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Sustainable business model innovation

Many businesses are restructuring their business models, goods, and services in order to provide
environmentally responsible, stakeholder-oriented offerings and strategies while also ensuring
financial profitability.

A sustainable business model is one that generates a competitive advantage through superior
value creation for the customer and helps to the company's and society's sustainable growth.

A sustainable business model describes, analyses, manages, and communicates to stakeholders
a firm's value proposition and how that value is produced, delivered, and preserved while
preserving or expanding natural, social, and economic capital.
Sustainable business model innovation relates to creating completely new business models or
altering the existing ones so that sustainability perspectives like natural environment and society

are considered.
This learning module consists of three submodules:

1. Introduction to sustainable business models,

2. Applying (design/innovation) thinking on sustainable business model innovation,

3. Transitioning towards more sustainable business models.

Introduction to sustainable business models

This submodule covers a business model in general and why more sustainable business models

are required?
Businesses should adapt such business models that contribute to sustainable development,
which is defined as development that can meet the demands of current generations without

putting at risk the needs of future generations.
Sustainable business models can be characterized as long-term business models that include
proactive management of monetary and non-monetary value generation for a diverse set of
stakeholders. They are also characterized as models in which firms' decision-making processes
are guided by sustainability principles

Considering the sustainable development goals, the innovative business models have brought a
competitive advantage to improve the sustainability performance of organizations. The concept
of the sustainable business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates,

delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural, or other contexts, in a sustainable way.

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