Prelims

Half Title

Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Title Page

Sustainable Entrepreneurship

How Entrepreneurs Create Value from Sustainable Opportunities

Francesca Masciarelli

G. d’Annunzio University, Italy

Simona Leonelli

University of Padua, Italy

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80043-150-8 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80043-147-8 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80043-149-2 (Epub)

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Foreword

During the last decades, entrepreneurs have become increasingly conscious that competitiveness and sustainability go hand in hand. In many sectors, companies are integrating sustainable choices into their business strategies. In this respect, entrepreneurial companies work constantly to reduce the potentially negative effects of their activity on the environment. At the same time, they should keep creating value for the venture, other stakeholders, and the society in general.

In this context, the work of Francesca Masciarelli and Simona Leonelli offers an overview of the more recent studies on the topic, combined with novel and interesting findings, and provides new perspectives that allow us to see what entrepreneurs should do in terms of sustainability. The book is rich with ideas and original empirical evidence that advance the field. An important contribution of this book is the several case studies that are presented and discussed in detail. All case studies belong to the fashion industry, a multidisciplinary context that is tightly related to the topic of sustainability.

Overall, this book sheds light on the role of sustainable entrepreneurship in the development of firms. The two authors discuss the characteristics and the role of the sustainable entrepreneurs, document the interplay between innovation and sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities, and analyze sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems. In this sense, this book contributes significantly to opening new perspectives for future research on the role of sustainability, in particular, with regard to the environment. Therefore, it should be in the reading list of anyone interested in sustainability.

Finally, I encourage readers not to just read the book, but also to implement the solutions that are described inside. Sustainable and inclusive business models are the future; these are the only way to keep our planet alive for a long time.

Prof Vangelis Souitaris – Full Professor of Entrepreneurship – Cass Business School (London) and Member of the editorial board of Journal of Business Venturing.

Author Biographies

Francesca Masciarelli is an Associate Professor at the G. d’Annunzio University (Italy) and an Adjunct Professor at LUISS University (Italy). She received her PhD from the University of Trento (Italy) and she was visiting at Copenhagen Business School and SPRU (University of Sussex, UK). Her research interests include entrepreneurship, social capital, strategy, and management of innovation. She published on Organization Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Regional Studies, Industry and Innovation, Journal of Management and Governance, Sinergie, Piccola Impresa/Small Business, European Journal of Innovation Management, International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, and Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. She has also published two books with the Edward Elgar Publishing: The Strategic Value of Social Capital: How Firms Capitalize on Social Assets and Entrepreneurial Personality and Small Business Management. She is a Senior Lecturer of Management and Entrepreneurship at the G. d’Annunzio University (Italy) and LUISS University (Italy). She teaches Innovation and Fashion Management in Corporate and University Master courses.

Simona Leonelli is a Research Fellow at the University of Padua (Italy). Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the G. d’Annunzio University Chieti-Pescara (Italy) where she received her PhD in Accounting, Management, and Finance in 2017. She was visiting at SKEMA Business School (Nice, France). Her main research interest lies in the area of entrepreneurship. She focuses on the existing relationship between entrepreneurs’ personality traits (e.g., narcissism) and innovative performance, survival and growth of start-ups, and SMEs. She published on Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Sinergie, and Prospettive in Organizzazione. She has also published a book with the Edward Elgar Publishing entitled Entrepreneurial Personality and Small Business Management. She is an Adjunct Professor of Business Organization, Behaviour in Organization and Organization Design, and Governance of Human Capital at the University of Padua (Italy). She is a Teaching Assistant for the courses of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy and Marketing Management in CUOA Business School (Italy).