Title: Sustainability-oriented business model development: principles, criteria and tools

Authors: Henning Breuer; Klaus Fichter; Florian Lüdeke-Freund; Irina Tiemann

Addresses: Department of Psychology, University of Applied Sciences of Media, Communication and Management, Ackerstr. 76, 13355 Berlin, Germany; UXBerlin – Innovation Consulting, Berlin, Germany ' Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Innovation Management and Sustainability, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstr. 114-118, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany; Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, Clayallee 323, 14169 Berlin, Germany ' ESCP Europe Business School, Chair for Corporate Sustainability, Heubnerweg 8-10, 14059 Berlin, Germany ' Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Innovation Management and Sustainability, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstr. 114-118, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany

Abstract: A shared understanding of the basic requirements for modelling sustainability-oriented business is currently missing. This is hindering collaboration, exchange and learning about sustainability-oriented business models as well as the development of suitable and widely-accepted modelling tools. We contribute toward such a shared understanding based on a theoretical discussion of boundary-spanning and interactive business model development for sustainable value creation. The theoretical discussion feeds into a comparative analysis of the six currently available practitioner tools supporting the exploration and elaboration of sustainability-oriented business models. By synthesising findings from theory and available tools, we define four guiding principles (sustainability-orientation, extended value creation, systemic thinking and stakeholder integration) and four process-related criteria (reframing business model components, context-sensitive modelling, collaborative modelling, managing impacts and outcomes) for the development of sustainability-oriented business models.

Keywords: corporate sustainability; business model; business model development; business model tool; value creation; innovation; innovation management; sustainable entrepreneurship; activity system; interaction economics; stakeholder; stakeholder integration; start-up; corporate venturing; impact management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2018.092715

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2018 Vol.10 No.2, pp.256 - 286

Accepted: 19 Jan 2018
Published online: 28 Jun 2018 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article