Ecopreneurs and the Entrepreneurial Life Cycle Stages: A Multicase Study In Environmental Businesses.
| Autor | Singh, Ananda |
| Cargo | Report |
1 Introduction
The concept of sustainable development published in the 'Our Common Future' (WCED, 1987) report has been consolidated as a political, economic, and social landmark (Ayuso & Navarrete-Baez, 2017), mainly because it encourages changes in society in order to maintain the needs of future generations. Organizations began to reflect on the environmental and social impacts they caused, and to review their methods and production techniques, in order to minimize this damage.
The adoption of environmental and social practices by organizations led to opportunities for sustainable businesses (Boszczowski & Teixeira, 2012). With the intensification of the search for solutions to these problems, new ventures began to emerge, stimulated by entrepreneurial action directed towards environmental and social practices, or even towards both combined (Cohen & Winn, 2007; Schaltegger & Wagner, 2011).
Ecopreneurship arises in this context, concerned with the minimization ofenvironmental degradation and considering the use of natural resources in product manufacturing and in the services provided by enterprises. Innovative alternatives (Dean & McMullen, 2007) enable the dismantling of traditional methods of production, and contribute to new techniques, structures, and patterns of consumption that can correspond to the needs and environmental demands (Schaltegger, 2002).
Market failures in the environmental focus can become a motivating factor for this type of entrepreneurship, by enabling business opportunities that generate economic and ecological benefits (Thompson, Kiefer, & York, 2011). So, entrepreneurship, recognized as a driver of economies, a stimulator of competition between markets, and as a jobs creator (Schramm, 2010), has become an agent of change, while addressing environmental issues.
Thus, identifying the possibilities originating from the environment, as well as market failures (Dean & McMullen, 2007), may enable environmental entrepreneurs--or 'ecopreneurs'--to strengthen and establish their businesses. In order to do so, entrepreneurs go through stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle, in which they have to adapt in order to develop and become properly established in the market.
Considering the context and reality of entrepreneurs in Brazil, this study proposes to analyze the adaptation of ecopreneurs in each stage of the entrepreneurial life cycle. To do so, a case study of four ecopreneurs was conducted.
Since ecopreneurship is still considered an emergent theme (Hall, Daneke, & Lenox, 2010; Thompsom et al., 2011), studies are required in order to generate new discussions and deepen the understanding of the construct. Furthermore, the forms of adaptation identified in the results of this study can stimulate researchers when it comes to investigating the entrepreneurial life cycle in other contexts, or even suggest other research gaps. On the other hand, the practical contributions involve showing ecopreneurs the paths they can take in each stage of the life cycle and the possible adaptations needed in each of the stages of the life cycle.
2 Literature review
2.1 Ecopreneurship
Entrepreneurship as is traditionally understood, regarding issues related to the generation of wealth and economic development (Easterly, 2002), has been the subject of discussions related to changes and opportunities in the market that require new types of entrepreneurship (Cohen & Winn, 2007). Recognizing that "the environment undoubtedly influences entrepreneurship" (Bull & Willard, 1993, p.191), it can be concluded that new opportunities are sought by entrepreneurs in order to solve a problem or meet a need, in addition to causing changes in business systems and developing new ideas (Schaper, 2002). It can be inferred that this phenomenon will also relate to the social context in which it is inserted, so as to respond to the pressures of society and the economic changes that have occurred.
Analyzing the environmental movements that arose in the 1960s, it is perceived that discussions were triggered in the economy and in the business environment (Croopper & Oates, 1992), in order to address issues related primarily to environmental degradation and to the use of natural resources. Subsequent discussions and the establishment of the concept of sustainable development have intensified these discussions regarding impacts cause by enterprises (Du Pisane, 2006; Sachs, 2007). Such concerns, at the same time that they may represent limitations to certain corporate actions, can provide new business opportunities, as well as generating innovative alternatives (Dean & McMullen, 2007). Thus, environmental and social issues can lead to sustainable business opportunities (Boszczowski & Teixeira, 2012), as well as its practices being encouraged and/or incorporated by means of entrepreneurial action (Cohen & Winn, 2007).
