De Gruyter Handbooks in Business, Economics and Finance – serie

As of early 2022, seven of the ten largest firms in the world by market capitalization had been funded through various types of entrepreneurial finance. This handbook provides an up-to-date survey of what we know about this significant phenomenon in all its forms, and where our knowledge about it needs to head from here. The handbook embraces a wide range of established and emerging academic and practitioner voices across the globe to explore the theoretical and practical flux and tension in the field.

Until recently, most studies have taken a supply side perspective, focusing on the perspective of those who provide funding to new ventures. This book takes a different, demand side perspective, beginning with the entrepreneur and gradually broadening our view to include close by and then more distant funding sources. Following this approach, it is organized into four parts detailing the individual level (founders’ resources, bricolage and bootstrapping, effectuation and portfolio entrepreneurship); the inner circle (informal financing, business groups, incubators and accelerators); the wider world (formal debt, microfinance, venture capital, corporate venture capital, business angels, government funding and family offices); and emerging perspectives (non-Western perspectives, gender, indigenous perspectives, post-conflict and disaster zones and ethics).

The introduction considers the general state of the field, while the conclusion takes on additional topics relevant to entrepreneurial finance, such as decentralized finance, big data, behavioral economics, financial innovation and COVID-19, as well as possible ways in which entrepreneurial finance can have a greater impact on other disciplines.

This handbook will be a core reference work for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers seeking an up-to-date academic survey of entrepreneurial finance. It can also be used as a primary text in Ph.D. seminars in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, and finance. Instructors in Master’s level courses in entrepreneurial finance and venture capital will also find the book of benefit.

The De Gruyter Handbook of Personal Finance provides a robust review of the core topics comprising personal finance, including the primary models, approaches, and methodologies being used to study particular topics that comprise the field of personal finance today.

The contributors include many of the world’s leading personal finance researchers, financial service professionals, thought leaders, and leading contemporary figures conducting research in this area whose work has shaped—and continues to affect—the way that personal finance is conceptualized and practiced.

The first section of the handbook provides a broad introduction to the discipline of personal finance. The following two sections are organized around the core elements of personal finance research and practice: saving, investing, asset management, and financial security. The fourth section introduces future research, practice, and policy directions. The handbook concludes with a discussion on an educational and research agenda for the future.

This handbook will be a core reference work for researchers, financial service practitioners, educators, and policymakers and an excellent supplementary source of readings for those teaching undergraduate and graduate-level courses in personal finance, financial planning, consumer studies, and household finance.

Many countries and regions face unprecedented social and environmental crises and disruptive events whose impact can no longer be ignored. Sustainable entrepreneurs offer new solutions to these problems that involve replacing the current linear economies by circular systems.

Sustainable entrepreneurs generate new sustainable products, services, and production processes, with new sustainable business models that simultaneously balance ecological, social and economic goals, which result in sustainable welfare for current and for future generations. The DeGruyter Handbook of Sustainable Entrepreneurship Research studies the causes and consequences of sustainable entrepreneurship, the new standard of doing business and designing public policy, as reflected in the growth of sustainable entrepreneurship start-up ventures and the increasing integration of sustainability in small- and medium-sized enterprises as well as in incumbent corporations. It explores five main themes, each presenting state-of-the-art thinking: foundations, leadership, innovation, business models, performance and impact. Each section consists of four chapters that, taken together, offer in-depth perspectives, take stock of current situations and propose new avenues for future research.

The handbook offers a coherent and systemic perspective for sustainable start-ups and for incumbent firms and governments aiming for transitions. It will also be of interest to scholars and postgraduate students interested in sustainable entrepreneurship.

Degrowth has emerged as one of the most exciting, and contested, fields of research into the drivers of global heating, ecological collapse, and economic injustice. The perspective is both a critique of existing growth-based models of development, which it argues have put humanity on a collision course with non-negotiable ecological limits, and a vision for a brighter future in which humans and non-humans alike can flourish. By putting an end to growth-seeking economic development and boundless energetic and material throughputs, degrowth’s proponents suggest we can build an economy that meets the material needs of people and planet for generations to come.

This handbook’s contributions signal the importance of degrowth across multiple disciplines and practices. Along the way, they grapple with some of the most critical questions, ideological assumptions, policies, and social struggles of our time.

The handbook approaches degrowth as a loosely knit and developing set of interdisciplinary propositions about what it might take to achieve a world of human and non-human flourishing. Contributors explore, challenge, and critique degrowth’s propositions and its prospects of shaping scholarly agendas, policy frameworks, and social movements. Essays consider degrowth from a variety of empirical and theoretical vantages, including urban design, architecture, political economy, political ecology, critical geography, and political theory. This integrative approach, at once critical and constructive, aims to preserve for readers the sense of possibility that has drawn people to degrowth scholarship thus far.

