IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/iubhbm/284392.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sustainability in start-ups: A literature review

Author

Listed:
  • Mühle, Charlotte
  • Berrones-Flemmig, Claudia Nelly
  • Hattula, Cansu

Abstract

This paper aims to provide a literature review in the area of Sustainability for start-ups. Even though corporate social responsibility has gained importance throughout recent years, it still needs to be implemented properly in the business world. In addition to that, the focus for sustainability practices still lies heavily on larger organizations. Considering that sustainability is relevant for organizations regardless their size or industry, it is important to investigate it in different contexts. Given that operating sustainable is often connected to higher costs, business models which focus on sustainability are usually designed for bigger companies, which makes it complex or even impossible for start-ups to implement them (Halberstadt & Johnson, 2014, p. 1-2). Throughout the past years, the concern about creating value for not only a business itself but also the people affected by it, society in general and the environment itself, has grown and it clearly shows that the traditional way of corporate reporting is not satisfactory anymore since the needs of several stakeholders are not included (Felber, Campos & Sanchis, 2019, p.1). The balance of the common good aims to visualize not only economic success in forms of the balance sheet total or financial results of a business but also the contributions of an organization to the public good (Butscher, Kasper, Koloo & Riedel, 2021, p. 5). Themain research question of this paper is: What value has the implementation of sustainability management for a start-up regarding their competitive advantage? The results of the literature review show that sustainability management and sustainability-promoting concepts are not only common but should be implemented by any company which plans to operate successfully long-term. The balance of the common good is a helpful tool to improve a firm's operations and convert to a more sustainable business model. Therefore, this literature review can be also helpful for start-ups, which are able to implement sustainability management practices in their businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Mühle, Charlotte & Berrones-Flemmig, Claudia Nelly & Hattula, Cansu, 2024. "Sustainability in start-ups: A literature review," IU Discussion Papers - Business & Management 3 (February 2024), IU International University of Applied Sciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iubhbm:284392
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/284392/1/1882329171.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor DANCIU, 2013. "The sustainable company: new challenges and strategies for more sustainability," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(9(586)), pages 7-26, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ana Petrina Păun & Claudia Isac, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility – A Strategic Approach for Sustainable Business," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 18(1), pages 171-178.
    2. Said Yousef Dwikat & Darwina Arshad & Mohd Noor Mohd Shariff, 2023. "Effect of Competent Human Capital, Strategic Flexibility and Turbulent Environment on Sustainable Performance of SMEs in Manufacturing Industries in Palestine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-29, March.
    3. Said Yousef Dwikat & Darwina Arshad & Mohd Noor Mohd Shariff, 2022. "The Influence of Systematic Strategic Planning and Strategic Business Innovation on the Sustainable Performance of Manufacturing SMEs: The Case of Palestine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-26, October.
    4. Roby Setiadi & Kardison Lumban Batu & Harry Soesanto, 2017. "Does an Environmental Marketing Strategy Influence Marketing and Financial Performance? A Study of Indonesian Exporting Firms," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 29(2), pages 177-192.
    5. Abdullah Al Mamun & Noorshella Binti Che Nawi & Mohd Asrul Hery Bin Ibrahim & Rajennd Muniady, 2018. "Effect of Economic Vulnerability on Competitive Advantages, Enterprise Performance and Sustainability," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-11, April.
    6. Anca-Ioana Munteanu & Nicolae Bibu & Marian Nastase & Nicoleta Cristache & Cosmin Matis, 2020. "Analysis of Practices to Increase the Workforce Agility and to Develop a Sustainable and Competitive Business," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-14, April.
    7. Kyungbok Kim & Sang-Myung Lee, 2018. "Does Sustainability Affect Corporate Performance and Economic Development? Evidence from the Asia-Pacific region and North America," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Carlo Pugnetti & Sebastian Barth & Lukas Stricker, 2023. "Customer Expectations for Sustainability in the Swiss Insurance Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Ghizdeanu Ion & Rabontu Irina-Cecilia & Irina Elena Chirtoc & Gabriela Busan, 2016. "Analysis Of Interdependence Between Arrivals Of Tourists In Boarding Houses, Accommodation Capacity And Relative Poverty Rate To Regional Development Level," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1, pages 13-17, February.
    10. PANȚA Nancy Diana, 2017. "Arguments In Favor Of Moving To A Sustainable Business Model In The Apiary Industry," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 159-170, December.
    11. Mirela-Ionela, Aceleanu, 2016. "Sustainable Business - The Way To Ensure The Competitiveness And The Efficiency Of Romanian Companies," Management Strategies Journal, Constantin Brancoveanu University, vol. 34(4), pages 176-181.
    12. Wan Nurulasiah binti Wan Mustapa & Abdullah Al Mamun & Mohamed Dahlan Ibrahim, 2018. "Development Initiatives, Micro-Enterprise Performance and Sustainability," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-15, August.
    13. Mariana Man & Maria-Mădălina Bogeanu-Popa, 2020. "Impact of Non-Financial Information on Sustainable Reporting of Organisations’ Performance: Case Study on the Companies Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, March.
    14. Madalina ALBU, 2018. "Relevance Of Economic-Financial Diagnosis In Sustainable Development Of Business," Contemporary Economy Journal, Constantin Brancoveanu University, vol. 3(1), pages 112-120.
    15. H. Trollman & J. A. Colwill, 2020. "A Transformational Change Framework for Developing Ecologically Embedded Manufacturing," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 21(4), pages 341-368, December.
    16. Jiayi Lyu & Wanxing Jiang, 2023. "Internationalization Pace, Social Network Effect, and Performance among China’s Platform-Based Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-21, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sustainability; Balance of the common good; Common good economy; start-ups; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics
    • Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:iubhbm:284392. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.iu.de/forschung/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.