This edited book explores how stakeholders play a key part in any entrepreneurial endeavour because of their investment in the outcome. This book highlights that it is important to understand the reason and rationale for stakeholder engagement in entrepreneurship. Furthermore, this book showcases how there are different kinds of stakeholders from businesses directly linked to an entity to others that have a more policy influence on the industry segment. This book demonstrates that it is useful to understand to what extent stakeholders influence entrepreneurial decision making. This book states that most stakeholders tend to take an indirect role in the governance of a business in terms of what strategic decisions are made. This can change in times of crisis or change depending on the nature of the relationship. This book makes the case that stakeholders can take positive action in the form of advice or help. This book asserts that stakeholders who have an ongoing direct role are likely to invest more time and effort in an entrepreneurial endeavour. This book uncovers that it is important to re-evaluate on a continual basis whether the relationship is working and what needs to be done in order to increase efficiency. This edited book focuses on the role of stakeholders in an entrepreneurial context thereby being amongst the first research books to place specific attention on stakeholder management through public and private partnerships.

This thesis examines stakeholder relationships in entrepreneurial ecosystems by focusing on the importance of sustainability, education and culture in this context. A three-staged research approach on the topic is employed. First, based on a systematic literature review the relevance of stakeholder theory for the creation of sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems that encourage sustainable entrepreneurship is examined as conceptual approach. Second, a qualitative empirical stance is used to investigate stakeholder involvement from the entrepreneurial ecosystem at 20 higher educational institutions in 19 European countries with regard to entrepreneurship education. Third, comparative, quantitative empirical research is conducted to identify cross-cultural and stakeholder-related factors that determine the perceived strength of the sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems in Austria and Germany. The findings of this thesis indicate that stakeholder theory, sustainability, education and culture all matter for developing strong entrepreneurial ecosystems. These results can be of interest for policy makers, entrepreneurship educaters, entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurial stakeholders, who aim at strengthening regional entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Ed Freeman’s influential ideas on stakeholder theory, business ethics, humanities, and capitalism became foundational in the management field and turned around the mainstream thinking about business. Stakeholder theory developed by Freeman and others posits that business is not as much about profits, but rather about creating value for its stakeholders, including employees, customers, communities, financiers, and suppliers. The relationship between a company and its stakeholders is the essence of business and should be of utmost attention to its managers. Managers should avoid resorting to trade-offs by prioritizing one stakeholder group (e.g., shareholders) over the others and strive to run their companies in the interests of all stakeholders. The idea of pursuing the interests of all stakeholders became revolutionary in management and went far beyond the management field, expanding to Law, Health Care, Education, Public Policy and Administration, and Environmental Policy. This book is a collection of Ed Freeman’s most influential and important works on stakeholder theory as well as business ethics, humanities, and capitalism.

ÔThis is an excellent collection of papers that makes a significant contribution to the academic literature on social entrepreneurship. As well as highlighting opportunities for research in this area, the book emphasizes three issues that are central to social entrepreneurship Ð the role of leadership, the role of stakeholders, and the role of legitimacy Ð about which relatively written has been written. It therefore constitutes an important resource for social entrepreneurship researchers.Õ Ð Paul Tracey, University of Cambridge, UK ÔThis book is a compelling collection of key contributions in social entrepreneurship scholarship. It should be essential reading for all those seeking to understand the practical complexity and research richness of this emerging field.Õ Ð Alex Nicholls, University of Oxford, UK This impressive book outlines the complexities peculiar to the field of social entrepreneurship. Such complexities manifest at different moments in the development of a social entrepreneurial venture: at the opportunity recognition stage, at the venture early-stage, and in the long run in the search for a sustainable equilibrium between mission and profit. The contributors expertly focus on the individual, organizational and institutional levels of social entrepreneurship. They address the role of personal values and leadership in the conduct of social entrepreneurial initiatives while stressing the importance of stakeholders in relation to human resource management, innovation or opportunity discovery. Finally, they analyze the role of institutions in legitimating social entrepreneurs' actions. Social entrepreneurship, as a multi-disciplinary field, presents a unique opportunity and environment for researchers to contribute to academic-focused knowledge on both theoretical frameworks and practical skills on a holistic level. This volume offers a jumping off point to do so.

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

A totally updated and revised new edition of the most comprehensive, reliable guide to modern entrepreneurship For years, the Portable MBA series has tracked the core curriculum of leading business schools to teach you everything you need to know about business-without the cost of earning a traditional MBA degree. The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship covers all the ins and outs of entrepreneurship, using real-life examples and handy tools to deliver clear, honest, practical advice on starting a successful business. If you're planning to start your own business, you'd best start with the facts. This reliable, information-packed resource shows you how to identify good business opportunities, create a business plan, do financial projections, find financing, and manage taxes. Other topics include marketing, selling, legal issues, intellectual property, franchising, starting a social enterprise, and selling your business. Completely updated with new examples, new topics, and full coverage of topical issues in entrepreneurship Includes customizable, downloadable forms for launching your own business Comes with Portable MBA Online, a new web site that gives readers access to forms, study guides, videos, presentations, and other resources Teaches you virtually everything you'd learn on entrepreneurship in today's best business schools Whether you're thinking of starting your own business or you already have and just need to brush up on entrepreneurial basics, this is the only guide you need.

This ground-breaking Handbook uniquely focuses on the business of sustainability, offering a fresh insight and practical solutions to the challenges that businesses face in making human activity sustainable. It is organized into four distinctive themes that cut across levels of analysis and illustrate a rich set of solution contexts that will guide future research.

This cross-disciplinary business book develops insight into the management of businesses operating in various economic sectors that take a proactive approach to the triple dimension of sustainability (economic, social and environmental), positioning itself as a key reference for both academics and practitioners in the wide area of business management. The concept of sustainability is today at the heart of international policies and debate, and plays a key role in deep changes to the organizational models of companies operating in a wide range of sectors of economic activity. In particular, this book aims to gain a deeper understanding of how stakeholder engagement can contribute to value co-creation both in the company and along the supply chain, and what distinguishes the differing involvement of stakeholders, in particular between public involvement and stakeholder participation. Each chapter of this book presents different modalities of stakeholder involvement and develops the concept of value co-creation from organizational and marketing perspectives. This book is recommended reading for those interested in the fields of stakeholder engagement and theory, sustainability, business studies, and sustainable development.

The importance of entrepreneurship as an engine for innovation, economic growth, job creation and wealth especially in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa cannot be overemphasized. Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa examines the socio-cultural, global, economic, financial, political, infrastructure and organizational contexts of entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, the book presents a strategic management approach for the management of entrepreneurial and small business ventures in the region. Written with a focus on theory and practice, the book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in business and management studies and as a reference tool for practicing and prospective entrepreneurs, small business owners and economic change agents. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, Sub-Saharan Africa, Strategic Management, Marketing, Globalization, Business Plan, Socio-cultural, financial, political, institutional, infrastructure and organizational contexts. Number of pages: 684