Sustainable Business Models: A Review

During the past two decades of e-commerce growth, the concept of a business model has become increasingly popular. More recently, the research on this realm has grown rapidly, with diverse research activity covering a wide range of application areas. Considering the sustainable development goals, the innovative business models have brought a competitive advantage to improve the sustainability performance of organizations. The concept of the sustainable business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural, or other contexts, in a sustainable way. The process of sustainable business model construction forms an innovative part of a business strategy. Different industries and businesses have utilized sustainable business models’ concept to satisfy their economic, environmental, and social goals simultaneously. However, the success, popularity, and progress of sustainable business models in different application domains are not clear. To explore this issue, this research provides a comprehensive review of sustainable business models literature in various application areas. Notable sustainable business models are identified and further classified in fourteen unique categories, and in every category, the progress -either failure or success- has been reviewed, and the research gaps are discussed. Taxonomy of the applications includes innovation, management and marketing, entrepreneurship, energy, fashion, healthcare, agri-food, supply chain management, circular economy, developing countries, engineering, construction and real estate, mobility and transportation, and hospitality. The key contribution of this study is that it provides an insight into the state of the art of sustainable business models in various application areas and future research directions. This paper concludes that popularity and the success rate of sustainable business models in all application domains have been increased along with the increasing use of advanced technologies.

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Sustainable Business Models: A Review

10.31219/osf.io/ts54m ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Saeed Nosratabadi ◽

Amir Mosavi ◽

Shahaboddin Shamshirband ◽

Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas ◽

Andry Rakotonirainy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Business Model ◽

Business Strategy ◽

Business Models ◽

Innovation Management ◽

Future Research ◽

Research Activity ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Wide Range ◽

Sustainable Business Models

During the past two decades of e-commerce growth, the concept of a business model has become increasingly popular. More recently, the research on this realm has grown rapidly, with diverse research activity covering a wide range of application areas. Considering the sustainable development goals, the innovative business models have brought a competitive advantage to improve the sustainability performance of organizations. The concept of the sustainable business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural, or other contexts, in a sustainable way. The process of sustainable business model construction forms an innovative part of a business strategy. Different industries and businesses have utilized sustainable business models’ concept to satisfy their economic, environmental, and social goals simultaneously. However, the success, popularity, and progress of sustainable business models in different application domains are not clear. To explore this issue, this research provides a comprehensive review of sustainable business models literature in various application areas. Notable sustainable business models are identified and further classified in fourteen unique categories, and in every category, the progress -either failure or success- has been reviewed, and the research gaps are discussed. Taxonomy of the applications includes innovation, management and marketing, entrepreneurship, energy, fashion, healthcare, agri-food, supply chain management, circular economy, developing countries, engineering, construction and real estate, mobility and transportation, and hospitality. The key contribution of this study is that it provides an insight into the state of the art of sustainable business models in various application areas and future research directions. This paper concludes that popularity and the success rate of sustainable business models in all application domains have been increased along with the increasing use of advanced technologies.

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Sustainable Business Models: A Review

10.31219/osf.io/u4xw3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Saeed Nosratabadi ◽

Amir Mosavi ◽

Shahaboddin Shamshirband ◽

Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas ◽

Andry Rakotonirainy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Business Model ◽

Business Strategy ◽

Business Models ◽

Innovation Management ◽

Future Research ◽

Research Activity ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Wide Range ◽

