The Impact of Entrepreneurial Sustainable Universities in Regional Development

Introduction

The concepts of entrepreneurship and sustainability have been studied mostly in the field of management lately due to the increasing interest in these terms in business life. In order to compete with rivals and survive in business life, organizations have to be innovative and sustainable by having entrepreneurial skills. Every organization including non-profit ones has to own entrepreneurial skills and learn how to be sustainable. As being one of non-profit organization, universities also have to improve their entrepreneurial skills to sustain their existence. Also, universities have a vital role in regional development, which enhances the importance of their level of entrepreneurship and sustainability. Entrepreneurship and sustainability have taken great attention of scholars. Since entrepreneurship and sustainability are related with each other, both concepts should be taken into account together. In order for an organization to be entrepreneurial, it should firstly be able to be sustainable. Without being sustainable, none of the organizations will be able to manage their survival. At the same, in order for an organization to be sustainable, it should also be an entrepreneur and innovative. So, both terms go together along. As it is known, one of the aims of organizations is sustainability, besides being profitable and increasing sales. Whether an organization is a non-profit or profit organization, any organization should be able to sustain their existence. Even non-profit organizations such as foundations, associations, schools and universities should be sustainable in order to maintain their existence. Sustainability is also crucial for the empowerment of organizations and for improvement of their level of entrepreneurship and innovativeness. Both entrepreneurship and sustainability are also related with ethics and corporate social responsibility. For an organization to be entrepreneurial and sustainable it also should take ethical and legal rules, norms into consideration. As being one of the important actors of regional development, universities, especially, entrepreneurial sustainable universities should be considered to see the impact of entrepreneurship on regional development. As being non-profit organizations, universities should also be able to manage sustainability and be entrepreneurial. Universities are important for societal and regional development. Since they have critical influence on society, their level of entrepreneurship, sustainability and development should be well-handled. Universities are responsible for educating and training people. They raise students who will be able to cope with the toughness of life. They render education which will increase students’ knowledge, skills and awareness. Since the chapter focuses on higher education, it will deal with entrepreneurial sustainable universities. Throughout the literature there are various studies on entrepreneurial universities and sustainable universities. Scholars have mostly studied these concepts separately. There are few studies considering entrepreneurial sustainable universities. The chapter will contribute to the literature by filling this gap as well.