This book explores the symbiotic relationship between the global business landscape and the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out in 2015. Highlighting the world's paramount challenges, from climate change to gender equality, it emphasizes our collective stride towards sustainability. The narrative is structured around 17 in-depth case studies that span a plethora of industries, from food and finance to energy and transportation, each exploring an individual SDG. These studies provide a window into how trailblazing companies are intricately embedding the SDGs into their operational blueprints. This volume will be a valuable guide to sustainable business models and practices, fostering a clarion call for students, practitioners, and policymakers to rally towards a greener, brighter future.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a pervasive technological enabler reshaping business practices and entrepreneurial activity. While its potential to optimize decision-making and foster innovation is widely acknowledged, its implications for entrepreneurs remain contested. The aim of this paper is to explore how entrepreneurs can use AI effectively and responsibly in business decision-making by addressing three research questions: (1) What level of AI knowledge do entrepreneurs need to make responsible and informed decisions? (2) How do different types of AI tools support or hinder entrepreneurial decision-making? (3) What ethical challenges do entrepreneurs face when using AI, and how can they ensure transparency and accountability? Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten entrepreneurs and complementary case materials from three research projects conducted the study applies thematic analysis to examine entrepreneurs’ perceptions, practices, and dilemmas. The findings show that entrepreneurs require at least basic literacy in AI concepts to avoid misuse and over-reliance. Generative AI was valued for creativity and efficiency but distrusted for decision-making, while supervised machine learning was perceived as a more reliable tool for prediction and analysis. Ethical concerns were prominent, including transparency gaps, accountability, data bias, and regulatory uncertainty. The study concludes that entrepreneurs should adopt hybrid models where human judgment and AI complement one another, with responsibility and critical reflection resting firmly on the entrepreneur. Implications are outlined for entrepreneurial education, managerial practice, and policy regulation.

Purpose: This study examines the transformative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurial education during and after the pandemic. Methodology: Using action research-based case study with a mixed data collection method, that spans pre-, during, and post-COVID-19. Data collection involved class discussions in a final mandatory class, surveys sent after the end of the class, and official course evaluations. Findings: The pandemic-induced changes highlighted that extended instructional timeframes do not necessarily yield better entrepreneurial outcomes. A condensed, immersive approach fostered innovation and improved entrepreneurial mindsets. The hybrid teaching model introduced by the pandemic enriched class demographics, offering a broader spectrum of perspectives and enhancing discussions. Implications: The shift to digital and hybrid teaching models brought diverse student profiles, which, when appropriately harnessed, can enrich classroom discussions and peer learning. Future research should delve deeper into the motivations of distinct student groups and the long-term effects of current teaching strategies on entrepreneurial endeavors. © The Author(s) 2024.

This article aims to investigate how an entrepreneur’s imprinting history influences the creation and international development of new firms. Using a qualitative research design, we investigate the life stories of three entrepreneurs and the international development of their firms. The study shows how imprinting episodes influence the entrepreneur’s mindset, start-up motivation and the subsequent international trajectories of their firms. These episodes can occur in childhood, high school, college or in earlier work experience. We find that different international trajectories emerged depending on the imprinting history of the founding entrepreneurs. In contrast to prior research, we show that entrepreneurs can develop a global mindset without international experience and that such mindsets, along with entrepreneurial passion, can be instrumental in supporting a proactive international strategy. Drawing on imprinting theory, we challenge traditional ways of investigating firm internationalisation by focusing on the life stories of entrepreneurs. © The Author(s) 2025

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore and gain a greater understanding of women's entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic. How have women entrepreneurs changed their entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic? What dimensions are highlighted by women entrepreneurs for a sustainable entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Design/methodology/approach: This study was conducted with a qualitative design where multiple case studies were conducted with 30 women. Data were collected through qualitative interviews with the women entrepreneurs in Asia and Europe.

Findings: The results from this study show that women entrepreneurs have mainly focused on financial resources. Economic sustainability is required for companies to survive a crisis in the form of a pandemic. This study has shown what lessons women have from the pandemic where the four D’s model constitute a first step to a theoretical contribution. For women, it is about dollars (e g economic sustainability), demand from customers, the role that digitization has played and distribution both to customers and from suppliers.

Practical implications: Practical implications from this study are that women entrepreneurs need to be prepared for economic crises to a larger extent. The economic sustainability plays a key role in sustainable businesses for women entrepreneurs in any kind of context

Social implications: Women's entrepreneurship looks different, and more knowledge is needed about their conditions. It contributes to increased social sustainability.

