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Resolving paradoxical tensions during business model innovation for sustainability in retailing: The role of the ecosystem

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  • Do Vale, G.
  • Collin-Lachaud, Isabelle
  • Lecocq, Xavier

Abstract

The vast and pressing environmental and societal challenges, as well as the difficulty of the path to sustainability, are substantially challenging retailers’ business models (BM hereafter). Researchers have yet to answer how retailers cope with different kinds of tensions in their process of BM innovation for sustainability. Drawing on a longitudinal, seven-year, inductive, multiple case study of three European retailers that decided explicitly to move toward sustainability, this research highlights different tensions that confront retailers in this process and the decisions they take to resolve them. Three stages are identified as necessary to implement a BM for sustainability in retailing.

Suggested Citation

  • Do Vale, G. & Collin-Lachaud, Isabelle & Lecocq, Xavier, 2025. "Resolving paradoxical tensions during business model innovation for sustainability in retailing: The role of the ecosystem," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 101(4), pages 564-582.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:101:y:2025:i:4:p:564-582
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2025.06.001
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