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Each company, large or small, starts with a dream and an idea for a new product or service. Companies can succeed or fail for a wide variety of reasons, including inexperienced managers, failure to build or sell the desired product, launching products into highly competitive environments, and a lack of capital. This chapter reviews the traditional methods of capital formation, including funding by angel investors and venture capital firms. These funding methods are only available to relatively large firms, leaving millions of small firms without reliable debt and equity funding sources to scale their business. The growth of the internet, blockchain technology, and fintech firms has introduced innovative funding methods, such as crowdfunding and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). While these structures have been successful in raising capital for smaller firms, changes in the regulatory environment, such as the JOBS Act, are needed for these new forms of capital formation to reach their full potential.

This study illustrates the economic and financial dynamics of the sector, analysing the evolution of the main ratios of profitability and financial structure of 1,559 Italian real estate companies divided into the three macro-regions: North, Centre and South, in the period 2011–2020. In this way, it is also possible to verify the responsiveness to the 2020 pandemic crisis.

The analysis uses descriptive statistics tools and the ANOVA method of analysis of variance, supplemented by the Tukey–Kramer test, to identify significant differences between the three Italian macro-regions.

The study shows the increase in profitability after the 2008 crisis, despite its reverberation in the years 2012–2013. The financial structure of companies improved almost everywhere. The pandemic had modest effects on performance.

In the future, other indices should be considered to gain a more comprehensive view. This is a quantitative study based on financial statements data that neglects other important economic and social factors.

Public policies could use this study for better interventions to support the sector. In addition, internal management can compare their company's performance with the industry average to identify possible improvements.

The research analyses an economic field that employs a large number of people, especially when considering the construction and real estate services covered by this analysis.

The study contributes to the literature by providing a quantitative analysis of industry dynamics, with comparative information that can be deduced from financial statements over the years.

Financial technology (fintech) refers to using new technology to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. This chapter provides a brief introduction to fintech. It also includes the book's purpose, distinguishing features, intended audience, and structure. A synopsis of Chapters 2 through 23 is offered. The chapter concludes that fintech is constantly evolving and is reshaping finance. Fintechs offer a new paradigm of growth.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of culture as a motivator for young generations to travel and their willingness of using crowdfunding to sustain culture.

Using a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design and through a quantile regression analysis for count data, a sample of 1,721 Italian young people is examined.

The analysis reveals that culture is a significant factor for a trip’s motivation among young generations and crowdfunding represents a key alternative instrument for financing culture.

The research fills the gap in extant literature by clarifying the role of culture in the choice of a touristic destination by young generations. This is a significant achievement since understanding the motivations is crucial to attract tourists at a specific destination and it represents a relevant insight for policy makers.

Innovation in financing processes, enabled by the advent of new technologies, has supported the development of alternative finance funding tools. In this context, the study analyses the growing importance of alternative finance instruments (such as equity crowdfunding, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, venture capital, and others) in addressing the small and medioum enterprises' (SMEs) financing needs beyond traditional bank and market-based funding channels. By providing more flexible terms and faster approval times, these instruments are gradually reshaping the traditional bank-firm relationship.

To comprehensively understand this innovation shift in funding processes, the study employs a novel approach that merges three MCDA methods: Spherical Fuzzy Entropy, ARAS and TOPSIS. These methodologies allow for handling ambiguity and subjectivity in financial decision-making processes, examining the effects of multiple criteria, including interest rate, flexibility, accessibility, support, riskiness, and approval time, on the appeal of various financial alternatives.

The study’s results have significant theoretical and practical implications, supporting SMEs in carefully evaluate financing alternatives and enables banks to better identify the main “competitors” according to the “financial need” of the firm. Moreover, the rise of alternative finance, notably P2P lending, indicates a shift towards more efficient capital access, suggesting banks must innovate their funding channels to remain competitive, especially in offering flexible solutions for restructuring and high-risk scenarios.

The study advises top management that SMEs prefer traditional loans for their reliability and accessibility, necessitating banks to enhance transparency, innovate, and adopt digital solutions to meet evolving financing needs and improve customer satisfaction.

