Prelims

Half Title Page

Attaining the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of No Poverty

Series Title Page

Family Businesses on a Mission

Series Editor:

Naomi Birdthistle

The Family Businesses on a Mission series examines how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) can be applied in family businesses around the world, providing insights into cultural and societal differences and displaying innovative approaches to complex environmental and societal issues.

Title Page

Attaining the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of No Poverty

Edited by

Naomi Birdthistle

Griffith University, Australia

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL

First edition 2025

Editorial matter and selection © 2025 Naomi Birdthistle.

Individual chapters © 2025 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83608-573-7 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83608-570-6 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83608-572-0 (Epub)

List of Figures and Tables

About the Editor

Professor Naomi Birdthistle has entrepreneurship and family business running through her veins. She tried to work in her family business when she was four but was told she was too small. She came back year after year asking to work, and eventually her grandmother capitulated and left her work in the family business when she was seven. After years of working in the family business part-time and having completed her studies at Stirling University, Babson College, Harvard University, and the University of Limerick, Naomi established her own consulting business, consulting family businesses in her hometown. She is now a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation at Griffith University, teaching future family business leaders and researching family business issues as well. Naomi is an award-winning academic having received numerous awards for her teaching and her research.

About the Contributors

Bettina Lynda Bastian is a Full Professor in Management at the American University in Bulgaria. Her research focuses on the intersections of gender, culture, governance, policy and organisation associated with entrepreneurship and innovation. Her research is internationally recognised for translating social science into work policies and practices that promote entrepreneurship and sustainable business, especially women's professional development and capacity building. She has been working in diverse senior university roles such as Dean of the College of Business and Law at the Royal University for Women in Bahrain and Head of Academic Programs in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon (USEK). Prof Bastian also serves as Joint Editor in Chief for Gender, Work and Organization (GWO).

Allan Discua Cruz is the Director of the Centre for Family Business and a member of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business and at Lancaster University Management School (United Kingdom). His current research interests relate to entrepreneurship by families in business. He has published in journals such as Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, Journal of Family Business Management and International Small Business Journal, among others. He is currently co-editing a special issue on entrepreneurship and poverty in the Entrepreneurship and Regional Development Journal. He has published three cases in this series related to SDG#8, SDG#11 and SDG#13.

Jacinta Dsilva is a Research Director at SEE Institute, a hub for sustainability research, education and innovation in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In her current role, she spearheads the research department and focuses on areas such as sustainability, behavioural studies and circular economy in the built environment sector. She completed her PhD from Coventry University, UK, and holds two Master's degrees in Consumer Behaviour and Human Resources Management. She is the author of several books such as ‘Business Communication’ and ‘Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic’ and ‘SDG-5: Gender Equality & Female Empowerment Policy for Sustainable Development’. She has several research publications under her belt both in marketing and sustainability. Another area of interest is researching on family-run businesses that have developed a sustainable model of operations that has positively impacted the society at large. These research studies highlight that businesses successfully balance growth and social responsibility, serving as models for sustainable entrepreneurship.

Antoinette Flynn is an Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick. With over two decades of experience, she specialises in financial accounting, entrepreneurial finance, and women and minority entrepreneurship. Her prolific research portfolio includes national and international collaborations, focusing on advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr Flynn's work on executive compensation and sustainable business practices intersects with corporate sustainability (SDG#12) and economic growth (SDG#8). Her research on gender equality in the accounting profession contributes to SDG#5, while her studies on carbon performance and financial performance explore the relationship between environmental sustainability (SDG#13) and financial outcomes. Dr Flynn has received multiple teaching awards and nominations, reflecting her innovative pedagogical approaches. She has also held academic leadership roles, including Assistant Dean, Academic Affairs, demonstrating her expertise in curriculum development and academic governance.

Brian Gregory is the Director of the Lancaster Entrepreneurs in Residence Programme, a member of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business and the Centre for Family Business at the Lancaster University Management School (United Kingdom). His research interest lies in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial fear, networks and the recognition and management of emotions within entrepreneurship. As a practitioner, he has created and divested businesses previously and holds several non-executive roles with organisations around the United Kingdom; he blends this wealth of experience with his work at Lancaster University.

Rob Hales is the Discipline Leader for Sustainable Business and Management in the Department of Business Strategy and Innovation. His research interests focus on the governance issues around the grand challenges of our time. Furthermore, his research focuses on SDGs in business and government, a business case for climate change, climate change policy, carbon management, sustainable tourism and working with First Peoples on consent processes and climate change. He was the first programme director of Griffith University's Master of Global Development. He teaches in the Department of Business Strategy and Innovation and has convened Master’s level courses such as Leadership for Sustainable Business, Research Methods for Policy Makers and Sustainability and Systems Thinking. He supervises PhD students in the areas of collaborative governance, sustainability transitions and climate change.

Aditi Mishra is an Assistant Professor at Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune. With a PhD in Economics, she has been in academia since 2013. She has a strong research background in the intersection of E-governance, Gender and Education. She has presented research papers in several national and international conferences and has published in prestigious journals.

