UNDERSTANDING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/JPM.2016.022Keywords
corporate sustainability, sustainable business models, criteria of sustainability in businessAbstract
Purpose: Business organizations present different approaches to the implementation of the sustainable development concept to their business models. The scale and scope of implementation of the idea may be related to the level of understanding and prioritizing the issue of sustainability in business operations. The main aim of the paper is presentation of the theoretical background of sustainable business models. Frameworks and borders of the sustainability in management will be proposed.
Approach: There are different aspects taken into consideration when analyzing the idea of business models based on sustainability from environmental responsibility to strategic orientation. Author of the paper will analyze the current literature and based on this improve main elements that describe the theoretical approach to business models including sustainability.
Implications: The paper presents conceptual assumption of sustainable business model. It is the first step to further research. The limits and challenges of sustainable business models are presented. The proposed criteria are used to assess the possibilities of developing and designing sustainable approach of business models in companies.
References
Abbasi, M., Nilsson, F. (2012), “Themes and challenges in making supply chains environmentally sustainable”, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 517–530. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13598541211258582
Andersen, M., Skjoett-Larsen, T. (2009), “Corporate social responsibility in global supply chains”, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 75–86. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13598540910941948
Asif, M., Searcy, C., Zutshi, A., Ahmad, N. (2011), “An integrated management systems approach to corporate sustainability”, European Business Review, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 353–367. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09555341111145744
Atiq, M., Mine Karatas-Ozkan, M. (2013), “Sustainable corporate entrepreneurship from a strategic corporate social responsibility perspective Current research and future opportunities”, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp 5–14. DOI: http:// dx.doi.org/10.5367/ijei.2013.0102
Azzone, G., Bertele, U. (1994), “Exploiting green strategies for competitive advantage”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 69–81. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0024–6301(94)90165–1
Bocken, N. M. P., Short, S. W., Rana, P., Evans, S. (2014), “A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 65, pp. 42–56. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.039
Chouinard, Y., Ellison, J., Ridgeway, R. (2011), “The Sustainable Economy”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 10, pp. 52–62.
Cohen, B., Winn, M. I. (2007), “Market imperfections, opportunity and sustainable entrepreneurship”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 22, pp. 29–49. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2004.12.001
Dean, T. J., McMullen, J. S. (2007), “Toward a theory of sustainable entrepreneurship: reducing environmental degradation through entrepreneurial action”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 50–76. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. jbusvent.2005.09.003
Elkington, J. (1997), Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business, Capstone, Oxford.
Epstein, M. J., Buhovac, A. R. (2010), “Solving the sustainability implementation challenge”, Organisational Dynamics, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 306–315. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2010.07.003
Eriksson, D., Svensson, G. (2015), “Elements affecting social responsibility in supply chains”, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 561–566. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SCM-06–2015–0203
Gauthier, J. (2017), “Sustainable business strategies: typologies and future directions”, Society and Business Review, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 77–93. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.1108/SBR-01–2016–0005
Jonker, J. (2012), New Business Models, An exploratory study of changing transactions creating mutiple value(s), Working Paper, Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Kloepffer, W. (2008), “Life cycle sustainability assessment of products”, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 13–89. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.1065/lca2008.02.376
Linton, J. D., Klassen, R., Jayaraman, V. (2007), “Sustainable supply chains: an introduction”, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 25 No. 6, pp. 1075–1082. DOI: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2007.01.012
Lozano, R. (2012), “Towards better embedding sustainability into companies’ systems: an analysis of voluntary corporate initiatives”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 25, pp 14–26. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.11.060
Lubin, D. A., Esty, D. C. (2010), “The sustainability imperative”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 88 No. 5, pp. 42–50.
Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2009), “Business Model Concepts in Corporate Sustainability Contexts. From Rhetoric to a Generic Template for ‘Business Models for Sustainability”, Center for Sustainability Management (CSM), Lüneburg: Leuphana Universität, Lüneburg.
Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2010), “Towards a conceptual framework of business models for sustainability”, Knowledge Collaboration & Learning for Sustainable Innovation ERSCP-EMSU conference, Delft, The Netherland, October 25–29, pp.1–28.
Magretta, J. (2002), “Why Business Models Matter”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 80 No. 5, pp. 86–92.
Miles, M. P., Munilla, L. S., Darroch, J. (2009), “Sustainable corporate entrepreneurship”, International Entrepreneurship Management Journal, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 65–76. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11365–008–0074–3
Model Behavior, 20 Business Model Innovations for Sustainability, available at: http:// www.sustainability.com (accessed 12 February 2017).
Nidumolu, R., Prahalad, C., Rangaswami, M. (2009), “Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 87 No. 9, pp. 56–64.
Ny, H., MacDonald, J. P., Broman, G., Yamamoto, R., Henrik, R. K-H. (2006), “Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries: An Approach to Making Life-Cycle Management Strategic”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 10 No. 1–2, pp. 61–77. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/108819806775545349
Osterwalder, A. (2004), “The Business Model Ontology a proposition in a design science approach”, These, University of Lausanne, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales HEC, p. 173.
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Tucci, C. L. (2005), “Clarifying Business Models: Origins, Present, and Future of the Concept”, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 16, pp. 1–25.
Pacheco, D. F., Dean, T. J., Payne, D. S. (2010), “Escaping the green prison: entrepreneurship and the creation of opportunities for sustainable development”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 464–480. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2009.07.006
Ross, A., Parker, H., Benavides, M. (2012), “Sustainability and supply chain infrastructure development”, Management Decision, Vol. 50 No. 10, pp. 1891–1910. DOI: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1108/00251741211279666
Salzmann, O., Ionescu-Somers, A., Steger, U. (2005), “The business case for corporate sustainability: literature review and research options”, European Management Journal, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 27–36. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2004.12.007
Seuring, S., Müller, M. (2008), “From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 16 No. 15, pp. 1699–1710. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.04.020
Stubbs, W., Cocklin, Ch. (2008), “Conceptualizing a ‘Sustainability Business Model’”, Organization & Environment, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 103–127. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.1177/1086026608318042
Weber, M. (2008), “The business case for corporate social responsibility: A company-level measurement approach for CSR”, European Management Journal, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 247–261. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2008.01.006
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright
Articles submitted to the journal should not have been published before in their current or substantially similar form, or be under consideration for publication with another journal. Authors submitting articles for publication warrant that the work is not an infringement of any existing copyright and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. For ease of dissemination and to ensure proper policing of use, papers and contributions become the legal copyright of the publisher unless otherwise agreed.
Plagiarism and ghostwriting
In response to the issue of plagiarism and ghostwriting the editors of the Journal of Positive Management has introduced the following rules to counteract these phenomena:
1. Contributors should be aware of their responsibility for a content of manuscripts.
2. Collective authors are obliged to reveal the contribution and an affiliation of each author (i.e. who is an author of specified part of a paper).
3. Any act of dishonesty will be denounced, the editors will inform appropriate institutions about the situation and give evidence of all cases of misconduct and unethical behaviour.
4. The editors may ask contributors for financial disclosure (i.e. contribution of specified institutions).
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 1160
Number of citations: 0