sustainable business models a literature review

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Benchmarking: An International Journal

ISSN : 1463-5771

Article publication date: 10 June 2019

Issue publication date: 19 August 2020

The demand for resources for development also increased corporate pressures for sustainability. Consequently, it is necessary for organizations to adopt measures addressing the need to implement a new business model, which allows a management team concerned about the economy and the optimization of resources to make sustainable business models a strategic interest of the organization. The purpose of this paper is to analyze sustainable business models and the applied practices to operationalize them.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted through a systematic review of the literature to identify the sustainable business models addressed in the literature, and what practices are applied to operationalize these models.

The data show that sustainable business models have an approach centered on the direct participation of stakeholders, especially the user, in the process of creating sustainable value. Overall, they offer a high level of technology-based business models that prioritize the use of clean energy, material maximization and energy efficiency, with an emphasis on repair and maintenance rather than on disposal and scheduled obsolescence, as well as an emphasis on natural and renewable processes, the reuse of waste, environmental stewardship, product transformation into technological artefacts for users, and products for services and results.

Research limitations/implications

The study’s contributions provide a more detailed understanding of sustainable business models and what practices can be adopted by companies to make the business truly sustainable. This paper contributed to the discussion of the research on sustainable business models and their operational practices.

Originality/value

The analysis promotes insights into new opportunities for companies to integrate their traditional business models with sustainability, contributing to the application of sustainable practices within the managerial scope. Companies that operate sustainable business models need to be aware that collaborative, sharing and networking models can deliver positive results for sustainable business models.

• Sustainable business models
• Practices of sustainable models
• Systematic review of the literature

Comin, L.C. , Aguiar, C.C. , Sehnem, S. , Yusliza, M.-.-Y. , Cazella, C.F. and Julkovski, D.J. (2020), "Sustainable business models: a literature review", Benchmarking: An International Journal , Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 2028-2047. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-12-2018-0384

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Sustainable business model: A review and framework development

• Original Paper
• Published: 11 July 2020
• Volume 23 , pages 889–897, ( 2021 )

Cite this article

• Feybi Ariani Goni 1 ,
• Abdoulmohammad Gholamzadeh Chofreh   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4934-6291 1 ,
• Zohreh Estaki Orakani 2 ,
• Jiří Jaromír Klemeš 1 ,
• Mehdi Davoudi 3 &
• Abbas Mardani 4  

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Integrating sustainability into business functions of organisations is a challenge faced by practitioners. They need to understand what aspects must be considered to achieve effective sustainability implementation. Few studies review current sustainable business models and reveal essential aspects that must be possessed by these models. This study aims to discuss the available sustainable business models and identify the main features of the models. Conceptual research is applied in this study to synthesise the current sustainable business models in the literature. The study reveals nine main aspects to consider, including sustainability, information technology, circular economy, value chain, core values, value creation, organisational values, performance management, and stakeholder engagement. The proposed framework would help the practitioners to capture important aspects of the sustainability implementation. These aspects would guide them to effectively embed sustainability into an organisation's business functions and fulfil stakeholder expectations.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the EU project "Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory – SPIL", Project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000456 funded by EU "CZ Operational Programme Research, Development and Education", Priority 1: Strengthening capacity for quality research.

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Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory – SPIL, NETME Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology - VUT Brno, Technická 2896/2, 61669, Brno, Czech Republic

Feybi Ariani Goni, Abdoulmohammad Gholamzadeh Chofreh & Jiří Jaromír Klemeš

Faculty of Business Administration, Islamic Azad University, Hamadan Branch, Hamadan, Iran

Zohreh Estaki Orakani

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Buein Zahra Technical University, Buein Zahra, Iran

Mehdi Davoudi

Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33813, USA

Abbas Mardani

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Correspondence to Abdoulmohammad Gholamzadeh Chofreh .

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Goni, F.A., Gholamzadeh Chofreh, A., Estaki Orakani, Z. et al. Sustainable business model: A review and framework development. Clean Techn Environ Policy 23 , 889–897 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01886-z

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Received : 07 January 2020

Accepted : 21 June 2020

Published : 11 July 2020

Issue Date : April 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01886-z

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