Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals

Nikolaos Apostolopoulos, Haya Al-Dajani, Diane Holt, Paul Jones, Robert Newbery, Nikolaos Apostolopoulos, Haya Al-Dajani, Diane Holt, Paul Jones, Robert Newbery

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781787563773
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) were launched in 2015, as a global agenda for addressing the multiplicity of social and environmental challenges that face communities around the world. But what role might entrepreneurship play in reaching these goals?
In the first book of its kind, Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals will encourage you to think about the critical role that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs might play in supporting sustainable development. More than twenty authors from across Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe explore a fascinating mix of enterprises and sustainable development initiatives to illustrate the capacity of entrepreneurship as the engine for transforming our world and overcoming the diverse nature of these global challenges. Structured into three provocative sections this book explores: •Social change and entrepreneurship through the lens of the SDGs; •Organisational practices and innovation towards the SDGs; •Entrepreneurship, gender equality and empowerment towards the SDGs
Journey through the stories of tribal enterprises in India, to cacao framers in Ghana, small and medium sized businesses in Greece, social enterprises in Kenya, Zambia and the USA and many others to see the powerful force that entrepreneurship can be for promoting poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

PART I
SOCIAL CHANGE AND
ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH
THE LENS OF THE SDGs

A MULTIPLE FRAMEWORK APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS) AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Carol Pomare

ABSTRACT

This chapter aims at discussing sustainable development goals (SDGs) and entrepreneurship from an economic and social perceptive. More specifically, this chapter aims at discussing the challenges facing small & medium enterprises (SMEs) applying the goal of ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns to their day-to-day operations. In this chapter, a synthesis of a field of research related to sustainable developmental goals SDGs and SMEs is provided, with a focus on entrepreneurs who believe their SME needs to act as a “good corporate citizen” with the responsibility to (1) sustain the environment for future generations and (2) care about the well-being of society at large. This field of research is presented to identify important opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs with SDGs within a Multiple Framework Approach.

Keywords: Sustainable development goals (SDGs); entrepreneurship; small & medium enterprises (SMEs); multiple framework approach; multinational approach; national approach

JEL Classifications: G30, L26; O10

Extant literature focuses on how firms are guided by sustainable development goals (SDGs), with a focus on multinational & national enterprises (MNEs) rather than small & medium enterprises (SMEs) driven by entrepreneurship (George, Howard-Grenville, Joshi, & Tihanyi, 2016; Holt, 2011). However, it is estimated that (1) 99.9% of all enterprises in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) are SMEs (BERR, 2008; Holt, 2011; SBA, 2007); (2) SMEs in the UK comprise 96% of the total number of enterprises, 33% of employment, and 23% of turnover (BERR, 2008; Holt, 2011); and (3) when considering the 9.2 million enterprises with up to nine employees in both economies, the opportunity for SMEs to deliver sustainable goods and services is remarkable (Holt, 2011).

Within the context of SMEs driven by entrepreneurship and SDGs, this chapter aims at presenting both an economic and social perceptive using a multiple framework approach (George et al., 2016). First, entrepreneurship is believed to be at the core of SMEs and to be an economic and a social phenomenon (Steyaert & Katz, 2004) with manifestations that vary according to a broader context (Al-Dajani, Carter, Shaw, & Marlow, 2015; Zahra, Wright, & Abdelgawad, 2014). Second, SDGs are believed to involve different stakeholders such as business, consumers, policy makers, researchers, scientists, retailers, media, and development cooperation agencies, among many other stakeholders (George et al., 2016).

According to Holt (2011), in 1991, Steven Bennett published one of the most influential books related to entrepreneurship resulting from the emerging environmental agenda of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Broadening and contextualizing the research agenda to environmental issues enabled researchers to have a more nuanced view of the potential for SMEs and entrepreneurship to act as a development tool within the emancipatory scope of SDGs (Al-Dajani et al., 2015). This is a significant theoretical aspect to address given the importance of SMEs and the understanding that SMEs face resource restrictions (i.e., including financial, human, and physical) which limit what they can explore in terms of sustainable goods and services (Holt, 2011).

Therefore, this chapter aims at providing a theoretical synthesis of the field of research related to SMEs and SDGs, with the objective of developing a multiple framework approach for entrepreneurs who believe their SMEs need to act as a “good corporate citizen” with the responsibility to: (1) sustain the environment for future generations; and (2) care about the well-being of society at large (i.e., SDG 12; George et al., 2016; United Nations, 2017a, 2017b).

The structure of the chapter is as follows: (1) in the Section 1, SDGs are presented; (2) in Section 2, the multiple framework approach is presented with a focus on synthetizing research on external, internal, and organizational resource’s factors that affect SMEs’ focus on SDGs; and (3) in Section 3, a discussion of the chapter is provided with inferences in respect to SMEs and SDGs, as well as a call for action with directions for future research.

