Towards Sustainable and Resilient Business Networks—The Role of Relational Resources Facing SDGs

Sustainability, as meeting present needs without compromising future generations, is challenged by resource scarcity and economic uncertainty. An organization’s environment affects its functioning and also its resilience. While often studied at the organizational level, achieving the interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires network-level cooperation. This led to asking the main question: How to develop business network resilience and sustainability in a context of scarcity of resources facing SDGs? To find the answer on that research problem, a bibliometric (5981 abstracts) and widespread systematic literature review (SLR, with 94 full text papers) was conducted. After the review of the state-of-the-art in terms of resilience, sustainability, business network, and SDGs, the ARA model (actors-resources-actions) was employed, to conceptually grasp how relational resources allow the evolution towards sustainable and resilient business networks. The analysis demonstrates that relational resources—such as trust, knowledge sharing, and collaborative partnerships—are pivotal. The study concludes that business networks have to strengthen multi-stakeholder cooperation for sustainable development, focusing on relational resources. These resources enable coordinated actions, foster resource stewardship, and enhance adaptive capacity within the network, directly supporting SDG implementation, particularly SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). That SDG is like organizational umbrella for the remaining 16 SDGs and there is a need to contribute to systemic sustainable development, moving beyond isolated organizational efforts to achieve broader impact.