The handbook presents key contributions from scholars worldwide, providing a comprehensive exploration of current trends in media industries from diverse perspectives. Within the framework of understanding contemporary and future trajectories in media markets and industries, the volume delves into their influence on media organization and delivery, along with broader societal and market implications. Encompassing research at the crossroads of economics, management, political economy, and production studies, the handbook emphasizes the necessity for a robust interdisciplinary dialogue. Beyond scrutinizing present and forthcoming industry developments, the handbook addresses pivotal issues pertaining to media economics research methods and pedagogy. It serves as a valuable resource for scholars, students, and media professionals, providing insights into media economics as an academic field and delving into the multifaceted dynamics that shape the media landscape. Doing this, it contributes to the ongoing discourse on the evolving nature of media markets and their profound impact on society.

Winner of the USASBE 2024 Excellence in Scholarship Award

The De Gruyter Handbook of Social Entrepreneurship serves as a one-stop shop for nascent and established scholars and practitioners alike who seek to quickly gain a broad familiarity with the current state of research in social entrepreneurship.

Part 1 reviews and discusses the historical scholarly foundations of the field, followed by a more in-depth treatment of newer research, while Part 2 examines the broader ecosystem in which social entrepreneurship takes place. In Part 3, the handbook explores infrastructural considerations such as organizational culture, values, processes, business models and mindsets that affect social entrepreneurship. Finally, in Part 4 the handbook analyzes social entrepreneurship from the individual social entrepreneur’s perspective.

Faculty, research-oriented graduate students, think tanks, and government agencies who seek an overview of recent research in the field of social entrepreneurship will benefit from this essential addition to the literature. In addition, practicing social entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs in corporate settings, and non-governmental organizations interested in social entrepreneurship can use this handbook as a resource to inform their approaches to the development of social ventures, how they support social entrepreneurs, and the ways in which they can foster conditions to support a thriving social entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Given the strong migration trends in our society all over the years, this handbook addresses the upcoming topic of migrant entrepreneurship in all its colourful facets. Migration, ethnic minorities, and related phenomena are currently the subject of intensive scholarly discussion and a heated public debate. Migrant entrepreneurship is a powerful issue within this debate as it creates numerous chances for both migrants and societies - despite significant challenges.

In 19 chapters scholars from different disciplines and countries shed light on the phenomenon of migrant entrepreneurship. Long traditions of studies have resulted in the diversity of topics and approaches applied by scholars, and the handbook offers a systematization of research efforts. It also aims to explore future research avenues by providing inspirations.

Three types of readers can benefit from this handbook: researchers, professionals (including policymakers), and students from around the world.

Entrepreneurship is no longer the domain of lone visionaries operating on the fringes of the economy. In the De Gruyter Handbook of Firm-Level Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship, the spotlight shifts decisively inside organisations - where innovation is cultivated, constrained, and transformed by structures, cultures, and people. This volume challenges traditional narratives by revealing how entrepreneurial activity emerges not in isolation, but through the dynamic interplay of leadership, strategy, and organisational design. Bringing together diverse perspectives, it reframes entrepreneurship as a complex, embedded phenomenon that evolves across firms of all sizes and sectors.

Moving beyond narrow definitions of success, this handbook opens up a richer conversation about the social and human dimensions of entrepreneurial work. It explores how organisations create value not only through innovation and performance, but also through sustainability, fairness, and employee well-being. By examining corporate social entrepreneurship and the lived experiences of employees, the book highlights how meaning, inclusion, and purpose shape entrepreneurial outcomes. It shows that lasting innovation depends as much on how people are treated as on the ideas they generate.

Unflinchingly, the volume also addresses the obstacles, tensions, and failures that define entrepreneurial life inside organisations. It examines how leadership, organisational justice, and team dynamics determine whether experimentation thrives or falters. Through theory and real-world cases, the handbook reveals that failure is not an exception, but a vital part of learning and renewal. Bridging scholarship and practice, this essential resource invites readers to rethink what it means to foster entrepreneurship in today's organisations - placing human relationships, ethical responsibility, and resilience at the heart of innovation.

Entrepreneurship has been central to China’s transformation into the world’s second largest economy since the country’s reform and opening-up. Today, the entrepreneurial landscape is undergoing significant change. A new generation of entrepreneurs—shaped more by market dynamics than the legacy of central planning—is taking the lead. Early ventures have grown into national champions, now grappling with complexityand the risk of complacency. Meanwhile, a stronger state presence and global headwinds have reshaped the policy and business environment. As China confronts demographic shifts and the limits of an export-led growth model, it once again turns to entrepreneurship to drive innovation and avoid the middle-income trap.

This handbook looks at the complex dynamics and changing nature of entrepreneurshipin China. It provides overviews of up-to-date research in four important areas: how Chinese entrepreneurs exercise their ability to seek and seize market opportunitiesin the face of uncertainty; how entrepreneurial firms in China facilitate the continuous leveraging of opportunities; how entrepreneurial ecosystems are evolving to support the entrepreneurial actions of both individuals and organisations; and how entrepreneurship is exercised as an instrument to address pressing societal challenges.

