Incorporating Sustainability in Business Model: A Literature Review

Abstract

Purpose – Sustainability has become a multi-disciplinary concept rather than just an ecological concern and sustainable development will become a reality without a sustainable development of corporations. The business organizations must involve themselves in sustainable initiatives contributing to minimizing their environmental impact, contribute to the improvements of society, and in a process ensure the sustainability of the business itself. The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of academic research in the topic area and find out an approach to address the sustainability agenda in the core of the business model. Design/methodology/approach – This study was done following a structured literature review method and relevant journals have been identified by string search in major databases – Scopus and Web of Science. After the systematic research, abstracts of the most cited articles have been read thoroughly and key ideas of the articles were identified. A detailed understanding was developed by reading the discussions and analysis parts and most relevant concepts that linked sustainability and business model innovation. Findings: Through this literature review it is found that though sustainability has gained a major attraction from academia in recent years and Originality/value – This study presents the current state of academic research focusing on sustainability in the area of the business model and through rigorous literature review proposes a step by step process describing how a business firm should approach to incorporate sustainability in the core of its business model.