Sustainable Business Models

During the past two decades of e-commerce growth, the concept of a business model has become increasingly popular. More recently, the research on this realm has grown rapidly, with diverse research activity covering a wide range of application areas. Considering the sustainable development goals, the innovative business models have brought a competitive advantage to improve the sustainability performance of organizations. The concept of the sustainable business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural, or other contexts, in a sustainable way. The process of sustainable business model construction forms an innovative part of a business strategy. Different industries and businesses have utilized sustainable business models’ concept to satisfy their economic, environmental, and social goals simultaneously. However, the success, popularity, and progress of sustainable business models in different application domains are not clear. To explore this issue, this research provides a comprehensive review of sustainable business models literature in various application areas. Notable sustainable business models are identified and further classified in fourteen unique categories, and in every category, the progress -either failure or success- has been reviewed, and the research gaps are discussed. Taxonomy of the applications includes innovation, management and marketing, entrepreneurship, energy, fashion, healthcare, agri-food, supply chain management, circular economy, developing countries, engineering, construction and real estate, mobility and transportation, and hospitality. The key contribution of this study is that it provides an insight into the state of the art of sustainable business models in various application areas and future research directions. This paper concludes that popularity and the success rate of sustainable business models in all application domains have been increased along with the increasing use of advanced technologies.

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Sustainable Business Models: A Review

10.20944/preprints201810.0378.v2 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Saeed Nosratabadi ◽

Amir Mosavi ◽

Shahaboddin Shamshirband ◽

Ramin Keivani ◽

Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Business Model ◽

Business Strategy ◽

Business Models ◽

Innovation Management ◽

Future Research ◽

Research Activity ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Wide Range ◽

Sustainable Business Models

During the past two decades of the e-commerce growth the concept of business model has become increasingly popular. More recently, the research on this realm has grown rapidly with a diverse research activity covering a wide range of application areas. Considering the sustainable development goals the innovative business models have brought competitive advantage to improve the sustainability performance of organizations. The concept of sustainable business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural or other contexts in a sustainable way. The process of sustainable business model construction forms an innovative part of business strategy. Different industries and businesses have utilized sustainable business models concept to satisfy their economic, environmental and social goals simultaneously. However, the success, popularity, and the progress of sustainable business models in different application domains are not clear. To explore this issue, this research provides a comprehensive review on sustainable business models literature in various application areas. Notable sustainable business models are identified and further classified in fifteen unique categories, and in every category the progress (either failure or success) has been reviewed and the research gaps are discussed. Taxonomy of the applications includes, innovation, management and marketing, entrepreneurship, energy, fashion, healthcare, agri-food, supply chain management, circular economy, developing countries, engineering, construction and real estate, mobility and transportation, and hospitality. The key contribution of this study is to provide an insight about the state of the art of sustainable business models in various application areas and the future research directions. This paper concludes that popularity and the success rate of sustainable business models in all application domains have been increased along with increasing use of advanced ICT technologies.

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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.

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Sustainability-Oriented Business Model Evaluation—A Literature Review

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su131910908 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (19) ◽

pp. 10908

Author(s):

Anika Süß ◽

Kristina Höse ◽

Uwe Götze

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Business Model ◽

Model Evaluation ◽

Business Models ◽

Model Development ◽

Indicator System ◽

Future Research ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Simulation Based ◽

Sustainable Business Models

Since the need of sustainable development is indisputable, companies are forced to strive for resources, processes, and products that are sustainable. Thus, their business models as the main representation of their activities should be designed in an ecologically, economically, and socially beneficial way. However, designing and developing sustainable business models is closely linked to their evaluation. Sustainable business model evaluation as a vital part of business model development has been addressed in literature in the past with increasing frequency. As a consequence, the plethora of different approaches of sustainability-oriented business model evaluation calls for a systematic literature review. Thus, in this study, we reviewed existing articles on sustainability-oriented business model evaluation and identified four main categories of evaluation methods: single indicators (I), indicator system/framework (II), simulation-based evaluation (III), and multi criteria decision-making (IV). By analyzing and structuring the proposed approaches, their benefits and limitations are revealed, pointing out gaps and future research needs for successfully designing and evaluating business models today and in the future.

