Sustainability is stated as key priority in the EU to tackle the negative environmental and social effects, where entrepreneurship is one of the pillars to address those by providing innovative sustainability solutions. Although there is a growing interest in engaging in sustainable activities, the current literature and studies are lacking on a structured process in formation of sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities. This thesis establishes a ‘funnel’ to narrow down gradually the opportunities and contributes to the literature with the introduction of four applied frameworks namely – trend radar, industry heatmap, feasibility assessment and industry clustering. In answering the research aims, on how can sustainable entrepreneurs identify opportunities, secondary data from the EU (2017-2022) were used in a qualitative exploratory method. The study revealed the industry groups Consumer Durables & Apparel as well as Food & Beverage the ones with the highest possibilities of creating a successful venture. The funnel framework acts as an aid for entrepreneurs to assess and evaluate opportunities in a structured process. Keywords: Entrepreneur, Macrotrends, Megatrends, Opportunities, Sustainability, Sustainable Entrepreneurship
La sostenibilità è considerata una priorità chiave nell'UE per affrontare gli effetti ambientali e sociali negativi, dove l'imprenditorialità è uno dei pilastri per affrontare questi problemi fornendo soluzioni innovative di sostenibilità. Anche se c'è un crescente interesse ad impegnarsi in attività sostenibili, la letteratura e gli studi attuali mancano di un processo strutturato nella formazione di opportunità imprenditoriali sostenibili. Questa tesi stabilisce un "imbuto" per restringere gradualmente le opportunità e contribuisce alla letteratura con l'introduzione di quattro quadri di riferimento applicati, ovvero - radar di tendenza, ‘heatmap’ dell'industria, valutazione della fattibilità e clustering dell'industria. Per rispondere agli obiettivi della ricerca, su come gli imprenditori sostenibili possono identificare le opportunità, sono stati utilizzati dati secondari dall'UE (2017-2022) in un metodo esplorativo qualitativo. Lo studio ha rivelato che i gruppi industriali Consumer Durables & Apparel e Food & Beverage sono quelli con le maggiori possibilità di creare un'impresa di successo. Il quadro dell'imbuto funge da aiuto per gli imprenditori per valutare le opportunità in un processo strutturato. Parole chiave: Entrepreneur, Macrotrends, Megatrends, Opportunities, Sustainability, Sustainable Entrepreneurship
The opportunity identification process for sustainable entrepreneurs. An applied process for the screening of trends, exploration of opportunities within industries and analysis of feasibility.
AJDINI, ATDHE
2020/2021
Abstract
Sustainability is stated as key priority in the EU to tackle the negative environmental and social effects, where entrepreneurship is one of the pillars to address those by providing innovative sustainability solutions. Although there is a growing interest in engaging in sustainable activities, the current literature and studies are lacking on a structured process in formation of sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities. This thesis establishes a ‘funnel’ to narrow down gradually the opportunities and contributes to the literature with the introduction of four applied frameworks namely – trend radar, industry heatmap, feasibility assessment and industry clustering. In answering the research aims, on how can sustainable entrepreneurs identify opportunities, secondary data from the EU (2017-2022) were used in a qualitative exploratory method. The study revealed the industry groups Consumer Durables & Apparel as well as Food & Beverage the ones with the highest possibilities of creating a successful venture. The funnel framework acts as an aid for entrepreneurs to assess and evaluate opportunities in a structured process. Keywords: Entrepreneur, Macrotrends, Megatrends, Opportunities, Sustainability, Sustainable EntrepreneurshipÈ consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/2058