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We aim to comb the current policies that have been developed to promote the environmental industries in China and analyze them in a comparative manner.

We mainly use the method of text study to study the existing policies that Chinese central government published to promote the development of environmental industry. We built a database of policies and regulations from 1979 to 2015 by searching the official website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China.

We find that the existing policies focus on command and control approaches. Policies are more oriented to the stage of production instead of stages of investment and consumption. They rely more on negative incentive when stimulating supply and positive incentive when encouraging demand. Based on existing academic wisdom, we suggest that Chinese government should pay more attention to environmental economic policy and to stimulating demand for environmental products.

Few studies provide a systematic overview of the policy systems that have been developed to promote environmental industry in China in a systematic manner.

This research investigated the economic feasibility of using maize as feedstock to produce bioethanol in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to generate economic data from a maize-fed bioethanol plant and use it to perform a comparative analysis between the profitability that is generated by the maize exports to Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries and the profitability generated by the bioethanol plant in South Africa.

This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data. The mixed method approach was chosen owing to the nature of the study which required an analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in order to achieve its objectives.

The findings from a qualitative instrument indicated that a majority of respondents were in favour of the decision of excluding maize for bioethanol production made by the South African Government. Findings from quantitative analysis revealed that the profitability of the bioethanol plant was largely influenced by the prices of feedstock and bioethanol.

This research was a deterministic feasibility study which ignores the risk associated with price fluctuation of raw materials and products. A probabilistic feasibility study was recommended (Monte Carlo simulation). Such economic data can also help policymakers and investors to make informed decisions.

The study recommended the need to produce bioethanol from the maize cultivated in available arable soils in South Africa, thus alleviating the cost burden of importing oil and obnoxious environmental effects.

China and the United States represent the two largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Studies on how US companies react to the natural environment are plentiful and show that stakeholders are one of the key drivers for green decisions. However, we have limited understanding of the stakeholder pressure faced by firms in China. Drawing on stakeholder theory, this study builds from in-depth interviews with 32 businesses in China. We show that government, customers, employees, suppliers, investors, and community are stakeholders most mentioned. Interestingly, findings also seem to suggest that the perceived pressures of non-profit organizations (NGOs) differ by the form of ownership. Multinational firms often view NGOs as allies, while Chinese firms downplay them as powerless and unimportant. Although stakeholders are seen as both threat and opportunity, two-thirds of those surveyed in this study focused on opportunity as opposed to threat.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of institutional distance and host country attractiveness in location determinants of Chinese Foreign investments in EU in the renewable energy sector, taking into account bilateral political and economic relations.

A firm-level Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) database of greenfield and non-greenfield Chinese investments abroad is used. A six fixed-effects logit analysis is performed.

Chinese firms tend to invest in EU countries with reduced rule of law; market affluence is an attraction factor for them, but they do not seem to be human capital asset-seekers. Countries with politically stable environment are most attractive to sales/services subsidiaries; while countries with good control of corruption, low trade barriers and encouraging foreign ownership are most attractive to manufacturing subsidiaries. A large market is the most attractive factor for R & D subsidiaries, and a rich market is the most attractive factor for manufacturing subsidiaries. Manufacturing subsidiaries are more technological asset-seekers. R & D subsidiaries are the most non-human capital asset-seekers.

The study extends the state of the art of the literature by developing a theoretical framework, grounded on the influence of host country institutional factors and on endowment of resources on the location choice of Chinese investors. Further variables should be included in the future (industrial specialization of host country, cultural distance, bilateral ties).

Policy implications are relevant. They are related both to outward foreign direct investment attraction policies and to Europe-China cooperation dialogue. With reference to attraction policies, as Chinese green firms are technological asset-seekers, more than human capital asset-seekers, EU countries interested in partnering with Chinese investors should develop specific measures targeting encouraging technology spillover. Even R & D subsidiaries should be tempted with technology-oriented measures. With reference to Europe-China cooperation, the paper findings support suggestions for a more active European position on foreign investments in key European energy sectors.

The paper is grounded on an improved theoretical model, tested through a unique Mofcom firm-level database. Originality lies in the fact that the authors provide a sectoral insight. The need for sectoral analysis is fundamental as Chinese industrial development and internationalization path vary extensively across industry, due to policy interventions, supportive measures and prioritized initiatives. Zhang et al. (2011, p. 229) found that – specifically – the energy sector is highly sensitive to host country institutional context, therefore Chinese foreign direct investment are more likely to be exposed to regulatory and competitive pressure compared to other industries.

Although ethical custom has long recognized man’s responsibility to the environment, the contribution of traditional economic entrepreneurship to the sustainability challenge has been limited. Indeed, it can be shown to have had a negative impact at times and although new business models have been introduced, addressing environmental, humane and social issues, questions have been raised about whether entrepreneurship and sustainability are compatible. Accordingly, this chapter proposes a new business model that integrates or harmonizes these four more traditional entrepreneurship models currently applied independently. The model is founded on general systems thinking and the principle of harmony. It is based on a case study of real-life commercial startup operation, SEKEM Holding in Egypt. The case, which is based on secondary data and non-participant observation, is discussed in detail as is the resultant proposed Harmonious Entrepreneurship model. A definition is provided together with three further case examples that exemplify and demonstrate the model in different geographical and sectoral contexts. Each is based on a “bleeding edge,” innovative technological solution to the problem being addressed and the study concludes that:

