GROWING THE GREEN ECONOMY IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES: THE CASE OF ECO-ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR BORN-GREEN FIRMS IN ROMANIA.
Pasca Palmer, Cristiana.
2014
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Abstract: The occurrence of "born-green firms" is a puzzling phenomenon in a
"transition economy" such as Romania. What explains it? Can these innovative business
ventures be the agents of change to seed and grow a green economy from the ground-up? These
questions are especially pertinent today when multiple crises - environmental, social, and
economic - faced by human society are calling for ... read morea profound rethinking of development
paradigms. The "green economy" emerged from Rio+20 as a fresh approach to
sustainability--one that acknowledges that growth is limited by the "planetary boundaries".
But how do countries engage transitions to a green economy? And who should lead the way?
Conceptually, this doctoral dissertation proposes a path toward a green economy by "growing
the green" and "greening the grown" economy. The research set out to understand the new and
rapidly growing phenomenon of eco-entrepreneurship and the emergence of "born-green firms"
- as a transformational pathway toward growing a green economy in Romania, a transition
economy that faced idiosyncratic challenges in its post-communism development path. The
purpose of the dissertation is two-fold: First, it aims to understand the occurrence of
born-green firms in Romania by identifying and mapping the variables of interest for this
phenomenon and the relationships among them. Original empirical data was collected through
semi-structured interviews with pioneer eco-entrepreneurs and experts in two of Romania's
emerging green sectors - eco-agriculture and ecotourism. Using complimentary qualitative
and quantitative methods, and qualitative research software, each sector was constructed as
a case study. Main themes emerging from the analysis were compared across the two cases and
used as building blocks to construct an eco-entrepreneurship theory for born-green firms in
the two sectors analyzed. The theory indicates that the successful emergence of the
born-green firms is primarily a consequence of the "out-of-the ordinary" drive of the
eco-entrepreneurs. Secondly, the dissertation aims to assess the stage of transition to a
green economy in Romania's agriculture and tourism sectors by developing and applying a
conceptual model of multi-phase systems transition. The evidence from this research
indicates that these two sectors are in a pre-development stage of systems transition.
Recommendations are outlined for accelerating the transition to a green economy in the
sectors examined. The dissertation concludes that growing the green economy, albeit
challenging, it is occurring and rapidly expanding in Romania, and that born-green firms
are important agents of change in Romania's transformation toward a green
economy.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2014.
Submitted to the Dept. of Economics and International Business.
Advisor: William Moomaw.
Committee: Bernard Simonin, and Rachel Kyte.
Keywords: Business, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability.read less - ID:
- 5712mk468
- Component ID:
- tufts:21768
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