The interest in a sustainable business framework and the search for environmentally responsible business practices (Shaper, 2002) in order to provide solutions to environmental problems have stood out as growing conditions in the field of enterprises from the 1990s (Dixon & Clifford, 2007). Moreover, with the intensification of the concerns about environmental degradation and the use of natural resources (Cohen & Winn, 2007; Dean & McMullen), businesses and enterprises focused on the environmental dimension have been encouraged (Gast, Gundolf, & Cesinger, 2017). A type of entrepreneurship has emerged to bring environmental issues into company strategies, this being called 'ecopreunership' (Pastakia, 1998; Schaltegger, 2002), environmental entrepreneurship (Thompson et al., 2011), green entrepreneurship (Berle, 1991), or environmental business (Holt, 2011).
It should be noted that environmental entrepreneurs are oriented towards developing practices that seek both economic and environmental growth, also addressing ethical and social issues. Ethical issues and concerns for future generations can also be motivating factors of environmental entrepreneurship as they help boost, by means of new technologies, environmental value creation (Anderson & Leal, 2001).
Ecopreneurship may raise doubts concerning the pursuit of environmental solutions due to market failures or even due to opportunities that arise from the environment. This can be verified in a study carried out by Thompson et al. (2011) in which, when examining concepts and elements of the literature that differentiate between three types of entrepreneurship, key questions that may be essential to understand the emergence and establishment of environmental entrepreneurship are highlighted. The questions cover environmental opportunities, and why they are presented to some individuals. They also cover the role of these entrepreneurs in dealing with environmental degradation, as well as if this type of entrepreneurship contributes to reducing this degradation. Another line of questioning aims at understanding the process involved in this type of entrepreneurship, as well as its methods to identify and exploit opportunities. And the paper also seeks to understand the consequences for the environment and for society, when the environment is included in entrepreneurship, as an element in the market process.
The entrepreneurial life cycle presents a relevant means to better understand these questions, since it comprises opportunity identification (and why some individuals are more capable of identifying opportunities than others), as well as the role green enterprises play in environmental impacts (from the outcomes of green ventures and values generated in the exploitation phase), and the need for an intermediate phase (exploration) between identifying the opportunity and its exploitation.
2.2 The phases of the entrepreneurial life cycle
2.2.1 Opportunity identification
Returning to the concept of sustainable entrepreneurship used in this paper, i.e., that "sustainable entrepreneurship involves the identification, exploration, and exploitation of new businesses that are, in economic development, the solution of an environmental or social problem" (Boszczowski & Teixeira, 2012, p.l43), the phases of the entrepreneurial life cycle can be observed in this concept. They are: opportunity identification, opportunity exploration, and opportunity exploitation.
As ecopreneurship is a subset of sustainable entrepreneurship, we can infer that these phases can be applied to it as well, since the life cycle of these environmental businesses involves the identification, exploration, and exploitation of opportunities that provide both economic and ecological benefits to society.
Some elements that promote the identification of opportunities, the first phase of the entrepreneurial life cycle, are: changes in economic, political, social, technological, and demographic variables; having prior information, as well as cognitive properties that allow the entrepreneur to evaluate the information held (Shane & Venkataranam, 2000); changes in the information that the company has regarding available resources (Companys & McMullen, 2007); new discoveries (Kirzner, 1973); new creations (Schumpeter, 1982); access to information that other competitors do not hold, whether technical or related to potential consumers and the market in which entrepreneurs may want to enter (Baron & Shane, 2007; Shepherd & DeTienne, 2005); and previous learning, life experiences, social relations established by the entrepreneur, education, and motivation (Costa, Machado, & Vieira, 2007).
In addition to what these authors highlight, Shane (2000) points out that the entrepreneur must possess not only knowledge of the market, of its demands, or of existing needs, but also of the means that should be used to meet them.
Thus, it is observed that 'market failures', which consist of potential sources of opportunity identification (Dean & McMullen, 2007), can be more easily identified by some individuals than by...
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