MBS Professors Dr. Anne Tryba and Dr. Thomas Röhm presented their research about “New Ventures’ Sustainability Missions – A Marketing Necessity or All-Embracing Management Tool?” at the 24th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SMEs (G-Forum), Germany (Virtual Edition).
This year’s G-Forum took place from September 28th to October 02nd, 2020 as a virtual edition. The overarching conference theme “Entrepreneurship as Design Science” was aiming to create an opportunity to explore the possibilities of design science research in entrepreneurship. In addition, the conference included research that corresponds to the three main thematic fields of the Förderkreis Gründungsforschung, FGF e.V., Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and SMEs. This year many contributions were related to Digitalization and Sustainability reflecting the growing importance of those topics for Entrepreneurs and SMEs. With almost 300 submissions from all around the world, 200 scientific sessions, an insightful keynote, various panel discussions and a doctoral colloquium, the event provided a comprehensive platform to thoroughly exchange new insights and discuss new opportunities and approaches in a multi-facetted manner.
Representing MBS, Prof. Dr. Anne Tryba and Prof. Dr. Thomas Röhm presented their current paper “New Ventures’ Sustainability Missions – A Marketing Necessity or All-Embracing Management Tool?”. The presentation included first findings from their research project about how sustainability ambitions of new ventures are transferred into managerial actions. The conceptual model shows how entrepreneurs’ sustainability value perceptions are integrated in their missions and determine how holistically they identify as sustainable entrepreneurs and prioritize sustainability aspects over others in their daily management. The findings contribute to the literatures on sustainable entrepreneurship, founder identity, and mission-oriented practices in new ventures.
The presentation inspired a lively discussion and the authors gained valuable insights and ideas how to enhance their research approach.
