Motivations and challenges in small business start-ups: a glance at Vietnam's public relations industry

Purpose: This study focuses on entrepreneurship in Vietnam. It explores a founder's motivations, challenges, and growth strategies through concrete examples from public relations. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts an inductive, grounded theory approach and collects data through a series of in-depth interviews. Findings: The results of this study show that most Vietnamese public relations industry founders are reluctant to make decisions based on their needs. At first, none of them had sufficient management skills or considered managerial tasks to be the most difficult. They are also less likely to make the changes their companies need to grow. They prefer to run small businesses because moderate growth is considered more sustainable and manageable. Originality: Despite the rising importance of entrepreneurship and public relations in Vietnam, there are only a few studies on Vietnam’s public relations industry, and no previous work has explored why an entrepreneur decides to venture into public relations. Inadequate attention to the field calls for better understanding and research on this topic. Practical implications: This study expands the body of knowledge on Vietnamese entrepreneurship and provides practical implications and suggestions for businesspeople in Vietnam by providing insights into the founders’ startup and management journey. Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial motivation, business growth, SME, public relations, Vietnam