Industry 4.0 and sustainable development: A systematic mapping of triple bottom line, Circular Economy and Sustainable Business Models perspectives

To achieve sustainability, organizations need to mutate their entire business logic and strive to balance the so-called triple bottom line, which is economic, environmental, and social values. Sustainable business models (SBMs) combine a triple bottom line approach and take into consideration a wide range of stakeholder interests, including environment and society. However, integrating sustainability into organizations' business functions proved to be a challenging process for practitioners. Sustainable business model archetypes were introduced to depict groupings of mechanisms and solutions that may accelerate building up SBMs, which assisted in developing a common language that can be used to expedite the development of SBMs in research and practice. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the literature and analyze the practices, strategies, and challenges faced by businesses from different industrial sectors that introduced sustainability to their business models.

Download Full-text

Sustainable Business Models of SMEs: Challenges in Yacht Tourism Sector

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10103437 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 3437 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Cinzia Battistella ◽

Maria Cagnina ◽

Lucia Cicero ◽

Nadia Preghenella

Keyword(s):

Business Model ◽

Business Models ◽

Service Industry ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Case Study Research ◽

Tourism Industry ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Bottom Line ◽

Sustainable Business Models ◽

Sustainability Challenges

Despite the high number of active small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in all sectors, current studies have barely developed investigations on the sustainability of their business models so far. The aim of this study was thus to bridge the gap between sustainable business models of SMEs in the service industry, to uncover the challenges that SMEs face when seeking business model reconfiguration toward sustainability. More specifically, the empirical investigation adopted a case study research design in the context of yacht tourism, as one business form among many within the tourism industry and thus within the broader category of the service industry. Interviews were conducted with seven European SMEs, whose business models were analyzed through the lens of the triple bottom line and sustainability challenges in their business models. The results display a varied typology of case studies, where business model components reveal diverse expressions of facing sustainability challenges. The work discusses reported findings with a cross-case comparison among detected business models and outlines a list of propositions for sustainable business models of SMEs. The paper contributes in continuing the discourse on sustainable business models, adopting the perspective of the challenges for SMEs and offers food for thought for managers of SMEs in comparing their own business with the identified business model types.

Download Full-text

Sustainable Technologies Supported by Project-Based Learning in the Education of Engineers: A Case Study from Poland

Energies ◽

10.3390/en15010278 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 278

Author(s):

Marzena Podgórska ◽

Iwona Zdonek

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Business Models ◽

Well Being ◽

Good Health ◽

Business Environment ◽

Project Based Learning ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Sustainable Technologies ◽

Sustainable Business Models ◽

Visualization Techniques

The aim of the article is to examine technological innovations developed by engineers as part of Project-Based Learning at one of the Polish technical universities. We examined whether the innovations being developed meet the goals of sustainable development and whether they provide the basis for the introduction of sustainable business models. We analyzed reports from 49 projects implemented in the years 2018–2020 in which 146 scientists, 282 students of the Silesian University of Technology, and 126 experts from the university’s business environment were involved. We performed the analysis using content analysis and visualization techniques. The results show that the studied innovations implement the goals of sustainable development and most of them may become the basis of sustainable business models. The most frequently pursued goals are Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure and Good Health and Well-Being. Most of the studied innovations can become the basis of the archetype of a sustainable business model called “maximize material and energy efficacy”. We also provide the characteristics of projects that implement the diagnosed goals of sustainable development.

Download Full-text

Sustainable development and sharing economy: A bibliometric analysis

Problems and Perspectives in Management ◽

10.21511/ppm.19(4).2021.01 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Ruihui Pu ◽

Xiang Li ◽

Pujiayi Chen

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Smart Grids ◽

Business Models ◽

Sustainable Consumption ◽

Sharing Economy ◽

Research Trend ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Academic Communities ◽

Sustainable Business Models

Sustainability promotes a feasible strategy to achieve a continuous development of the economy, society, and environment. This study aims to analyze the growing efforts on researches made by academic communities in exploring the sharing economy as a potential approach to promote sustainable development. A bibliometric approach with VOSviewer and COOC analysis was applied. A total number of 975 published articles were analyzed in this study. As a result, it was found that few studies have shed light on collaborative and sustainable consumption, climate change, and bioeconomy in the sharing economy by country, such as renewable resources and business models, circular economy in China, and life cycle assessment, particularly taking evidence from the urban mobility services in China. It was also revealed that there is a new indiscipline research trend in the field of sustainable development such as sustainable business models, game theory, blue economy, peer-to-peer accommodation, smart grids, and electric vehicles. Other trend concentrates on technological advancements and policies to promote sustainable development in the sharing economy.

