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In a nutshell
More and more student entrepreneurs are embracing sustainability with triple-bottom-line (TBL) goals, but they lack critical skills to balance profit, people, and the planet. From validating their ideas to scaling globally and communicating effectively, entrepreneurship education needs to step up to prepare these changemakers for real-world success.
It’s clear that the future will depend on businesses that balance profit, people, and the planet – not just one or two of these goals, but all three. This is a significant shift that still needs to happen, and entrepreneurship offers the perfect avenue for it. After all, it’s far easier to build sustainability into a business from the ground up than to overhaul large, established corporations. Fortunately, more and more student entrepreneurs are prioritising sustainability and social responsibility in their ventures – but how well-prepared are they to turn these ambitious ideas into viable, lasting businesses?
A recent instrumental case study by researchers James M. Crick and Dave Crick set out to answer this question. Their study focused on student entrepreneurs in Canada who were building companies with triple-bottom-line (TBL) goals – businesses aiming to balance economic, social, and environmental objectives. Unlike traditional startups that focus primarily on financial success, TBL ventures have to navigate the tension between these three goals, ensuring that none is neglected, which makes TBL ventures much more demanding than traditional startups. The study revealed several key skills that are essential for this, but unfortunately, it also found that the students often lacked these capabilities – and that entrepreneurship education isn’t yet doing enough to teach them.
First, the study found that many student entrepreneurs lacked the experience to fully validate their business models, often relying on convenience surveys or feedback from friends and family, which didn’t provide a full picture of their idea’s viability. As the researchers noted, “the sustainability aspects related to TBL took priority over the economic factors,” meaning students often focused on social and environmental benefits while neglecting the financial viability of their ventures. This imbalance in validation left many ideas underprepared for the realities of the market, because validating a TBL business model requires testing all facets – not just economic metrics like revenue streams, but also the feasibility of sustainability initiatives and their social impact.
Publication Date: 21 October 2024
Author: James M. Crick and Dave Crick
Institution: School of Business, University of Leicester, UK; Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada
Study Type: Instrumental Case Study
Sample Size: 20 student entrepreneurs with TBL goals, supplemented by 6 stakeholders (e.g., professors, investors, innovation intermediaries)
Research Focus: Examining the capability development and challenges faced by student entrepreneurs creating startups with triple-bottom-line (TBL) goals.
Research Methodology: Qualitative analysis through semi-structured interviews with student entrepreneurs and stakeholders, supplemented by limited secondary data.
Main Findings: The study found that student entrepreneurs often lacked key capabilities, such as validating their business models holistically, scaling sustainably (especially in contexts with limited domestic demand), and communicating effectively with diverse stakeholders. These gaps hinder their ability to balance the economic, social, and environmental aspects of TBL businesses, and current entrepreneurship education isn’t adequately addressing these needs.
Citation: Crick, J.M. and Crick, D. (2024), “Student entrepreneurs with triple bottom line objectives: capabilities in creating viable business models,” Education + Training, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-04-2024-0175
Second, the study highlighted challenges specific to the Canadian context, where the domestic market is relatively small. For many startups, success depends on scaling globally early on, but the students often lacked the necessary skills to do so. Without strong networking abilities, adaptability, and a readiness to pivot their strategies, these entrepreneurs struggled to prepare their ventures for international markets. This is especially important because TBL startups often face additional obstacles, in comparison to solely profitability-focused ones, when scaling, such as ensuring ethical supply chains, adhering to sustainability standards, and maintaining transparency across borders.
Third and finally, the students in the study faced significant gaps in communication skills. They often struggled to pitch their ideas clearly, persuade stakeholders to support them, and explain why their businesses mattered. This lack of clarity and confidence in their presentations left them ill-equipped to secure the buy-in and resources needed to grow their startups, which is especially crucial since TBL entrepreneurs must appeal to a lot of different stakeholders – such as socially conscious investors, environmentally focused partners, and profit-oriented customers – who often prioritise different aspects of the TBL framework.
So, while entrepreneurship education encourages sustainability and innovation, it often falls short in equipping students with the practical, multidimensional skills required to make their TBL ventures viable. If we want these future leaders to succeed in building businesses that truly balance profit, people, and the planet, entrepreneurship education must evolve to address these challenges. By teaching students how to validate their ideas rigorously, scale sustainably, and communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, we can empower the next generation of entrepreneurs to turn their bold ideas into businesses that make a meaningful, lasting impact.
