Abstract
The field of entrepreneurship, specifically transformational entrepreneurship, is exciting due to its relatively recent emergence and the need to assess the results of innovative behaviour. The difference between transformational and other entrepreneurs is a function of individual, environmental and cultural factors. Transformational entrepreneurship is a specific type of entrepreneurship and has an interdisciplinary nature with connection to anthropology, economics, sociology, tourism and local development. In specific contexts, this kind of entrepreneurship tries to reconcile the economic and social disparities in society. Entrepreneurs involved in transformations encourage positive action that has a flow on effect, which enables business ventures to deliver outcomes that change the surrounding environment by viewing things in a different way. Transformational entrepreneurship is related to the concept of challenge-based entrepreneurship, as it is an important and socially significant type of entrepreneurship that transcends cultural barriers.
This book looks at different aspects linked to transformational entrepreneurship and how it creates new knowledge and transfers them to several contexts (e.g. it entails approaching problems systematically, unlocking human potential and seeking to empower people, improving the relationships of the people, creating more value than it can capture). It strives to give readers a deeper understanding of its potential for socio-economic value creation. This would be a form of entrepreneurship that seeks to maximise both economic impact alongside long-term societal impact. The first chapter of this book provides an overview of transformational entrepreneurship. Ratten and Jones help to understand the entrepreneurship and social change, a transformational entrepreneurship definition, the transformational leadership, the transformational social innovation and also the entrepreneurial ecosystems and communities in society. The second chapter aims to understand the environmental effects transformations have and the role of entrepreneurial ecosystems. This chapter focuses on the role of transformations in the agricultural industry. The chapter analyses the disclosure of the social impact of four cases of social enterprises (SE) in the agrifood sector, embedded in the category of transformational entrepreneurship, having both economic and social purposes. The third chapter focuses on the role of social and sustainable entrepreneurship in transformational change. The chapter investigates the sustainability ecosystem around a geopark to determine how industry and government interact to create entrepreneurial opportunities. The chapter determines how geoparks utilise sustainability to create entrepreneurial ecosystems. The fourth chapter discusses the role of artisan entrepreneurship. This chapter aims to understand how developing countries utilise transformational change for societal benefit and on this last proposal for the development of innovative companies. The fifth chapter sheds light on the motives, incentives and barriers of such an endeavour and its changes over time. Particular attention is given to transnational flows of knowledge, goods and ideas as well as network building since the European Union (EU) opening of borders between Germany and Poland. The sixth chapter analyses the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in transformational entrepreneurship. To help clarify this role of CSR in transformational entrepreneurship, this chapter focuses on the Spanish experience of different executives who report what are the main socially responsible human resource policies and practices implemented by companies. The seventh chapter discusses the role of social responsibility and social innovation. This chapter consists of a qualitative case study utilising a Glaserian Grounded Theory approach of the innovation agenda at Fortescue Metals Group. The chapter provides a comprehensive review of literature regarding Australia’s iron ore and resource industry to contextualise current issues, market conditions, practices and themes.
The eighth chapter highlights the need for creativity in entrepreneurship and religious capital. The author defines religious capital as a set of personal and intangible resources, skills and competencies that emanate from an individual’s religious values, beliefs, practices and experiences, and may be used to increase the quality of economic activities. This chapter makes at least three contributions to the literature on both individual entrepreneurship and innovation. The ninth chapter analyses the role of women in societal changes. Women’s entrepreneurship literature has increasingly shifted from a focus on socio-demographic factors. Therefore, this chapter makes a contribution to the pre-existing literature on the leadership of women by examining the configurations of cultural-related conditions that result in the presence, or absence, of the self-employment of women. The 10th chapter analyses an emerging market context for entrepreneurship. In this chapter, the researchers intend to conduct a comparative case analysis of two market-driven and Internet-based technology/knowledge-intensive firms – Alibaba from China and SHOP.COM/Market America – to explore how they have utilised the open innovation process, so as to facilitate their global learning, create new knowledge and develop capabilities, in order to maintain and sustain their global market competitiveness. The 11th chapter focuses on the sport context for transformational entrepreneurship. This chapter contributes to the growing knowledge based on sport innovation by investigating collaborative innovation in sport.
After reading the book, we can conclude that the field of transformational entrepreneurship is still ambiguous due to its lack of consolidation in terms of meaning and theoretical development. This book highlights the importance of transformational entrepreneurship as an emerging area that links with the literature on social and sustainable entrepreneurship, the transformational entrepreneurship. In summary, this book provides relevant insights into how transformational entrepreneurship can be facilitated by focusing on innovative behaviours in communities, and also the different stakeholder perspectives must be considered in studies about transformational entrepreneurship. Each of the chapters is, therefore, demonstrative that transformational entrepreneurship is more than a buzzword but a significant subtopic within the general entrepreneurship and innovation literature. It is an accepted stream of research, but further research is required to understand its strategic applicability. I recommend this book and will use it in my teaching as well as in my own research in transformational entrepreneurship. The language makes it easily accessible for students, establishing a thread between theory and practice. I congratulate the editors and the participating authors for looking into this important topic and advancing transformational entrepreneurship research in a new direction.