Sustainable Development in the Developing World: A Holistic Approach to Decode the Complexity of a Multi-dimensional Topic

Sustainable use of resources promotes national efficiency. This is nowhere more apparent than in developing countries, were natural and human resources have both been over- and underused, with uncontrolled exploitation on one hand, and reckless negligence on the other hand, coupled with a lack of and/or misuse of technology. Reversing this situation has become a priority for many national governments and transnational organizations. But the task cannot be accomplished without businesses and entrepreneurs, both foreign and local, who must invest their time and capital in order to respond to three major trends which are occurring; namely, exhaustion of resources, increasing global communication and rising social expectations. However, the literature exploring the intersection of entrepreneurship with environmentally and socially responsible behavior has been relatively scarce (Barney Cohen, 2006; Randjelovic, O’Rourke, & Orsato, 2003). Researchers have refocused on the creation of enterprises with an environmental, and more recently a social mission (Dickson, Watkins, & Foxall, 2007; Ivanko & Kivirist, 2008; Schaper, 2005), but exploration of the relationship between the entrepreneurship discipline and the (natural) environment is in its embryonic stage from a research perspective. Still, discussions have come forward which consider entrepreneurship as a vehicle for social and environmental change (Anderson, 1998). In addition, organizations themselves can also be considered to demonstrate entrepreneurial qualities in the way they innovate and develop new solutions for the environment and the society (Schaper, 2005). There is even less research on the topic when it comes to integrating entrepreneurship and environment in developing countries. In the authors’ opinion, there are three reasons for this scarce research. The first reason lies with scope, the second is remoteness of markets, and, finally, there is the practitioners’ lack of attention to the systemic aspect.