The study introduces a novel integration of Spherical Fuzzy TOPSIS, Entropy, and ARAS methodologies to face the complexities of financial decision-making for SME financing, addressing ambiguity and multiple criteria like interest rates, flexibility, and riskiness. It emphasizes the importance of traditional loans, the rising significance of alternative financing such as P2P lending, and the necessity for banks to innovate, thereby enriching the literature on bank-firm relationships and SME funding strategies.

This chapter focuses on how alternative data can change the nature of financial forecasting through improved short-term forecasting techniques and decreased informativeness from longer term sources. Increased use of social media data leads the charge in transforming this transition. Alternative data are data not from standard financial statements or formal reports. This chapter looks at alternative data from new sources (e.g., social media, Internet of Things [IoT], and digital footprints) and alternative data from new collection methods like web scraping for textual analysis, image analysis, and vocal analysis). It first discusses standard data in financial forecasting. Next, this chapter examines alternative data in financial forecasting. Finally, it discusses alternative data used in studying finance more broadly.

The purpose of this study is to explore the complex interplay between technology, personal norms and emotional factors in shaping the sustainable housing choices of millennials in emerging economies. It integrates the model of goal-directed behavior, technology acceptance model and norm activation model, incorporating both self-interest and prosocial motivations. Key adaptations involve replacing perceived behavioral control with financial self-efficacy and substituting hedonic motivation for anticipated positive emotions. Moreover, it introduces location as a practical anchor.

A quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive research design was used in this study. Data were gathered from a sample of 610 millennial residential real estate investors across Indian smart cities. A multistage stratified sampling technique was used to ensure a representative sample. For data analysis, partial least squares structural equation modeling was used. The analysis focused on hypothesis testing to examine the relationships between the constructs of interest. Bootstrap t-values and effect sizes were used to assess the significance and magnitude of these relationships, respectively.

One of the key findings of this study was the establishment of significant positive relationships between awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility and personal norms with behavioral intentions. This underscored the importance of personal ethical considerations in shaping intentions. Perceived usefulness and ease of use were found to significantly influence attitudes positively, highlighting the relevance of these factors in forming favorable attitudes toward behaviors. Attitude, subjective norms, financial self-efficacy and location played significant positive roles. However, negative anticipated emotions decreased desire. This illustrated the complex role emotions play in motivational processes. The study also revealed that subjective norms did not significantly contribute to shaping personal norms. This indicated a potential decoupling of societal expectations from personal ethical obligations in the decision-making process.

This study offers actionable insights for both policymakers and real estate developers. For policymakers, the findings highlight the need to craft initiatives that go beyond mere awareness, instead fostering a deep sense of personal responsibility and environmental stewardship among potential homebuyers. For real estate developers, the emphasis on financial self-efficacy and location suggests a strategy shift toward designing sustainable homes that not only meet environmental standards but also align with buyers’ financial confidence and geographic preferences. Together, these strategies can drive a more widespread adoption of sustainable housing, making sustainability a tangible and appealing choice for millennials.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this empirical research study was one of the first studies that contributed to the literature by integrating the model of goal-directed behavior, technology acceptance model and norm activation model. This study thus offered a nuanced understanding of the interplay between normative influences, usability perceptions, ethical considerations and emotions in the context of behavioral intentions.

Although marketing is essential for a firm’s survival and growth, a set of entrepreneurial strategic orientations may help it gain a competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial marketing (EM) is critical for growing businesses to succeed in today's fast-paced industry. The present study aims to measure the role of EM on the business performance (BP) of Indian startups.

For this purpose, a thorough literature review was conducted to develop a scale from the proposed conceptual framework – EMICO by Jones and Rowley (2009b). To assess the reliability and validity of the scale (62 items), the data are analyzed by employing partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The scale is empirically tested, and the results lead to discussions. The results show the positive impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), marketing orientation (MO), innovation orientation (IO) and customer orientation (CO) on the BP of the startups. The paper concludes by suggesting managerial and practical implications, also providing future research agenda.

Our objective is to address the existing dearth of comprehensive scales for evaluating EM by undertaking a rigorous statistical approach. Notably, our research represents the pioneering effort in adopting the EMICO framework and subsequently formulating and empirically validating a robust scale specifically tailored for nascent or small-scale startups within the Indian context.