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Sustainability
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Entrepreneurship and Eco-Innovation
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Entrepreneurship and Eco-Innovation

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 July 2021) | Viewed by 10666

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. João Carlos Correia Leitão

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management and Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Beira Interior, Estrada do Sineiro, 6200 209 Covilhã, Portugal
Interests: innovation; public policy; technological entrepreneurship
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Oliver Mauroner

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Fachbereich Wirtschaft—School of Business, Hochschule Mainz—University of Applied Sciences, Lucy-Hillebrand-Str. 2, 55128 Mainz, Germany
Interests: entrepreneurship; innovation; SMEs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The importance and influence of the Theory of Entrepreneurship has been increasing not only in terms of impact among academic scholars and managers of startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), but especially in terms of scientific support for designing innovative public policies, which are aimed to promote eco-efficient and environmentally friendly practices at the firm level, independently of its dimension, age, research and development (R&D) intensity, family control, or stage of the life cycle.

In this context, eco-innovation has attracted a growing interest among scholars interested in entrepreneurship and innovation topics, who notably dedicate their research endeavours to unveiling the determinant factors of eco-innovation. Nevertheless, the emergent literature on the eco-innovation determinants still lacks further efforts using different research lenses. For example, additional research is required to advance knowledge about Kaizen philosophy, lean principles adoption, lean startups, etc., since there is a limited number of both theoretical and empirical applications dealing with these still unexplored problems, which are intended as critical factors for fostering economic and innovative performance throughout the life cycle of the firm. So far, only a few of these factors have been explored in the literature on interrelated topics such as eco-innovation, project management, and growth dynamics, or from a resouce-based or dynamic capabilities approach. There is still room for exploring different benchmarks or cases on economic activity sectors or firms implementing eco-innovation solutions at different levels of the value chain, as well as designing and adopting advanced environmental management systems funded on the ISO 14001 and ISO 5000 standards.

This Special Issue aims to congregate a selected set of high-quality manuscripts on the main determinant factors of eco-innovation; and to provide useful information and knowledge not only for managers of startups and SMEs but also to all internal and external stakeholders involved in the innovation process.

In addition, this Special Issue is designed to provide pathways for a renewed research agenda on entrepreneurship and eco-innovation, as well as new insights, which can stimulate and guide sectors and firms with different ages, sizes, and R&D intensities, in the context of a highly competitive processes, aiming to increase investments in innovative activities related to products, processes, services, organisational methods, and marketing, as well as the organisation and implementation of activities incorporating intensive knowledge and technology oriented to sustainability and eco-efficiency.

This Special Issue is focused on but not limited to the following topics:

  • Determinants of eco-innovation;
  • Eco-efficiency of high-growth firms;
  • Eco-innovation throughout the life cycle of the firm;
  • Eco-innovation and firm growth;
  • Eco-innovative business models;
  • Entrepreneurship and environmental effects;
  • Entrepreneurship and sustainable energy systems;
  • Green entrepreneurship;
  • Innovative performance of startups;
  • Open innovation and eco-innovation;
  • Sustainable entrepreneurship.

Prof. Dr. João Leitão
Prof. Dr. Oliver Mauroner
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Business models
  • Eco-innovation
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Life cycle of the firm
  • Open innovation
  • Sustainable entrepreneurship