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Track 4.f Introduction: Strategic Design of Sustainable Business Models

Conference Proceedings of the Academy for Design Innovation Management ◽

10.33114/adim.2019.4f ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Brian BALDASSARRE ◽

Giulia CALABRETTA ◽

Nancy BOCKEN ◽

Jan-Carel DIEHL ◽

Duygu KESKIN

Keyword(s):

Business Model ◽

Business Models ◽

Innovation Management ◽

Business Model Innovation ◽

Research Field ◽

Future Research ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Strategic Design ◽

The Past ◽

Design For Sustainability

Concerns about the societal and environmental impact of how companies operate have generated increasing interest in more sustainable ways of doing business (Porter & Kramer, 2011). Research and practice from the past decade show that a Sustainable Business Model Innovation lens is suitable to embed sustainability into firms’ objectives and operations (Bocken et al., 2014; Schaltegger, Lüdeke-Freund, & Hansen, 2012). Consequently, Sustainable Business Model Innovation has been emerging rapidly as a research field (Lüdeke-Freund & Dembek, 2017). Recent developments in this field build upon seminal work on Design for Sustainability from the past two decades to establish a connection with Strategic Design (Baldassarre et al., 2019; Geissdoerfer et al., 2016; Manzini, 1999; Tukker, 2004). Strategic Design is a research stream that studies how to leverage the discipline of Design in the context of Strategy and Innovation Management (Calabretta et al., 2016; Karpen, Gemser, & Calabretta, 2017). More specifically, it focuses on the application of design practices, principles and methods to the formulation and implementation of innovation strategies that benefit people and organizations alike (Calabretta et al., 2016). The connection between Sustainable Business Model Innovation and Strategic Design is mainly supported by the argument that the strategic and experimental nature of design enables the integration of stakeholders’ objectives including sustainability concerns, while also providing the process dimension needed to move away from theory towards concrete practice and tangible impact (Baldassarre et al., 2017; Bocken, Schuit, & Kraaijenhagen, 2018). However, research on the role and contribution of Strategic Design to Sustainable Business Modeling is still in its infancy. Consequently, within this track of the 2019 edition of the Academy for Design Innovation Management Conference, we collected four research contributions at the intersection between Strategic Design and Sustainable Business Model Innovation. These contributions are summarized in the paragraphs below, followed by a reflection on all of them and potential directions for future research.

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Classification of Sustainable Business Models: A literature review and a map of their impact on the Sustainable Development Goals

FME Transaction ◽

10.5937/fme2104784b ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 49 (4) ◽

pp. 784-794

Author(s):

Eleonora Boffa ◽

Antonio Maffei

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Business Strategy ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Business Models ◽

Integration Process ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainable Business Models ◽

Development Goals ◽

The Impact

Sustainable Business Models (SBM) have been seen as a suitable vehicle for organizations to convey sustainability. The SBM requires a company's business strategy to be shaped around sustainability goals. These goals can be integrated into the business strategy by creating an internal commitment focused on sustainability. Enablers play a crucial role in this integration process. The 2030 Agenda issued by the United Nations set clear goals on sustainable development, i.e. the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Firms are encouraged to design SBM to fulfil these goals. Yet, an extensive investigation of the effect of the SBM applications on the SDGs is lacking. This paper is based on a semantic analysis of the relevant literature. The results show the internal enablers that support the integration process of sustainability into the organization's strategy. In addition to that, the underlying classification process highlights the clusters of applications for the SBM. These are, in turn, mapped over the SDGs to show the impact of each cluster on each SDG.

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Sustainable Business Model Innovation

Disruptive Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-9273-0.ch099 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 2122-2141

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

Sustainable Business Model: A Review

10.20944/preprints201810.0378.v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Saeed Nosratabadi ◽

Amir Mosavi

Keyword(s):

Business Model ◽

Business Strategy ◽

Business Models ◽

State Of The Art ◽

The State ◽

Social Goals ◽

Model Construction ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Sustainable Business Models ◽

Do So

A sustainable business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural or other contexts in a sustainable way. The process of sustainable business model construction forms an innovative part of business strategy. Different industries and business types have utilized sustainability business models to satisfy their economic, environmental and social goals simultaneously. This study is conducted to present the state of the art of sustainable business models in various application areas. The business models are classified and reviewed in different application groups. To do so, a review is conducted, and the findings reveal that the application of sustainability business models can be classified in 16 unique categories. The key contribution of this study is providing an insight about the state of the art of sustainable business models in various application areas and its research path.

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