Venture resilience, criminal approaches and the welfare state: entrepreneurial decisions and opinions one year after the COVID-19 outbreak Fabio La Rosa Department of Law, University of Catania, Catania, Italy, and Francesca Bernini Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy Abstract Purpose – This study aims to investigate the resilience of Italian companies one year after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak by examining the companies’ choices and opinions regarding the welfare state, criminal approaches and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) during the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach – The authors proposed a conceptual framework based on a combination of private vs public protection and business resilience theory and adopted a concurrent embedded mixed- method approach, using an online survey of 219 entrepreneurs. Findings – The authors find the respondents showing high resilience to the crisis and strongly unaffected by organised crime’s (OC’s) predatory role; the State seems to have quickly and effectively met the financial needs of sampled Italian companies, at least in the short term. Practical implications – Whilst welfare can be highly effective for companies to combat crime, regulators should recognise that public protection may decrease with time, leaving companies open to long-term challenges. Originality/value – The authors believe that our study makes a significant contribution to the entrepreneurship literature because this is the first study to explore how entrepreneurs deal with financing problems in a context characterised by a strong impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and OC pressure. Keywords Business resilience, COVID-19, Criminal welfare, Organised crime, Small and medium enterprises, Welfare state Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted almost every country. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been facing substantial difficulties in raising capital because they are also more vulnerable than larger companies to economic crises and external shocks. In fact, SMEs own fewer internal resources and capabilities (Herbane, 2010). In particular, they often show weaker cash flow and less equity reserves and are often focussed on short-term strategies, raising concern among stakeholders such as public Entrepreneur decisions after COVID-19 The authors thank three anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and all entrepreneurs participating in the study. Research Involving Human and Animal Participants: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent: Participation in this survey was voluntary. Participants were only encouraged to complete the questionnaire. Anonymity and confidentiality were ensured on the questionnaire. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1462-6004.htm Received 19 May 2022 Revised 21 July 2022 8 September 2022 1 November 2022 24 November 2022 Accepted 8 December 2022 Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development © Emerald Publishing Limited 1462-6004 DOI 10.1108/JSBED-05-2022-0246