CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Rocoffort De Vinniere, Christelle |
|---|---|
| Title | Disruptions for the future: Understanding sustainability-driven entrepreneurship in leading business transition towards sustainability - the case of shipping containers |
| Summary | Worldwide challenges such as global epidemics, climate change and economic fragilities highlight the pressing need to devise sustainable solutions for the future. In comparison with established firms that may be bound by shareholder structure and company culture, entrepreneurship embodies the freedom to innovate and design new business DNA from the start. This thesis examines the role that sustainability-driven entrepreneurship has in leading a business transition towards sustainability. This thesis aims to understand how entrepreneurs place their businesses within the wider context of sustainable development, respond to internal or external pressures, and engage with sustainability in practice through the business model. The study follows an interpretative phenomenological analysis that relies on a case study of two start-ups which build their business on a 60-year-old and once disruptive innovation, the shipping container. Given the interest in both organizational and individual aspects for change, the conceptual framework is grounded in the assumption that the business model is the mechanism for converting vison and strategy into practice and generate value. This study proposes the Framework for Sustainability- driven Business Creation, Development and Transition which describes the essential stages of the entrepreneurial approach to sustainability in business. The findings suggest that entrepreneurial motives and values are essential variables that determine the perception of and approach to sustainability, and frame efforts to balance and optimise at times competing economic, social and ecological aspirations. The findings also demonstrate that sustainability should be a non-negotiable foundation of the business model in order to lead and integrate sustainable business transitions. |
| Supervisor | Dr. László Pintér |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/rocoffort_christelle.pdf |
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