Social and Environmental Considerations within the IT Sector: Evidence from Romanian Start-Ups

• Main Authors: Irina-Eugenia Iamandi, Laura Gabriela Constantin, Bogdan Cernat-Gruici
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editura ASE Bucuresti 2016-12-01
• Series: Romanian Economic Journal
• Subjects: Romanian start-ups; entrepreneurship; sustainability; social and environmental concerns; IT&C sector; online business
• Online Access: http://www.rejournal.eu/article/social-and-environmental-considerations-within-it-sector-evidence-romanian-start-ups

The research purpose of the present paper is to investigate the nature and depth of integrating social and environmental requirements into daily economic activities of Romanian start-ups from technology and Internet-related business sectors. As such, more than 150 already launched start-ups in Romania were analysed according to their economic, social and environmental scopes, on a scale quantifying their involvement degree. The results emphasize that, although economically-driven in most of the cases, the technology and Internet-related start-ups in Romania are increasingly considering the social and environmental concerns. This finding refers to the strategic inclusion of the sustainability requirements in their object of activity and inner core of their business, and not to mere corporate social responsibility (CSR) pursuits. The conclusion emphasizes a new business pattern implemented by Romanian start-ups in the technology, information and Internet-related domains, where economic, social and environmental requirements are considered together when the corporate business strategy is formulated on the long run.