis reveals a systemic “Triple Crisis” comprising technical erosion of craftsmanship organizational fragmentation, and mistrust and commercial value capture by intermediaries. To navigate this adversity, artisan entrepreneurs engage in reactive “survival bricolage” and develop a fractured entrepreneurial identity. These mechanisms together create a “resilience trap”: A low-value equilibrium that supports short-term survival while constraining long-term adaptation. The study contributes a context-specific conceptualization of resilience under institutional collapse and highlights the need to rebuild collective agency in traditional craft ecosystems.