Abstract
Entrepreneurship is becoming one of Spain's economic driving forces. The Triple Bottom Line concept has gained notoriety in the last 30 years, creating a theoretical framework that justifies the measuring of the organizations' results not only economically, but also socially and environmentally, which has raised the awareness of the need to add Corporate Social Responsibility to the organizations' strategies. The goals of this study are to analyse the current state of entrepreneurship in Spain, to link entrepreneurship with CSR and to establish which aspects of CSR can be challenging for entrepreneurs.
TopCurrent Situation Of Entrepreneurship In Spain
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research program was developed with the aim of providing harmonized data for the research of entrepreneurship in different economies around the world, at very different developmental levels (Tominc, 2019). The first population survey was carried out in 1999, with ten countries participating. Nowadays, the GEM has evolved into a consortium in which a big number of countries participate and represents a unique global research project, unprecedented in entrepreneurial research (Tominc, 2019). Its framework is focused on the analysis of early-stage entrepreneurship, which often is not entirely aligned with the objectives pursued by policy makers, who focus mainly on a macroeconomic aspect, which notices entrepreneurship only when it manifests itself in a successful and growing company (Rebernik et al., 2016). The study of entrepreneurship within the framework of the GEM is, therefore, the study of the fundamental driving force behind entrepreneurship, that is, the individuals and their ambitions, innovativeness and abilities (Rebernik et al., 2018).
The GEM uses the TEA (Total Entrepreneurship Activity) index to measure and compare the level of entrepreneurship of different countries. The index measures the percentage of responders that work in businesses less than three years old, to capture the entrepreneurial dynamic of a country and its characteristics. Figure 1 shows the different values of the TEA index for Spain for people between 18 and 64 years old, and its evolution in the period 2005-2017.
The index is divided in different age ranges, and each of them contains some interesting data:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Responsible/Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Type of entrepreneurship that incorporates economic, social and environmental characteristics, in such a way that a link between CSR and entrepreneurship is achieved.
Stakeholders: People, individuals, and groups of people that affect, can affect and can be affected by the activities of an organization. They are an essential element on the strategic planning of the organizations.
Triple Bottom Line Perspective: Accounting framework with three parts (social, environmental, and financial). Some organizations have adopted this framework in order to evaluate their performance in a broader perspective to create greater business value.
Entrepreneurship: Actions to initiate a new activity that demand effort and work and concludes in a business result. The entrepreneur must be willing to take risks related to time, money, and hard work.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Spain Report: The world's foremost study of entrepreneurship. GEM provides high quality information, comprehensive reports, and interesting stories, which greatly enhance the understanding of the entrepreneurial phenomenon.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Voluntary integration by the organizations of social and environmental concerns in its business operations and the relationships with their interlocutors.
Sustainable Development: Development that satisfies present needs without compromising the capacity of future generations, guaranteeing the balance between economic development, taking care of the environment and social wellbeing.