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Towards Sustainable Innovative Business Models

Author

Listed:
  • Carolina López-Nicolás

    (Department of Management and Finance, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain)

  • Jesús Ruiz-Nicolás

    (Technical Department, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain)

  • Enrique Mateo-Ortuño

    (Department of Marketing, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain)

Abstract

This paper addresses two research questions: (1) How do firms innovate their business models to deal with the economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainability, and their interconnections? (2) How do managers design the process toward more sustainable innovative business models? Starting from the triple-layered canvas as a theoretical framework, a pattern matching technique is used to compare that theoretical pattern to the empirical pattern observed. The study is based on qualitative methods and data from a Spanish company in the wine sector. The findings indicate that the triple-layered canvas is applicable and useful for micro firms, although the process to design sustainable innovative business models might be even more important. A new theoretical model is inferred and proposed to incorporate the perspective of the process of the business model innovations for sustainability, and to add several relevant aspects to make the process more successful. Besides this, non-family firms introducing sustainable business model innovations in their economic, ecological, and social aspects move closer to family firms’ distinctive behavior. Finally, the implications and future lines of research are summarized.

Suggested Citation

  • Carolina López-Nicolás & Jesús Ruiz-Nicolás & Enrique Mateo-Ortuño, 2021. "Towards Sustainable Innovative Business Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:5804-:d:559644
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    1. Vinicius Minatogawa & Matheus Franco & Izabela Simon Rampasso & Maria Holgado & Diego Garrido & Hernan Pinto & Ruy Quadros, 2022. "Towards Systematic Sustainable Business Model Innovation: What Can We Learn from Business Model Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-35, March.
    2. Basma Hamrouni & Abdelhabib Bourouis & Ahmed Korichi & Mohsen Brahmi, 2021. "Explainable Ontology-Based Intelligent Decision Support System for Business Model Design and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-28, September.

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