Sylvia B. Mwansa is the Founder and CEO of SBM Investments Limited, specialising in fashion, training and consulting. A passionate speaker on mindset change and personal motivation, she authored ‘Mindset Change is Possible’ and developed the ‘My Process to Mindset Change® Program’. Known for her organisational skills and communication abilities, she serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Lancaster University, UK, and an Executive Consul member for the Great Lakes Region Private Sector Forum. Dr Mwansa contributes to society through charity work with Ladies Circle International and Agora Club Zambia, mentoring young entrepreneurs and supporting women and youth. Her research on foreign exchange fluctuations and SME growth in Zambia reflects her problem-solving drive. She advocates for Sickle Cell Disease and Childhood Cancer awareness and founded the Sustainable Business Mentorship Foundation to support start-ups, retirement and career changes.

Poh Yen Ng is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University. She holds a PhD in Management from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and is currently a Senior Fellow of Advance HE in the United Kingdom. Poh Yen grew up in a family business and ran an education franchise with her husband in Malaysia in the 2000s. She then ventured into academia to pass on her business experiences to university students. This later motivated her to develop a research passion for entrepreneurship, particularly the family business. Her research outputs cover many areas within the entrepreneurship and family business discipline, including the influence of socioemotional wealth in the family business, the empowerment process and social network dynamics of women entrepreneurs and the environmental practices of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Niharika Singh is an Assistant Professor at Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune. With a doctorate in Labour Economics, she has been in academia since 2009. She has taught at colleges in Jaipur and Bangalore earlier. Her major work areas are labour, gender and development economics. She has presented research papers at several national and international conferences and has publications in some reputed journals.

Bronwyn Wood is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the College of Business and Economics, United Arab Emirates (UAE) University, the national university of the UAE. She received her degrees all in Marketing from the Universities of Otago and Victoria (Wellington) in her native New Zealand. Coming to academia full-time in 2013, she has worked across the Gulf, in Saudi Arabia, Oman and now, the UAE. In addition, she has held academic posts in New Zealand and lived in Japan for several years. Dr Wood is on the editorial boards of all the leading Islamic marketing journals and is a Joint Editor in Chief for Gender, Work and Organization. She has published in tourism, Islamic marketing, cultural methodologies (Māori and Islamic), education and (women's) entrepreneurship. Outside her academic work, she runs a Muslim Market business consultancy, www.MuslimMarketingMatters.com, which focuses on doing business with Muslim consumers/markets wherever they are in the world.

Foreword

Prof. Walter Leal Filho (PhD, DSc, DPhil, DTech, DEd)

Chair, Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 provide a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

They also entail elements of importance towards a strategic business engagement with sustainability issues. These offer a framework which provides businesses with a systematic approach to identify new business opportunities while contributing to the solution of the grand sustainability challenges facing the world today, including climate change. Each SDG, if achieved, will have a direct and significant positive impact on millions of people's lives around the world and the environment in which they live. Businesses have an opportunity to widen the purpose of business through adopting the SDGs as targets for their operations. Thus, they can make a meaningful contribution to the greater good through achieving their operational objectives.

Family businesses are uniquely placed to contribute to SDGs for many reasons. Firstly, because family business models have longer time perspectives, and this allows the family business to link with the longer term SDG time frame – 2030. Second, family businesses often focus on aspects of business operation which do not have an immediate return on investment such as relationship building with stakeholder groups. Thirdly, family businesses tend to rate the importance of ethics higher than standard businesses and thus align well with the social dimensions of the SDGs. Lastly, family businesses have intergenerational perspectives which is a core principle of sustainability.

This book provides insights into how family business operationalises SDG#1: No Poverty. The book uses a rigorous case study approach for family businesses to detail aspects of their business which help to overcome poverty. The cases provided here are living proof that family businesses that operate for the greater good actually work! Non-family businesses can take a leaf out of the family businesses portrayed in this book as they can provide different perspectives on how businesses can successfully align SDGs and business strategy.

Despite many businesses having adopted environmental social governance strategies and environmental management systems, the effect of this activity has not been reflected in a healthier planet. Many ‘state of the environment’ reports indicate that planetary health is decreasing, and planetary boundaries are being crossed or are about to be crossed. While the cause of this decline is not entirely the fault of business, there still needs to be a greater effort to address the decline. The challenge for family businesses is to use their unique characteristics and set ambitious programmes of work that make a meaningful contribution to achieving global goals. This book provides insights into how family businesses can achieve such a mission and how non-family businesses can be inspired to do the same.

Acknowledgements

The Editor would like to thank the contributors of the book for providing insights and sharing learnings from their business practice. We acknowledge that writing up cases in the format required considerable time and effort. The quality of the cases presented is testament to their efforts.

The Editor would also like to thank Emerald Publishing for supporting the publication of this book and the mission for deeper sustainability through utilising the SDGs.

Associate Professor Antoinette Flynn, author of Chapter 3, wishes to sincerely thank Tom Watson and Geraldine O'Connor for their valued contribution and input to this chapter.

Dr Mishra and Dr Singh, authors of Chapter 6, have stated that their chapter would not have been possible without the contributions of the staff at ‘Naani's Litti Chokha’. They extend their sincere appreciation to Mr Abhishek Kumar, the business owner, for his invaluable support and willingness to provide the detailed information necessary to refine this chapter.

Dr Jacinta Dsilva, the author of Chapter 7, would like to take this opportunity to express her heartfelt gratitude to Ayesha Khan for generously sharing her valuable time for the interview and giving her valuable information to complete this case. Dr Dsilva would also like to sincerely thank Lydia Cherian for her unwavering support as a research assistant, which greatly contributed to the success of this case. Thank you both for your invaluable contributions.