Entrepreneurship And The Sustainable Development Goals

Given the compelling need to understand how entrepreneurship can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and be appropriately guided, this book explores how entrepreneurial thinking and action can support social change, and investigates alternative entrepreneurship approaches by drawing together different studies.

This innovative and engaging book discusses the contribution of business to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. It critically analyses selected impact measurement and management tools to highlight their respective benefits and limitations, and also provides guidance on critical management decisions to support high-quality impact measurement and management. The analyses underlying this book are the result of a three year research project conducted by an international consortium in the EU-funded research project GLOBAL VALUE – Managing Business Impact on Development. The research is complemented by examples from corporate practice and expert interviews to demonstrate and measure the contribution of business to sustainable development in the context of the SDGs.

This book provides a business-oriented analysis of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In order to assess their impact on businesses and corporations, the book addresses all 17 goals and a broad range of industries. Gathering contributions from Africa, Europe and Asia, it presents both critical reviews and case studies. In turn, the book seeks to predict likely developments during the next decade. To do so, it examines evidence from today’s business world and how companies and corporations have been adopting the SDGs since their release. In this regard, it discusses the changes that will be required and how the agenda will affect the continent’s development path. An underlying theme throughout the book is the role of monetary value and investment for sustainable development: whether through financing, enhanced turnaround resulting from a more educated population, or more socially innovative entrepreneurs.

This volume discusses the seminal interface between social entrepreneurship and sustainable development along with their inter-linkages. It traces the role of social entrepreneurship and innovations in societal transformation in creating sustainable societies, especially in developing nations. It explores how social entrepreneurship and enterprise is integral to the promise of fostering opportunities for socially disadvantaged groups (including the poor, women, and young people), as well as in addressing environmental and ecological issues apart from wealth creation. The book presents key concepts, case studies, and multiple innovative models involving social entrepreneurship, such as green financing, serial social entrepreneurship, sustainable livelihood creation, and well-being, in addition to highlighting global sustainable development goals of the United Nations. The chapters are organised under the broad themes of sustainability of the organisation, sustainability of the community, sustainability of the development, and sustainability of the community–organisation interface. They examine social change, social innovation, social enterprise, small and micro-enterprises, microfinance institutions, inclusive growth, education, productivity, physical health, waste management, energy retention, self-reliance, and corporate social responsibility. They contain emerging research issues in the field as well as critical assessments while bringing together theoretical and practitioners’ perspectives. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of development studies, social entrepreneurship, sustainable development, environmental studies, public policy, and political sociology. It will also greatly interest professionals from non-profit, corporate, and public sectors, other development practitioners, and international bodies.

This book challenges readers to imagine social entrepreneurship as an innovative, creative model for building justice and sustainability. Building upon the work of J. Greg Dees, the author explores the concept as a change-based process that creates social value through bold innovation and creativity, providing a “how and why” approach that makes social entrepreneurship accessible to all. The chapters present a holistic way in which to realize the United Nations (UN) 2030 sustainable development goals through the four quadrants of the Sustainability Lens: Resources, Health, Policy, and Exchange. The work is written in an interdisciplinary format which will appeal to multiple learning styles among professors, students, and communities investing heavily in the development of entrepreneurial skills.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Finance, Technology and Law Reform Achieving the SDGs requires a fundamental rethink from businesses and governments across the globe. To make the ambitious goals a reality, trillions of dollars need to be harnessed to mobilise finance and accelerate progress towards the SDGs. Bringing together leaders from the World Bank, the financial and business sectors, the startup community and academia, this important, topically relevant volume explains what the SDGs are, how they came about and how they can be accelerated. Real-world case studies and authoritative insights address how to direct investment of existing financial resources and re-align the global financial system to reflect the SDGs. In depth chapters discuss how financial institutions, such as UBS Wealth Management, Manulife Asset Management and Moody’s Rating Agency are supporting the SDGs. The opportunities arising from Blockchain, Big Data, Digital Identity and cutting-edge FinTech and RegTech applications are explored, whilst the relevance of sustainable and transparent global supply chains is underscored. Significant attention is paid to law reform which can accelerate progress of the SDGs through SME Financing, Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer Lending and tax restructuring. To achieve the ‘World We Want’, much needs to be done. The recommendations contained within this book are critical for supporting a fundamental shift in thinking from business and governments around the world, and for building a more just and prosperous future for all.

This ground-breaking Handbook uniquely focuses on the business of sustainability, offering a fresh insight and practical solutions to the challenges that businesses face in making human activity sustainable. It is organized into four distinctive themes that cut across levels of analysis and illustrate a rich set of solution contexts that will guide future research.

"Volume 1: This volume is the culmination of many discussions among the editors over the years, especially at the Sustainability, Ethics and Entrepreneurship (SEE) Conference, related to the growth and institutionalization of environmental and social entrepreneurship. Research on these two forms of entrepreneurial action has tried to keep pace with what is occurring in the field. While the research is diverse, attracting scholars across many disciplines and from all parts of the world, it is still in the formative stages. This volume seeks to take stock of the literature and report the state of the art in environmental and social entrepreneurship. In particular, it seeks to explore new theoretical directions that blend traditional notions of economic efficiency and social welfare and new ways of measuring and empirically testing these phenomena. The chapters in this volume demonstrate the diverse philosophical, methodological, and theoretical techniques to studying these forms of entrepreneurship. We expect this volume will contribute to this burgeoning research and that researchers will engage in theory development for the foreseeable future, as new business models are developed, tested, abandoned, and evolved. Volume 2: This volume spotlights cutting-edge research, innovative methodologies, and provocative thinking by organizational scholars and leaders committed to advancing the global sustainability agenda. Each chapter focuses on advancing one or more United Nations (UN) 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The chapter sequence follows a general logic of SDG numerical order and breadth. Overall, this compendium provides critical insights, practical strategies and tools, and timely inspiration to motivate individual and collective engagement with and achievement of the SDGs. With a decade remaining to achieve the 2030 Agenda, this volume supports sustainable development globally, through: identification of key challenges; theoretical, empirical, and practical exploration of potential solutions; and sharing of actionable findings. Each chapter makes an impactful contribution by spotlighting opportunities for advancing best-in-class efforts toward the achievement of the SDGs. Chapters represent diverse scholarly perspectives and include a representative range of focal SDGs, organizational contexts, applications, and initiatives from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and spanning national borders. Volume 3: Historically religious institutions have been at the forefront of social change, yet religion and spirituality are rarely discussed in contemporary entrepreneurship research. We challenge this oversight and argue that by ignoring the fundamental principles that define an overwhelming majority of people all over the world, our scholarship risks being partial, incomplete and thus misleading. This volume presents a selection of entrepreneurship perspectives - studies, essays and analyses - that integrate religion and spirituality with social change. We have deliberately sought chapters that are edgy and novel, to give different nuances on this integration of religion and spirituality with entrepreneurship for social change"--