scholarly journals Sustainable Business Models – What Do Management Theories Say?

Author(s):  
Gyula Zilahy

Literature describing the notion and practice of business models has grown considerably over the last few years. Innovative business models appear in every sector of the economy challenging traditional ways of creating and capturing value. However, research describing the theoretical foundations of the field is scarce and many questions still remain. This article examines business models promoting various aspects of sustainable development and tests the explanatory power of two theoretical approaches, namely the resource based view of the firm and transaction cost theory regarding their emergence and successful market performance. Through the examples of industrial ecology and the sharing economy the author shows that a sharp reduction of transaction costs (e.g. in the form of internet based systems) coupled with resources widely available but not utilised before may result in fast growing new markets. This research also provides evidence regarding the notion that these two theoretical approaches can complement each other in explaining corporate behaviour.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Ruihui Pu ◽  
Xiang Li ◽  
Pujiayi Chen

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.


2019 ◽  
pp. 907-924
Author(s):  
Nina Tura ◽  
Aino Kuitunen ◽  
Lauri Lättilä ◽  
Samuli Kortelainen

The demand for more sustainable business models is increasing the need for current businesses to develop their business processes and value creation mechanisms. One way to improve sustainability is sharing resources and services in a new sharing economy paradigm. This chapter builds a conceptual model for taxi ridesharing to describe the value potential that is born by increasing the efficiency of taxi businesses. First, a framework for multisided markets is built to understand the different value elements of taxi ridesharing. Then, a conceptual mathematical model is introduced to understand the value symmetries including the cost saving potential and allocation from the perspectives of the customer and the supplier. The model shows that it is possible to have a system that creates value for both the taxi driver and the passenger, while simultaneously leading to significant reduction in CO2 emissions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
João J. Ferreira ◽  
Cristina I. Fernandes ◽  
Pedro M. Veiga ◽  
Mathew Hughes

PurposeThis study aims to map scientific publications, intellectual structure and research trends in the sustainable business model (SBM) field. Specifically, it attempts to (1) identify the fundamental contributions of research in this area of knowledge; and (2) determine the research lines that constitute the most prominent intellectual structure. We leverage these insights to formulate and propose a future research agenda for SBM.Design/methodology/approachThe authors made recourse to the bibliometric, co-citation and cluster analysis techniques. To evaluate potential patterns among articles, we analysed how articles are jointly cited. We further applied hierarchical cluster analysis to the articles and used co-citation analysis to group the interrelated articles into distinct sets.FindingsThe results enable the identification and classification of the prevailing theoretical foci in the domain of SBM: (1) SBM implementation; (2) SBM challenges; (3) institutional SBM; (4) circular SBM; and (5) emerging SBM.Originality/valueThis study identifies, explores, analyses and summarises the main theoretical approaches and themes surrounding SBM research to date, contributing to deepening the literature by identifying the priority areas concerning sustainable business models and encouraging future research of an internationally excellent standard.


Author(s):  
Marek Jabłoński

Archetypes of sustainable business models can be used to the elaboration of archetypes of business models that combine the assumptions of sharing economy and circular economy as part of their categorization. The chapter presents the assumptions of conceptualization and operationalization of potential model solutions in the field of using archetypes of sustainable business models in the design of circular business models in digital economy. The chapter has an epistemological character described in ontological, epistemological, and methodological categories, but also with the use of an axiological sense. The aim of the chapter is to develop and indicate the principles of designing business models based on the concepts of sharing economy and circular economy using archetypes of sustainable business models in range of digital environment of business.


Author(s):  
Teck Ming Tan ◽  
Jari Salo

AbstractSince the introduction of Ethereum in 2015, blockchain technology (BT) has been evolving, and BT has been associated with the concept of the sharing economy by business academics. Despite the marketing research on the sharing economy that has been extensively conducted in the last decade, the linkage between BT and ethical marketing in the sharing economy remains unclear. Through a systematic literature review of 163 articles and a co-citation analysis, this study identifies the key elements of blockchain capabilities, blockchain attributes, and the underlying economic theories of blockchain. It also synthesizes and proposes a shift of ethical marketing logic in the blockchain-based sharing economy that delineates the principles of stakeholder capitalism. The article concludes with a list of future research directions that underline three approaches of stakeholder theory (i.e., the descriptive, instrument, and normative approaches). These directions aim to guide marketing scholars concerning how BT enables an institutionally embedded view of ethical marketing activities and practices that enhance collaborative marketing and subsequently innovate value chains and create sustainable business models in the sharing economy, as well as to the metaverse.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10237
Author(s):  
Grazia Dicuonzo ◽  
Graziana Galeone ◽  
Simona Ranaldo ◽  
Mario Turco

