Sustainable Business Models: The Case of the Collaborative Economy

The growing power of stakeholders and the awareness of social and environmental issues in economic activity change the way business is done. Facing social and regulatory pressure companies incorporate stakeholder expectationsStakeholder expectations in their strategic thinking and business operation. The need to combine financial, social and environmental performanceEnvironmental performance leads to the transitionTransition of traditional business towards sustainable, resource-efficient and low-carbon economy. Such changes are also the impulse for organizational and business innovationInnovation and in line with the new developments in the institutional environment result in the emergence of new business models New business models (NBM) . We would like to add to this literature delivering an analysis of the business models of companies which adopt the logic of sustainability and collaborative economy. We propose that the sustainable business model follows the framework of: building stakeholder capitalStakeholder capital through inclusivenessInclusiveness, fostering innovation to address social or environmental challenges and focusing on at least 1 of 17 UN sustainable development goals Sustainable development goals (SDGs) (SDGs). Additionally, the sustainable company adopts ethical Ethics infrastructure Ethical infrastructure to assure high integrityIntegrity while improving social, environmental and financial performanceFinancial performance. In this chapter we analyze selected companies operating in four different sectors addressing these five dimensions identifying key components of sustainable business models. We also address the issues of balancing these requirements and indicate the potential conflicts between social, environmental and financial goals.