Dr. Travis Gliedt
Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Sustainability
Green Community Entrepreneurship
Abstract
While sustainability purpose organizations attempt to create environmental, social and economic value for society as a core operating objective, two questions remain; one, how do these organizations increase their sustainability impacts, and two, does this method differ by organization type? The purpose of this research is to examine the process of organizational expansion and the extent to which there is a ceiling with respect to the scale and scope of influence that an environmental organization can have on transitioning society towards a greener future. This study compares the process of value creation in four different sustainability purpose organizations in Oklahoma: two non-profit environmental service organizations and two for-profit green energy businesses. Semi-structured interviews conducted with the leaders of these organizations identified differences between non-profit and for-profit sustainability purpose organizations.
Abstract
Many environmental nonprofit organizations (ENPOs) seek to create sustainability value by promoting environmental principles and influencing policymakers to support pro-environmental legislation. One strategy used by ENPOs to enhance the value creation process is the development of partnerships with businesses. Semi-structured interviews with leaders of six national ENPOs in the United States were conducted to examine the sources and types of value created by collaborations with renewable energy businesses, and the partnership processes and outcomes that are most desirable. The goal was to understand how and why ENPOs seek partnerships, what the potential benefits are, and whether or not ENPO leadership orientation, as characterized by their perceptions of the political opportunity structure, political ideology, and environmental philosophy, led to different views of partnerships for sustainability value creation. The finding that differences in the partnership perspectives of the ENPO leadership did not directly link to differences in the leadership orientations suggests that none of the orientations precluded partnering in general and may even have been enablers in some cases.
***Winner of the Highly Commended Paper of 2015 ***
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to investigate a second round of intensive green community entrepreneurship, a form of social entrepreneurship, by a set of environmental service organizations (ESOs) facing the loss of their largest revenue source (the ecoENERGY program), to see if it differed from responses to a similar funding cut five years earlier. In particular, the study compared green community entrepreneurship rates and types to those of the previous program (EnerGuide for Houses) cancellation and examined the perceived importance of various factors, including a social entrepreneurship training program offered by the national association. Interviews were held with executive directors who had led their organization through both periods of financial crisis. Information was collected on changes in revenue, staffing, residential energy evaluations conducted, service creation, and the perceived importance of organizational factors. The adaptation strategy undertaken by each ESO was classified as resilience, transition, or transformation focused. Key findings included that green community entrepreneurship is accelerated when needs are heightened, such as when ESOs face funding cuts. Second, only some of the new services or activities launched were financially successful and remained viable over a five-year period. Third, green community entrepreneurship is an important initiative for ESOs to implement their adaptation strategy (resilient, transition, or transformation strategy). Fourth, a higher perceived difficulty of adaptation to funding cuts is associated with the launch of more new services by the ESO. The original contributions of the paper include the verification of repeated increases to the rate of entrepreneurship undertaken in response to sudden funding cuts, as compared to the rate of entrepreneurship during a stable funding period. This accelerated creation of new services can be directed to achieve various adaptation strategies from creating new services in the established area of energy expertise, to initiatives in new areas of sustainability services, such as water, food, or finance. The importance of collective innovation is highlighted with the use of both local and national networks.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of green community entrepreneurship in the social economy by studying creative responses among environmental non-profit organizations to an external fiscal shock. A total of 12 managers of environmental non-profit organizations were interviewed to identify and classify their responses to a single external fiscal shock. These organizations are connected by a social capital network, their national association, Green Communities Canada. The social economy and ecological economics literatures are reviewed to construct a definition of green community entrepreneurship. Interview respondents identified factors which facilitate this process. The need for green community entrepreneurship was driven by two interrelated issues (a loss of external government funding, and an associated market collapse for residential energy audits), and facilitated by three main factors (external social capital network flows, internal human capital stocks, and strategic partnerships). Future research should examine other social economy organizations to determine if the dynamics discovered here are unique to green community organizations delivering climate change programs or apply more generally. Policy implications include the potential for joint project creation and investment utilizing green community entrepreneurship to integrate social and ecological economy objectives. A new conceptual framework for green community entrepreneurship is developed.
Abstract
Nonprofit environmental service organizations create and deliver services designed to improve environmental performance and to mitigate climate change through increased water efficiency, better waste management, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. These green community organizations embody the four criteria that capture the ‘social’ dimension of the social economy identified in chapter 1: they are motivated by the social and environmental objectives in their mission statements; they utilize volunteer labor; they initiate and facilitate civic engagement; and their structure represents a form of social ownership (e.g., nonprofit). Like many social economy organizations, environmental service organizations face unstable funding environments, making their capacity to adapt to sudden changes in funding a critical challenge. Some organizations are vulnerable and their continued operation is put in doubt when a major funding source is lost. Others adapt and diversify. What accounts for these differences in the capacity to change? This chapter examined the strategic partnerships of one successful southern Ontario organization to understand how they facilitate the creativity and flexibility necessary to drive innovation and enhance organizations resilience.
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
