Today, it has become strikingly obvious that companies no longer operate
in an environment where only risk return and volatility describe the
business environment. The business has to deal with volatility plus
uncertainty, plus complexity and ambiguity (VUCA): that requires new
qualities, competencies, frameworks; and it demands a new mind set to
deal with the VUCA environment in investment, funding and financing.
This book builds on a new megatrend beyond resilience, called
anti-fragility. We have had the black swan (financial crisis) and the
red swan (COVID) - the Bank for International Settlement is preparing
for regenerative capitalism, block chain based analysis of financial
streams and is aiming to prevent the "Green Swan" - the climate crisis
to lead to the next lockdown. In the light of the UN 17 Sustainable
Development Goals, what is required, is Theories of Change.
Written by experts working in the fields of sustainable finance, impact
investing, development finance, carbon divesting, innovation, scaling
finance, impact entrepreneurship, social stock exchanges, alternative
currencies, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), ledger technologies, civil
action, co-creation, impact management, deep learning and transformation
leadership, the book begins by analysing existing Theories of Change
frameworks from various disciplines and creating a new integrated
model - the meta-framework. In turn, it presents insights on creating
and using Theories of Change to redirect investment capital to
sustainable companies while implementing the Sustainable Development
Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Further, it discusses the
perspective of planetary boundaries as defined by the Stockholm
Resilience Institute, and investigates various aspects of systems,
organizations, entrepreneurship, investment and finance that are closely
tied to the mission ingrained in the Theory of Change. As it
demonstrates, solutions that ensure the parity of profit, people and
planet through dynamic change can effectively address the needs of
entrepreneurs and business. By exploring these concepts and their
application, the book helps create and shape new markets and
opportunities.