The next section provides a literature review of the existent knowledge with a focus on SDG 12 from the United Nations (UN) which is related to the goal to “ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.”

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS) AND SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMES)

The first step in understanding sustainability and entrepreneurship consists in defining SDGs from an economic and social perceptive, as well as, in describing the role of the UN to set worldwide priorities up to 2030 (George et al., 2016; United Nations, 2017a, 2017b).

Multi-national and National Perspective: United Nations (UN) for SDGs

According to the UN, and more specifically their SDG section,¹ sustainable consumption and production is about promoting resource and energy efficiency, as well as providing access to basic services for a better quality of life around the world (United Nations, 2017a, 2017b; SDG 12). The SDGs provided by the UN are believed to be pivotal for addressing the current global economic and social challenges facing entrepreneurs internationally and nationally (United Nations, 2017a, 2017b).

Historically, the millennium development goals (MDGs) preceded the SDGs (Griggs, 2013; Griggs et al., 2014; Kumar, 2016). First, in September 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted the Millennium Declaration, establishing a global partnership of countries committed to eight voluntary development goals to be achieved by 2015 (Kumar, 2016). The MDGs called for action to (1) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieve universal primary education; (3) promote gender equality and empower women; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improve maternal health; (6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; (7) ensure environmental sustainability; and (8) develop a global partnership for development (Kumar, 2016). Despite the absence of a legally binding framework, the MDGs generated considerable public and policy support internationally and nationally (Griggs, 2013; Griggs et al., 2014; Vandemoortele, 2011). Although economic development in countries such as China has been a major factor, success was also explained by the use of measurable targets (Griggs et al., 2014; United Nations, 2012a). However, research showed that this functioning was at risk (Rockström et al., 2009; Steffen et al., 2011) and that further human pressures may lead to irreversible backlashes (e.g., diminishing food production, water shortages, extreme weather, ocean acidification, deteriorating ecosystems, and sea-level rise) (Barnosky et al., 2012; Lenton, 2011). As a consequence, Griggs et al. (2014) reports that, in 2012, at the UN’s Rio + 20 conference, nations agreed to establish the SDG (United Nations, 2012b). Second, in July 2014, an open group was set up to work on the SDGs (i.e., with a focus on economic, social, and environmental issues) and proposed 17 goals with 169 targets (Kumar, 2016). The SDGs expanded on the MDGs and were endorsed by resolution at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015 (Kumar, 2016). Reaching beyond the MDGs, it was agreed that these SDGs should be universal with an anticipated 2030 target date (Griggs et al., 2014). George et al. (2016) aspired to encourage scholars to engage in tackling broader societal challenges through their collaborative research and collective insight. Interestingly, George and Bock (2011), when focusing on innovation that benefits the disenfranchised, outlined opportunities for the development of theory and empirical research around this construct in the field of SMEs and entrepreneurship.

As a summary, multi-national and national stakeholders contribute to SDGs in supporting different countries globally to strengthen their capacity to move toward more sustainable patterns of consumption and production by 2030 (George et al., 2016; Griggs et al., 2014; United Nations, 2017a, 2017b). Also, SDGs are promoted by a wide range of stakeholders in the public and private sector, in order to foster economic growth through innovative ways at the multi-national and national level (George et al., 2016; Griggs et al., 2014; United Nations, 2017a, 2017b). This leads to the next section with a focus on a regional level.

Regional Perspective: Urban and Rural Communities for SDGs

According to Holt (2011), the Brundtland Report, in 1987, marked the emergence of the concept of “sustainable development” into public consciousness (WCED, 1987), alongside the idea that economic growth and environmental protection were not mutually exclusive. This period of the early 1990s saw an increasing focus on business opportunities with a green agenda (Holt, 2011). Traditional businesses were encouraged to transform their operations to reflect their concerns for environmental and social issues (Dyllick & Hockerts, 2002; Elkington, 1997; George et al., 2016; Hillary, 2000; Holt, 2000; Revell & Blackburn, 2004; Saunders, 1993). One expansion of this trend was that there were calls for the creation of more green SMEs (Bennett, 1991; Berle, 1991; Cohen, 2006; Larson, 2000). Another expansion of this trend was that there were calls for targets on socially and/or environmentally practices to be, not only determined at a multi-national or national level, but also at a regional level (Apostolopoulos & Liargovas, 2018; Apostolopoulos, Newbery, & Gkartzios, 2018). Indeed, despite the fact that climate change was discussed at a multi-national and national level, its impact was regional with specific differentiated consequences in urban and rural communities. As such, regional governance was perceived as essential to building support for the wider project due to the threat of climate change in different urban or regional communities (Liargovas, Apostolopoulos, Pappas, & Kakouris, 201...