Originality/value: This study contributes to an increased understanding of how women's entrepreneurship has been affected during a global crisis. © 2023, Anna Sörensson and Navid Ghannad.

This chapter investigates how women entrepreneurs changed their business models during the Covid-19 pandemic. It poses the following research questions: What entrepreneurial opportunities did women entrepreneurs experience during Covid-19, and how did these influence their business models? What entrepreneurial difficulties did women entrepreneurs experience during Covid-19, and how did these influence their business models? The study draws on data from 30 qualitative interviews with women entrepreneurs. Findings show that women entrepreneurs had to rely more on financial resources during the Covid-19 pandemic than before. They also had to conduct more risk assessments. Furthermore, the location of their business had a significant effect on the difficulties they faced. In addition, women entrepreneurs who had already implemented a digital solution were able to adjust more easily during the pandemic. Many of the women entrepreneurs emphasized that social media was an advantage as it facilitated business communication.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to discuss how value can be created in new ways by sharing or renting service (e g products). This new type of businesses contributes to creating sustainable value both for the customers as well as for the environment. Today, it is no longer considered sustainable to always buy products, especially when it comes to products that will be used a few times. As a result, therefore, a sharing economy has emerged. It is both about renting out existing products against payment, but there are also examples of establishments where products are rented out free of charge. Lovelock and Gummesson (2004) addressed the non-ownership paradigm orrental paradigm almost 20 years ago but there is still lack of research in this area.

Study design/Methodology/Approach: The study was designed as a case study where eight different cases were selected in Sweden. The cases are all business in the outdoor and tourism industry. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the managers as well as secondary data such as home pages, social media, and written materials.

Findings: The study show that in particular the outdoor industry and tourism the phenomen on ofrenting seems to be well established for some type of service. There are some areas that have along history of renting meanwhile other is never. The result also show that some segments of customers seem to be more openminded to renting rather than buying.

Originality/Value: Studies on the sharing economy is still a quite new phenomenon and this study contributes to a deeper knowledge.

Practical implications: The study could be useful for business owners that are seeking new more sustainable ways to develop their industry from traditional selling products to renting them. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected entrepreneurship and there are still ongoing research on how the pandemic has affected small business around the globe (Dias et al., 2021; Galindo-Martín et al., 2021). Some industries like for instance tourism and travel have taken a huge decrease in sales meanwhile entrepreneurs like for instance in digital meetings and food stores have increased their sales (Boter et al., 2021). Because of the Covid-19 pandemic,the entrepreneurial spirit has experienced tuff times. Even though Covid-19 pandemic have affected entrepreneurs in different ways such for instance new demands, attitudes and collaborations as well as adjustments to new terms there has been hard to run business during the pandemic. There has also been geographical differences as well as industry differences for the entrepreneurs (Boter et al., 2021). Entrepreneurs therefore have continued their business in different ways and have made different decisions at different moments duringcrises (Veselovska et al., 2021).

Research in entrepreneurship is often separate necessity driven entrepreneurship from opportunity driven entrepreneurship as the main two perspectives (Reynolds, 2012; Liñán and Jaén, 2020). There is a larger debate about this difference and entrepreneurs’ motives and this difference is important to study more (Liñán and Jaén, 2020). These two perspectives are interesting to study more especially how especially how different entrepreneurs have adapted their entrepreneurship during the pandemic. The purpose of the study is to examine how small businesses have developed their businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. What opportunities have entrepreneurs identified and applied during the Covid-19 pandemic? How have entrepreneurs adapted their business to by necessity to survive financially during the Covid-19 pandemic?

The study was designed as a qualitative study with interview as a data collection method. The interview guide was based on previous research with a focus on the following themes; X (REF). Data was also collected from secondary data like homepages and social media. Interviews were conducted with 131 entrepreneurs, mainly from Europe and Asia. The interviews have since been themed in levels of analysis based on Gioia et al. (2013).

The results show that there is a clear division of entrepreneurs regarding necessity driven business development while others have not been affected to the same extent have instead discovered new business opportunities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study also shows that it is of great importance which social safety net the various countries have had where some countries have offered state support. In contrast, the entrepreneurs who run their businesses in countries where there is a complete lack of state support. For these companies, it is their own responsibility to solve problems with financing, which has often been done with the help of the family and banks. © The Authors, 2022.