IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v34y2025i3p3796-3826.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Framing Entrepreneurial Ideas for Sustainability: How Do Purpose‐Driven Startups Include the Sustainable Development Goals in Their Pitches?

Author

Listed:
  • Ulla A. Saari
  • Annabeth Aagaard
  • Leona Achtenhagen
  • Saku J. Mäkinen

Abstract

This paper investigates how entrepreneurs frame the sustainability of their business ventures when pitching their business prospects and sustainability approaches to investors. Drawing on framing theory, this research explores the classification and application of sustainability‐related frames employed in business pitches. A qualitative multiple case study methodology is applied to collect and analyze data from startup pitches presented at the startup event Slush, which is held annually in Finland. The sample consists of active startups and those that did not survive following the pitching event. The Need–Approach–Benefit–Competition (NABC) pitching model and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals serve as frameworks for systematically analyzing the content of the verbal pitch presentations. We disentangle how entrepreneurs formulate business ideas within frames related to sustainability themes on the micro, meso, and macro levels using cognitive, strategic, technological, and institutional frames. The resulting model distinguishes between different combinations of sustainability framing elements applied in startup pitches.

Suggested Citation

  • Ulla A. Saari & Annabeth Aagaard & Leona Achtenhagen & Saku J. Mäkinen, 2025. "Framing Entrepreneurial Ideas for Sustainability: How Do Purpose‐Driven Startups Include the Sustainable Development Goals in Their Pitches?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 3796-3826, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:34:y:2025:i:3:p:3796-3826
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.4164
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.4164
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.4164?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:34:y:2025:i:3:p:3796-3826. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.