The topic of fashion supply chains and operations is dynamic and contemporary. It is a rapidly growing field of research that inspires new debates, opinions and approaches. In consequence, a handbook that synthesizes, challenges and moves forward current discourses is essential in advancing knowledge and understanding of this crucial area of research and practice. Unlike other collections, the handbook goes beyond existing works that are situated solely in the operations and supply chain domain by drawing on an international inter-disciplinary authorship. In doing so, it curates a state-of-the-art collection of important contributions that provides direction to scholars and graduate students in both teaching and research. Fashion supply chains and operations is an area of research and practice that has long inspired debate, being a critical business function responsible for getting products to consumers but often related to the challenges of sustainability, globalization, configuration and ethics. This handbook offers leading research findings that contribute to these debates and furthers the research agenda.

Chapters feature conceptual and empirical debates on contemporary topics and pressing global challenges across fast, slow, and luxury fashion supply chains, from regenerative agriculture to post-consumer textile waste management. Focal areas include the use of technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence for supply chain transparency, efficiency and resilience, as well as relational capital and the lived experiences of workers in the supply chain. Perspectives relating to consumer behaviour, branding, entrepreneurship, collaboration, trend forecasting and product development are also discussed to offer important insights into how fashion supply chains are, and could be, operationalized. Critical debates around social and environmental sustainability, and crucial topics including modern slavery, circularity, policy and ethics, form the cornerstone of the handbook's inter-disciplinary dialogue. The handbook offers an ambitious and stimulating range of chapters that include the works of leading international scholars, drawing on diverse expertise and perspectives across different global contexts.

The De Gruyter Handbook of Sustainable Development and Finance explores the difficult and challenging issues confronting society and the environment, in the contexts of unprecedented climate change, bio-diversity loss and the global pandemic.

In this seminal text exploring a wide range of topics, and in the devastating wake of COVID-19, scholars and practitioners analyse the effectiveness of current and proposed actions to build a sustainable future, and the public and private finance necessary to prevent an impending planetary catastrophe.

The first section of the handbook introduces readers to the origins and evolution of sustainable development. An examination of public and private finance follows in the next two sections, presented from the perspectives of authors from both ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries. Climate change, one of the largest sectors of finance for sustainable development, is investigated in detail, as is the new and emerging development frontier, the ‘blue’ economy of the world’s oceans.

Suitable for students, policymakers and the public at large, the handbook highlights the lessons learned and points the way forward for sustainable development and finance in the wake of the global pandemic, and the challenges to come.

Fashion is a behemoth industry, predicted to grow by close to 5% annually, which would result in a projected market volume of US $1.16 trillion in 2030 (Statista, 2025). The success of the industry is supported by a kaleidoscope of traditional and contemporary marketing strategies that are rapidly evolving into a digital future. There is plenty of literature available on how to implement marketing and marketing in fashion, but very little has been published to offer a progressive and holistic reference work. Furthermore, marketing as a discipline has the potential to cause harm due to its manipulative nature, and therefore, it is of utmost importance to be fully aware of its ethical implications. In this handbook, ethical considerations are woven throughout, and each chapter contemplates implications for the wider industry and society. As a result, you will find a much-needed nuanced discussion of research and progress in the field of fashion marketing that differentiates itself from classic marketing literature and is both academically rigorous while being practical and applicable to real-life scenarios.

The authors of this handbook are leading experts and academics from around the world who have been carefully selected to each contribute a chapter and empower a much-needed discourse, filling the gap in the literature. Each chapter carefully curates its content to offer the experienced and novice reader an understanding of the background, existing literature, or applications, followed by new approaches, experimentations, and views. There are theoretical studies, experiences, contemplations, case studies, and practical applications.

As a collective volume, the handbook offers a truly multipolar and balanced overview of fashion marketing, covering a field of opportunities and tensions across global markets, generation studies, culture and subculture, luxury, ultrafast fashion, celebrity marketing, digital progress, ownership, law, and many more. The handbook is divided into four curated sections that broadly cover fashion marketing from the angles of sociology, diversity and inclusion, luxury studies, and digital technologies.

"A small business is not a little big business."

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered the engines of worldwide economies and the main sources of job creation. Management in these companies is different from management in larger/older enterprises with their already established concepts and instruments. In view of the high importance of SMEs in emerging, developing and developed economies worldwide, the De Gruyter Handbook of SME Entrepreneurship investigates the underlying mechanisms and practices of management within these companies with a focus on entrepreneurship, growth and innovation.

It argues that it is time for a dedicated theory of "SME Entrepreneurship" to emerge. Entrepreneurial thinking and behavior in SMEs must be differentiated from that of start-ups and large companies. On the other hand, it also explores the different entrepreneurship manifestations that exist within a widely heterogeneous group of SMEs.

The handbook provides a theoretical framework in which to understand, compare and contrast the complexity of SMEs in both domestic and international processes and addresses the strengths, achievements, and challenges of entrepreneurship in SMEs.