• for entrepreneurship to address the sustainability challenge successfully a new entrepreneurship paradigm is needed that abandons the Friedman doctrine of being about making as much money as possible;

• the paradigm should incorporate systems thinking and operate both ethically and in accordance with the harmony principle, ensuring that profit, people and planet are harmonized; and

• the model can be implemented simultaneously, and not incrementally as previous research has suggested.

for entrepreneurship to address the sustainability challenge successfully a new entrepreneurship paradigm is needed that abandons the Friedman doctrine of being about making as much money as possible;

the paradigm should incorporate systems thinking and operate both ethically and in accordance with the harmony principle, ensuring that profit, people and planet are harmonized; and

the model can be implemented simultaneously, and not incrementally as previous research has suggested.

One of the key drivers behind the recent growth in the global solar energy market is the decline in solar module prices. Many empirical analyses have been carried out to identify the mechanism behind this price reduction. However, studies on the price reduction mechanism of solar modules over the years have focused purely on the technological aspect of manufacturing. The purpose of this study is to consider the influence of economic and monetary factors such as the interest rate and exchange rate on solar module pricing in addition to other factors that considered in earlier studies including technology, wage rate and other energy prices.

In this paper, an oligopolistic model and econometric method are used to determine the economic factors that have an influence on solar module prices. The paper constructs a solar module pricing model and conducts a fully modified ordinary least squares analysis to estimate the influence of each factor. Analysis is conducted for the top five solar module producing countries in the world from 1997 to 2015. The five countries are the People’s Republic of China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the USA.

Empirical analysis provides several findings concerning the solar module pricing mechanism. These vary for each country. However, generally the interest rate has a positive correlation with solar module prices, while the exchange rate, knowledge stock and oil price have a negative correlation with solar module prices.

First, the government must expand channels for renewable energy funding. As renewable industries are high-tech, the influence that capital cost has on technology price is significant. Government efforts to provide industries with low-interest finance will accelerate renewable business. There have been many attempts to lower interest rates for renewable energy technology to accelerate growth in the green technology market. Second, the government must expand research and development (R&D) expenditures focused on renewable energy technology. The technological advancements acquired through R&D enhance module performance efficiency, thereby reducing costs. Therefore, government policies aimed at increasing targeted R&D expenditure will be an effective means of expanding the installation of renewable energies.

Studies on the price reduction mechanism of solar modules over the years have focused purely on the technological aspect of the manufacturing. This is the first research to bring economic, monetary and technological factors of solar module pricing together.

This chapter considers the process of entrepreneurial activity to deploy financial technologies (fintech) through mandate-specific new companies in Latin America. We deal with important historical issues such as defining the term, establishing temporal and industrial activity boundaries, positioning this particular process within other organizational forms typical of the region, the role of women, and other relevant issues such as the modernization of retail payments and personal lending. A central question is whether fintech start-ups have had a “scissor” effect in the entrepreneurial process of Latin America: at the base of the pyramid (i.e., reducing frictions to support overall entrepreneurial activity, increasing financial inclusion, etc.) and near the top (by creating new business leaders). As a result, this chapter provides an initial assessment of gender disparities and barriers enabling women entrepreneurs in the fintech ecosystem.

Husk Power Systems, a young but widely celebrated firm based in India, needs $1.5 million to $2.5 million of expansion capital to grow quickly beyond the small footprint it had established in northeast India. It was a successful green-energy enterprise that aimed to provide electricity to millions of rural Indians in a financially viable way. With 10 “mini power plants” that used rice husks as a fuel source and a presence in 25 isolated Indian villages as of April 2009, the company's goal was to reach 350,000 to 400,000 consumers in 400 villages by the end of 2011. It was offered a convertible-note financing structure by a cleantech private equity firm and needed to assess whether it suited the company's and founders' interests.

This case was designed for and is used in Darden's Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity elective. With less of a focus on the financials, the Husk case has also been used in other Darden courses such as Social Entrepreneurship and Global Economies and Markets in a module focusing on emerging markets.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate different types of innovations and their effects on eco-innovation practices by firms practicing green technology in Malaysia.

This paper collected data via postal and online surveys. The population frame for this study was obtained from the External Trade Development Corporation directory 2010 and the MyHijau Directory published in 2013. Surveys were distributed to the top management of green technology companies.

Based on the reflections from the managers who participated in the survey, this study found that environmental compliance has become a critical issue and lack of enforcement can no longer be ignored. Despite that fact that eco-innovation inspection activities to comply with environmental regulations are carried out periodically by the studied firms, the challenges in deploying the latest green technologies and their potential benefits have remain evident. Often, a shortage of resources has restricted firms in setting up in-house research and development units.

The findings of this study lead to the suggestion that firms practicing green technology should engage in an information-sharing culture with key suppliers regarding the latest know-how and technological developments. Among the recommendations are that firms should engage employees, customers, suppliers and competitors through co-production. This engagement will help improve product marketability, lean production processes and the design of desired green products.

This study investigated the level of eco-innovation practices for each dimension of its construct and compared that level to the different stages of firm innovation. The results will fill in the gaps in the literature because previous studies only focused on theory testing and modelling of eco-innovation from a multidisciplinary approach.