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 651 KiB  
Article
Environmental Consciousness of Entrepreneurs in Ghana: How Do Entrepreneur Types, Demographic Characteristics and Product Competitiveness Count?
by Simon Bawakyillenuo and Innocent Sefa Komla Agbelie
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9139; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169139 - 16 Aug 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2647
Abstract
Businesses are believed to be partly responsible for upsetting the balance of local biodiversity through activities that degrade the environment. Critically, entrepreneurship is increasingly being cited as a key sector that can bring about sustainable transformation in production and distribution. Ghana’s total entrepreneurial [...] Read more.
Businesses are believed to be partly responsible for upsetting the balance of local biodiversity through activities that degrade the environment. Critically, entrepreneurship is increasingly being cited as a key sector that can bring about sustainable transformation in production and distribution. Ghana’s total entrepreneurial activity rate is estimated at 37%, with businesses operating unsustainably. Meanwhile, little has been explored empirically on the factors that influence businesses’ sensitivity to the environment in Ghana. Using the 2013 GEM data in estimating seven different logic regression models coupled with a qualitative analysis, this paper fills the gap by investigating how the demographic and entrepreneurial characteristics of entrepreneurs in Ghana influence their environmental consciousness. The empirical evidence suggests that education fosters environmental consciousness, while owner-manager and female entrepreneurs as well as rural locality entrepreneurs in Ghana tend to be more environmentally sensitive. The qualitative data also revealed general concerns for the environment as motivating factors for entrepreneurs to be more environmentally conscious. The findings therefore draw attention to the inadequate focus on green entrepreneurship in Ghana. Embarking on educational campaigns to promote the adherence to environmental regulations by all businesses, especially those in urban areas, could help build a robust eco-preneurship landscape in Ghana. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship and Eco-Innovation)
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25 pages, 1075 KiB  
Article
Taking Eco-Innovation to the Road—A Design-Based Workshop Concept for the Development of Eco-Innovative Business Models
by Antje Bierwisch, Lucas Huter, Juliana Pattermann and Oliver Som
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8811; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168811 - 6 Aug 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3163
Abstract
At least since the European Union’s Eco-Innovation Action Plan, eco-innovation has received increased attention from scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers alike. Eco-innovation offers many opportunities for businesses in terms of cost reduction, competitive advantage, and sustainability. However, eco-innovative business models differ from conventional business [...] Read more.
At least since the European Union’s Eco-Innovation Action Plan, eco-innovation has received increased attention from scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers alike. Eco-innovation offers many opportunities for businesses in terms of cost reduction, competitive advantage, and sustainability. However, eco-innovative business models differ from conventional business models and have special requirements in terms of stakeholder involvement, value definition, and value creation. Facing technological progress, many businesses need guidance on how to translate the potentials arising from technological innovation into eco-innovative business models. Applying a design-based research approach, this study develops a design-based workshop concept to facilitate the development of eco-innovative business models on a firm level. The workshop concept was iteratively tested in a series of 22 workshops within the European Alpine bioeconomy sector. It transfers the specific requirements and substantive design principles of eco-innovative business models into an operative workshop concept. By building on stakeholder- and value-centred perspectives and ensuring a holistic understanding of sustainability and innovation, the paper derives a number of procedural design principles that could build the basis for further tools and methods of eco-innovative business model development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship and Eco-Innovation)
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26 pages, 943 KiB  
Article
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Entrepreneurial Initiative: Building a Multi-Country Taxonomy
by Mariana Pita, Joana Costa and António Carrizo Moreira
Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 4065; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13074065 - 6 Apr 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3864
Abstract
The main goal of this article is to appraise the existence of different patterns of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, to identify its relationship with Entrepreneurial Initiative, and recommend entrepreneurship policies that may influence the growth of entrepreneurial action. Without evidence on entrepreneurial ecosystems landscape [...] Read more.
The main goal of this article is to appraise the existence of different patterns of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, to identify its relationship with Entrepreneurial Initiative, and recommend entrepreneurship policies that may influence the growth of entrepreneurial action. Without evidence on entrepreneurial ecosystems landscape and what determinants stimulate entrepreneurship in a given environment, policies could become flawed and miss the target. To address research purposes, the analysis was performed using data extracted from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Database carried out between 2010 and 2016. To ensure a longitudinal perspective, it was used a balanced panel approach followed by Logistic Regression estimations. The article offers a novel and systematic approach, the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Taxonomy, to overcome a disaggregated perspective on entrepreneurial ecosystems, between individual and context levels. Empirical findings capture four different country profiles, based on two measures: Entrepreneurial ecosystems and entrepreneurial initiative. The results allow to compare the four groups and appraise significant disparities around entrepreneurship determinants, namely, the education factor. While education is commonly recognized as a positive influence on entrepreneurship, the results suggest a contradictory effect. The existence of differentiated profiles and its determinants points outs the importance of developing specific entrepreneurship policy packages attending group specificities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship and Eco-Innovation)
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