Sustainable Business Model Innovation

Taking the business model as point of departure, this open access book explores how companies and organizations can contribute to a more sustainable future by designing innovative models that are both sustainable and profitable. Based upon years of research, it draws together theoretical foundations and existing literature on the topic of sustainable business alongside case studies and practical solutions. After examining the theoretical foundations of sustainable business model innovation, the authors present their own framework – RESTART. Consisting of seven factors, this framework can be the basis for restarting any business model. The final section outlines a research agenda for sustainable business informed by the perspectives and frameworks put forward in this book.

This book provides a comprehensive exploration into the identification and development of sustainable business models as well as their implementation, management and evaluation. With ever-increasing pressure on organisations to respond to societal change and improve competition through sustainable business model innovation (SBMI), this book aims to contribute to the knowledge of their design and management. The chapters explore the role of partnerships, the Internet of Things and the circular economy, among other factors, in developing SBM and how SBMI is facilitated through ideation and in entrepreneurial settings. Providing new typologies, patterns and a framework to evaluate the level of sustainability of business models, this book critically reviews existing literature on the topic to examine the potential of SBMI in research and in practice. The contributing authors employ a number of case studies and case examples to illustrate the integration of sustainable business models throughout the value chain, and their influence on wider social, environmental and business activities.

Reimagining business models is a tall order for any management team, and especially so in today’s business landscape of continual disruptive change. Having examined hundreds of businesses over the course of their research, the BCG Henderson Institute has developed a systematic approach for reimagining business models for economic and social sustainability, creating new modes of differentiation and advantage, embedding societal value into products and services, managing new performance measures, and reshaping business ecosystems to support these initiatives. This book explores the why, what, and how of sustainable business model innovation (SBM-I) – a new method by which corporations can optimize for both business and social value using their core businesses to deliver the financial returns expected by their owners and, in tandem, to help society meet its most significant challenges. It details the SBM-I innovation cycle linking to value creation and scaled transformation, and expands the application of SBM-I to sustainable business ecosystems and corporate lead sustainability alliances. Sustainable Business Model Innovation offers inspiration and guidance to create more competitive and sustainable companies. Your company's future, our environment, and society depend on doing so.

The aim of this edited book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and challenges related to innovation for sustainability. Combining work from both emerging and established scholars in different academic fields, this book provides an integrated understanding of the topic from four perspectives. First, the big picture: frameworks, types, and drivers; second, strategy and leadership; third, measurement and assessment and fourth, tools, methods and technologies. Chapter 11 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com. The editors donate their remuneration for this book to conservation organisation the WWF.

There has been growing interest on business models among academics and practitioners in recent years, as business model describes how an organization creates, distributes and captures value and, therefore, can be considered the DNA of the organization. Recently, factors related to digital transformation, the vital role of sustainability and social aspects, along with an increasing globalization, have pushed towards radical transformations in business models. This book aims to further our knowledge on business model innovation in new contexts of analysis and with new perspectives of investigation. Insights from business model innovation are presented from studies focusing on start-ups, small businesses and large businesses to provide a bigger picture on new dynamics connected to digital transformation, sustainability, new global relationships. As such, the scope is on new ways to create value, new components and dynamics (such as digitalization and sustainability) concerning the key elements of the business model (value creation, value configuration and value capture), and new relationships between actors that may foster business model innovation. It represents a valuable resource for practitioners willing to innovate business models, academics aiming at finding new research lines, and students keen to learn more about business models.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Sustainable Business Models" that was published in Sustainability

Can innovations in business change society? Can innovations in society change business? These two questions have become critically urgent in recent years, but are rarely considered together. ‘Business Models for Sustainability Transitions’ therefore asks, can contemplating both concepts together result in a flourishing, sustainable future? Technology alone cannot save us. We cannot consciously consume our way out of trouble. This book represents a start at bridging the dynamic world of business model innovation with the constant and unprecedented transitions underway in the world around us. For researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, the coupling of the two questions has the potential to unlock answers to our grand global challenges with responses that are at the same time rapid and enduring. This work offers unique and considered glimpses into what it may take to harness wide-ranging innovations for the collective good.

Business Models for Sustainability breaks new ground by combining three important insights. First, achieving sustainability requires socio-technical transitions that entail new technologies, production processes, lifestyles, and consumption patterns. Second, firms play crucial roles in mediating between sustainable production and consumption. Third, radical innovations require organizational innovations and new business models. Peter Wells successfully combines these big picture ideas with rich in-depth case studies drawing on years of accumulated expertise. Highly recommended. Frank W. Geels, University of Manchester, UK and Chairman of the Sustainability Transitions Research Network With increasing awareness that innovative technology alone is insufficient to make sustainable lifestyles a reality, this book brings into sharp focus the need to create radical new business models. This insightful book provides a theoretically grounded but also realistic account of how the design of business models can be a critical component in the overall transition to sustainability, and one that transcends the usual focus on innovative technology. Weaving together key principles and components for business sustainability, the book highlights five very different pathways to the future for sectors ranging from microbreweries and printing through to clothing, mobility and plastics. Business has only just started the first few tentative steps towards a very different approach to creating and sustaining value, but this book concludes that enormous opportunities will emerge alongside new ways of creating and capturing value. Academics and postgraduate students in the fields of sustainable business, business organisations and industrial ecology will find this book brings a greater understanding of business strategy and structure to the discipline. While traditionally referenced and structured, this academic book is accessibly written with key principles that may also appeal to the consultant community.