Ecopreneuring

An ecopreneur can be anyone who wants to be successful at earning a living by solving environmental problems. Focuses on small scale start-ups and provides information on basic entrepreneuring, including how to get the necessary training, developing viable ecobusiness ideas, funding an ecobusiness, marketing, and managing growth. Also covered are specific ecobusiness opportunities in the fields of recycling and waste reduction techniques and providing products and services for the environmentally aware lifestyle.

How to grow your own green business from the ground up.

When I received the review copy I was rather excited. . . the book as a collection of research papers that, in themselves, are very interesting, and provide a fast-track into the literature of the subject in question. . . it is a worthwhile purchase to support thinking on entrepreneurship and innovation in a world where the sustainability agenda is increasingly becoming the agenda for inventors, entrepreneurs and those who fund them or invest in their companies. . . All the papers are well written and scholarly. . . A particularly strong feature of the chapters is the range of sources quoted at the end of each chapter. These references provide pathways into many different literatures that might save much time for subsequent researchers. Lorraine Warren, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research In recent years our understanding of corporate sustainability has moved from exploitation to exploration, from corporate environmental management to sustainable entrepreneurship, and from efficiency to innovation. Yet current trends indicate the need for radical innovation via entrepreneurial start-ups or new ventures within existing corporations despite difficulties with the financing and marketing of such efforts. Presenting both conceptual and empirical research, this fascinating book addresses how we can combine environmental and social sustainability with economic sustainability in order to produce innovative new business models. The international cast of contributors addresses the wide range of issues in the balance between growth and environmental concerns. The first five chapters discuss various aspects of sustainable entrepreneurship. This is followed by two chapters that look at innovation within existing firms. Innovation is not successful until it finds a customer, so the two chapters that follow delve into the marketing aspects of business-to-consumer and business-to-business settings. The book closes with a broad discussion of the evolution and future of the research agenda into the intersection of sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship. Academics, students, business professionals, and NGOs will find this volume enlightening and useful.

The first edition of this book looked at the emergence of 'ecopreneurs' - environmental entrepreneurs gaining competitive advantage for their firms through understanding and utilising green issues. These green entrepreneurs have led the way in enabling market forces to generate economic growth whilst protecting the environment and encouraging sustainability. This new edition continues the examination of what distinguishes these green entrepreneurs from others. It draws on a diverse range of case studies embracing examples of both successful and unsuccessful ecopreneurial ventures on at least four continents. Contributions have been updated and a number of entirely new chapters describe sustainable business projects in places ranging from the USA , India, western Europe, UK, Australia, central America and New Zealand. Making Ecopreneurs, second edition, charts recent developments and remains highly relevant to researchers in the fields of sustainable business development and entrepreneurship, to policymakers within governments and NGOs, and to those running businesses.

Describes the characteristics that help small companies flourish, tells how to select a management style, and discusses job definition and performance standards

Businesses and enterprises can no longer avoid the concern of their Natural Environmental impact, which calls into question their economic activities. Frugal Innovation and Innovative Creation is at the crossroads of economics and management in business, particularly focused on innovative enterprises and their interactions with the Natural Environment. Navigating these interactions can be perceived by companies as a costly constraint, especially in an innovation process, which is already very expensive. The aim of this book is therefore to highlight the need for a satisfactory technology level while innovating, without risking damage to the Natural Environment. The challenge here is to propose a form of frugal innovation that is likely to be successful, while also mindful of the environmental considerations from the outset, hence the concept of environmental frugal innovation. Furthermore, by questioning the practice of innovative creation (especially if it integrates the ideas of respect for and preservation of the Natural Environment), this book reveals the importance of two key elements that are present regardless of the modality (the level of technology and organization): improvisation and bricolage.

This book offers a glimpse into the future. The companies it describes are pioneers, the first-movers in market shifts that will eventually become mainstream. These "hybrid organizations" – or what others call "values-driven" or "mission-driven" organizations – operate in the blurry space between the for-profit and non-profit worlds. They are redefining their supply chains, their sources of capital, their very purpose for being; and in the process they are changing the market for others. Using a combination of high-level survey analysis and, more importantly, in-depth executive interviews, the book helps fill the present gap in literature on environmentally focused and financially driven for-profit businesses. Moreover, it highlights key trends and critical themes that enable this new wave of socially conscious and fiscally minded enterprises to be successful in meeting both sets of goals. The takeaway for readers of this book is not only an appreciation for common business practices that hybrid organizations adopt, but also an understanding of the complexity of the integration of such adoption that allows them to successfully achieve both mission- and market-driven goals. The book begins with key definitions to establish the scope of this new sector, including explicit definitions for hybrid organizations, environmental sustainability missions, as well as specific criteria to create useful boundaries for the field of hybrid organizations. Building on prior work conducted by researchers on corporate social responsibility, sustainable entrepreneurship, and social enterprise, the book catalogues the best practices within this growing sector, helping others to learn from both the successes and failures of those that are choosing this strategy. The core of the book is built on an analysis of survey data from 47 hybrid organizations, investigating their business models and strategies, finances, organizational structures, processes, metrics, and innovations. The organizations represent a cross-section of size, age, industry, and geography, although the sample set is biased towards young, small, U.S.-based hybrids. Based on analysis of the survey data, five best-in-class companies were selected for in-depth case studies in order to provide instructive lessons for hybrid practitioners and researchers alike. In short, this book presents research that shows hybrid organizations to be a practical and feasible organizational model for contributing solutions to global environmental issues. The lessons in this book will help other social entrepreneurs, business managers, non-profit leaders, or students interested in careers that fuse profitability and responsibility do it even better.