Citation: Royo-Vela, M.; Cuevas Lizama, J. Creating Shared Value: Exploration in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Sustainability 2022, 14, 8505. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su14148505 Academic Editor: Fabrizio D’Ascenzo Received: 3 June 2022 Accepted: 8 July 2022 Published: 11 July 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Creating Shared Value: Exploration in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Marcelo Royo-Vela 1,2, * and Jonathan Cuevas Lizama 1,3 1 Department of Commercialization and Market Research, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain 2 Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies (CIAS), Corvinus University, 1093 Budapest, Hungary; marcelo.royovela@uni-corvinus.hu 3 Administration Department, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción 4090541, Chile; jocueli@alumni.uv.es * Correspondence: marcelo.royo@uv.es Abstract: The effects of companies on society and the practices of Corporate Social Responsibility have been the source of interest for many research studies. Questions concerning the traditional model resulted in Porter and Kramer developing the concept of Creating Shared Value, an approach where companies consider the value of society and the environment in their business models, creating value for all stakeholders. We take the issue of shared value creation in an entrepreneurial ecosystem to determine how clustered companies understand and create shared value, identifying its antecedents and consequences. Using a single case study, we were able to identify that the entrepreneurial ecosystem becomes a favourable scenario for creating shared value, because participants benefit from resources and skills that allow them to grow their businesses, boost competitiveness and innovation and contribute to the economic, social, and environmental growth of their stakeholders. Keywords: creating shared value; value co-creation; entrepreneurial ecosystem; business networks; case study; environment 1. Introduction Companies and the capitalist system are in a crisis of confidence and the way in which companies approach business strategies is being questioned [1]. This system, widely used in the world, has improved people’s living standards, but has also caused social and environmental problems [2]. Consumers, employees, investors, and the community in general have become increasingly concerned about the ethical, social, and environmental performance of companies, forcing them to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities to remain competitive [3,4]. However, criticism of the use of CSR has not ceased, as this strategy has been consid- ered a means of appeasing negative comments and problems caused [5] and is considered as a commercial strategy used by companies to improve their image and reputation [6,7]. It is for this reason that Porter and Kramer [8] developed a new concept they called “Creating Shared Value” (CSV). The Creating Shared Value concept states that companies can create social and economic value through the creation of new products, company activities and through the formation of a cluster between competitors, suppliers, and customers [8], generating greater benefits for the company and society. This concept has been widely accepted in the academic and business world, becoming one of the articles with the highest impact (2500 citations in the main WOS collection); however, it has not been exempted from academic criticism. Companies such as Nestle, Coca-Cola, H&M, and Intel already use CSV in their CSR reporting, but there is still a lack of clarity about its meaning, use, and impact. This concept has been labelled only as a buzzword, not giving it theoretical validity [9,10] and has been mentioned as a concept that cannot be separated from CSR and sustainability [11]. Clearly, CSV is an academic and business contribution, but it is still at an incipient stage. The correct application of CSV requires clarifying the concept, establishing a measure, Sustainability 2022, 14, 8505. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148505 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability