Introduction

With current environmental, social and financial challenges facing society and the economy, there has been a rapid growth in interest in the role of social and sustainable enterprise. Accordingly, as government, industry and communities seek to find alternative ways to deliver product and services, this volume seeks to draw together contemporary entrepreneurial research which addresses current social and environmental issues, such as: social and community enterprise and entrepreneurship, including the tension between maintaining core social aims and continuing to prosper in a highly competitive and turbulent marketplace.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Sustainable entrepreneurship and environmental impacts of enterprise, for example the pursuit of environmentally-responsible opportunities by mainstream enterprises, the creation of self-consciously eco-preneurial ventures and more radical models that challenge prevailing assumptions about enterprise and growth; and ethics, enterprise and social responsibility, including the growth of ethical markets and the opportunities they create, such as providing services for disadvantaged groups or facilitating markets in fairly-traded goods and services.