Opportunists, Champions, Mavericks...?

Abstract

Given the importance of green entrepreneurs in the transition towards a sustainable society, the authors propose a framework for investigating the influences on, and motives of, green entrepreneurs. The literature on entrepreneurs generally, and approaches to classifying entrepreneurs, are reviewed with the aim of gaining useful insights for the green context. The scope for investigation encompasses all possible forms of green business, including not only those founded on the principle of sustainability but also those that are opportunistically or accidentally green. Assessing both the research on typologies of entrepreneurs generally and recent perspectives on green entrepreneurs in particular, the authors propose that green entrepreneurs are best characterised by a combination of internal motivations and external (hard and soft) structural influences. The resulting typology presented in this paper produces four 'ideal types' of green entrepreneurs: innovative opportunists, visionary champions, ethical mavericks and ad hoc enviropreneurs. Their characteristics are explored and examples provided. Recommendations are made on how the typology can contribute to further research into ways to foster green entrepreneurship and the change agent role that green entrepreneurs play in the two-way iterative relationship between firms and society.

A Review of Interventions to Encourage SMEs to Make Environmental Improvements

“…Hillary (2004) 8 EU countries SME 1-249 survey (unclear, approx. 120 SMEs) Peters & Turner (2004) UK no clear SME definition interview (62 SMEs) Pimenova & van der Vorst (2004) UK micro 1-9, SME 10-249 survey (13 micro, 9 SMEs) Rothenberg & Becker (2004) USA small <= 20, medium > 20 survey (54 small, 74 medium) interview (7 SMEs, 9 advisers) Simpson et al (2004), Taylor et al (2003) UK SME < 250 survey (63 SMEs) interview, site visit (15 SMEs) Ammenberg & Hjelm (2003) Sweden SME 0-249 interviews (25 SMEs) Kannan & Boie (2003) Germany SME < 500 case study (1 SME) Lefebvre et al (2003) Canada SME < 500 survey (368 SMEs) Naffziger et al (2003) USA SME <= 500 survey (100 SMEs) Revell (2003) Japan small < 50 interview (20 small) Vernon et al (2003) UK micro < 10 focus group (25 micro, 34 staff) Friedman & Miles (2002) UK SME < 250 interview (61 SMEs, 21 stakeholders) Gunningham & Sinclair (2002) Australia small < 50 interview (13 small, 8 stakeholders) Hansen et al (2002) 5 EU countries SMEs <= 250 interview (20 SMEs) Schaper (2002) Australia small < 20 survey (154 small) Rutherfoord et al (2000) UK, Netherlands small < 50 interview (40 small) Tilley (2000), Tilley (1999) UK small < 50 interview (60 small) Non-empirical journal articles Clement & Hansen (2003) Content analysis of documents on Nordic SME environmental funding schemes Hoevenagel & Wolters (2000) Secondary data on Dutch SME (< 100 staff) use of environmental intermediaries Shearlock et al (2000) Studied a database of environmental service firms, but not SMEs using the services Walley & Taylor (2002) Literature review which identified and defined a typology of green entrepreneurs…”

“…They have a very high degree of business performance commitment because they are focused on growth and/or profit maximisation (Walley and Taylor, 2002). They are innovative, opportunistic and proactive because they acquire or have environmental …”

“…Advantage-driven firms also benefit from compulsory regulations because they see these interventions as new business opportunities which will help other firms satisfy these requirements (Walley and Taylor, 2002). Environment-driven firms would be influenced less because they are more likely to exceed compliance due to their high environmental commitment.…”

Ecopreneurship and Ecopreneurs: Limits, Trends and Characteristics

“…The definition proposed by Kirkwood and Walton (2010) [4] is widely employed and it suggests that ecopreneurs are entrepreneurs who found new businesses based on the principles of sustainability. Isaak (1998;2005) [5,6], when talking about ecopreneurial organizations, underlines the commitment of the organization itself and Walley and Taylor (2002) [7] highlight that ecopreneurs can be considered as change drivers. Thus, the interest towards ecopreneurship and ecopreneurs has significantly improved the number of academic outcomes; furthermore, environmental issues have been progressively incorporated into texts on entrepreneurship (Schaper, 2002) [8].…”

“…Emerging insights reinforce the need to adopt a behavioural perspective when studying ecopreneurs in order to see how peoples' idealistic issues influence the everyday life of a company. The relationships between personal motivations and company structure emerge from the work of Walley and Taylor (2002) [7]: their research illustrates how firms can be shaped according to the ecopreneurs' belief set and motivations.…”