Environmental pollution has become one of the most pressing preoccupations for governments, policymakers, and consumers. For this reason, many companies make constant efforts to comply with international laws and standards on ethics, social responsibility, and environmental protection. Fashion companies are among the main producers of pollution because their manufacturing processes result in highly negative outcomes for the environment. In recent years, numerous fashion industries have been transforming their production policies to be sustainable, while others are already born as sustainable businesses. Based on Resource-Based View (RBV) theory and Natural Resource-Based View theory (NRBV), this paper aims at understanding how internal and external factors stimulate born-sustainable businesses operating in the fashion sector, adopting a multiple case study methodology. Our analysis shows that culture, entrepreneurial orientation of the founders, and the proximity of the suppliers among the internal factors, combined with the increase of green consumers as an external factor, foster the creation of green businesses. At the same time, neither current legislation nor the dynamism and competitiveness of markets have influenced the choice of the companies’ founders to start a business based on green production logic. These results reveal the centrality of the founders’ sensitivity toward green strategies to create a sustainable business. The findings have practical implications because they could support regulatory institutions to introduce some incentives that more clearly encourages companies that choose to adopt sustainable business models from the founding, by acting to the internal and external key factors that drive born-sustainable businesses. This study also provides an extension of the existing literature on sustainable born companies, offering researchers useful information on internal and internal factors that promote the adoption of green policies in the fashion industry.


Author(s):  
Nina Tura ◽  
Aino Kuitunen ◽  
Lauri Lättilä ◽  
Samuli Kortelainen

The demand for more sustainable business models is increasing the need for current businesses to develop their business processes and value creation mechanisms. One way to improve sustainability is sharing resources and services in a new sharing economy paradigm. This chapter builds a conceptual model for taxi ridesharing to describe the value potential that is born by increasing the efficiency of taxi businesses. First, a framework for multisided markets is built to understand the different value elements of taxi ridesharing. Then, a conceptual mathematical model is introduced to understand the value symmetries including the cost saving potential and allocation from the perspectives of the customer and the supplier. The model shows that it is possible to have a system that creates value for both the taxi driver and the passenger, while simultaneously leading to significant reduction in CO2 emissions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1010
Author(s):  
Antonio Marín-García ◽  
Irene Gil-Saura ◽  
María Eugenia Ruiz-Molina ◽  
Gloria Berenguer-Contrí

Currently, sustainability emerges as a key element on which the development of competitive advantages for businesses is based. In the dynamic and turbulent environment in which retail companies operate, sustainable practices are posited as an opportunity for their progress and survival. Through this article, it is intended to advance the nature and dimensions of this construct and examine its influence on store equity and consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, this work analyses the moderating effect of gender on these variables and the mediating nature of brand equity in the development of consumer satisfaction. All this is developed through a quantitative study carried out on a sample of 510 consumers of different food retail commercial formats (hypermarkets, supermarkets, and discount stores) in Spain. The technique used for data analysis is partial least squares (PLS) regression. The results show the importance of sustainability and brand equity in the development of consumer satisfaction in the retail sector, with the intensity of its effects being a gender issue. On the other hand, brand equity is positioned as a key element thanks to its mediating effect between sustainability and satisfaction. All of this points to the need to move towards more sustainable business models.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shital Jhunjhunwala

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance and means of making corporate social responsibility (CSR) an integral part of corporate strategy with the help of case studies. Design/methodology/approach – The article explores the transformation of business from being egocentric to socially responsible. With the use of examples it demonstrates how integrating CSR into strategy can create sustainable business models. Findings – Firms need to develop a framework for integrating CSR into their business strategy for long term successful survival. Social implications – Corporates and society are intertwined and mutually dependent. Business cannot survive without society's acquiescence nor succeed without its active support. Originality/value – The article explains the benefits of CSR and how to make it an integral part of business strategy to gain a competitive advantage.


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