Download Full-text

Sustainable Business Model Innovation

Collective Creativity for Responsible and Sustainable Business Practice - Advances in Business Strategy and Competitive Advantage ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-1823-5.ch008 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 140-159 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Job Taminiau ◽

Joseph Nyangon ◽

Ariella Shez Lewis ◽

John Byrne

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Business Model ◽

Business Models ◽

Sustainable Energy ◽

Business Model Innovation ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Sustainable Business Models ◽

Development Goals

Establishing a sustainable energy future can justifiably be considered the next frontier in global sustainable development under the agenda laid out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The newly adopted Paris Agreement which seeks to hold global average temperature increase to “well below 2°C” above pre-industrial levels inserts additional urgency into this agenda. To realize the commitments outlined in the agreement, implementation of innovative sustainable business models capable of producing strong mitigation and adaptation outcomes is required ‘on the ground' and needs to be available for subsequent diffusion across different countries, contexts and domains. This chapter explores the value of polycentric climate change governance through an investigation of sustainable business model innovation. An example of a sustainable business model, called the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU), is evaluated and an assessment of United Nations-based programming to aid future diffusion of such business models is conducted.

Download Full-text

Promoting Entrepreneurship for Development

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198795650.003.0014 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Fiorina Mugione ◽

Fulvia Farinelli

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Business Models ◽

Policy Framework ◽

Entrepreneurship Policy ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Socially Disadvantaged ◽

Sustainable Business Models ◽

Development Goals ◽

Policy Measures

Recognizing the role of entrepreneurship as a catalyst for development and a means to address sustainable development challenges, this chapter illustrates UNCTAD’s approach to promoting entrepreneurship from a policy perspective. It draws lessons from the implementation of UNCTAD’s Entrepreneurship Policy Framework (EPF) and reiterates the need for holistic entrepreneurship policies according to the six priority areas identified by the EPF. It also highlights how policymakers can create an enabling entrepreneurial environment which also takes into account inclusive and sustainable business models, thereby expanding opportunities for all and addressing the needs of socially disadvantaged groups. For aspiring entrepreneurs from such groups, who tend to have lower levels of entrepreneurship skills and greater difficulty in navigating the business and regulatory environment, governments need to tailor policy measures to help them manage and grow their businesses. In this way, entrepreneurship policies can contribute to the achievement of the UNGA’s 2015 sustainable development goals.

Download Full-text

Impact Assessment of Additive Manufacturing on Sustainable Business Models in Industry 4.0 Context

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12177066 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (17) ◽

pp. 7066 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Radu Godina ◽

Inês Ribeiro ◽

Florinda Matos ◽

Bruna T. Ferreira ◽

Helena Carvalho ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Additive Manufacturing ◽

Industry 4.0 ◽

Manufacturing Systems ◽

Business Models ◽

Industrial Revolution ◽

New Technologies ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Core Element ◽

Sustainable Business Models

Additive manufacturing has the potential to make a longstanding impact on the manufacturing world and is a core element of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Additive manufacturing signifies a new disruptive path on how we will produce parts and products. Several studies suggest this technology could foster sustainability into manufacturing systems based on its potential of optimizing material consumption, creating new shapes, customizing designs and shortening production times that, all combined, will greatly transform some of the existing business models. Although it requires reaching a certain level of design maturity to completely insert this technology in an industrial setting, additive manufacturing has the potential to favorably impact the manufacturing sector by reducing costs in production, logistics, inventories, and in the development and industrialization of a new product. The transformation of the industry and the acceleration of the adopting rate of new technologies is driving organizational strategy. Thus, through the lenses of Industry 4.0 and its technological concepts, this paper aims to contribute to the knowledge about the impacts of additive manufacturing technology on sustainable business models. This aim is accomplished through a proposed framework, as well as the models and scales that can be used to determine these impacts. The effects are assessed by taking into account the social, environmental and economic impacts of additive manufacturing on business models and for all these three dimensions a balanced scorecard structure is proposed.

Download Full-text