Materiality Matrix Use in Aligning and Determining a Firm’s Sustainable Business Model Archetype and Triple Bottom Line Impact on Stakeholders

Valeska V Geldres-Weiss,Nathaniel P Massa,Nicolás Gambetta,Skania L Geldres-Weiss

doi:10.3390/su13031065

Valeska V Geldres-Weiss, Nathaniel P Massa + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031065

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Abstract

The materiality matrix is a tool that helps companies understand how the stakeholders’ view of material issues in environmental, social, and economic/governance dimensions influences their value creation process, and creates triple bottom line impacts through shaping their strategic business model elements. Building on the multidimensional definition of materiality, we propose to use the materiality matrix as a tool to aid the transformation of a company’s existing traditional business model into a more sustainable one (inside-out approach), and to enable the identification of the most appropriate business model archetype to incorporate innovation into its sustainable business model (outside-in approach). This paper presents the materiality matrix as a new tool to enhance and transpose a company’s business model towards sustainability—as illustrated through the analysis of the Viña Concha y Toro business model case. This new tool contributes to sustainable business model literature and stakeholder theory by incorporating the materiality matrix as a gateway to business model innovation, and as a tool to explain the dynamics in the sustainable value creation process and concomitant impact on stakeholders.

Highlights

Five years since its globe-spanning adoption by all 193 United Nations (UN) member states, and a mere decade to its target date—the 2030 Agenda for Development resolution presents an urgent clarion call
To understand the role that the materiality matrix (MM) plays in identifying the Sustainable Business Model (SBM) archetype and value creation process in a SBM, we use an in-depth case study based on Viña Concha y Toro (VCT)—a well-established and internationalised wine grower and producer operating in a sector characterised by its inextricable link to elements fundamental to core aspects of sustainability
Archetypes [2] and the Triple Layered Business Model Canvas (TLBMC) [3]; but none of these studies explored how the materiality matrix could be a tool to help companies advance towards a sustainable business model

Summary

Introduction

Five years since its globe-spanning adoption by all 193 United Nations (UN) member states, and a mere decade to its target date—the 2030 Agenda for Development resolution presents an urgent clarion call. Financial crises and social calamities (e.g., COVID-19), as well as extreme weather conditions, pose an urgent need for companies to do things differently and responsibly, and to embrace a long-term view of prosperity. To achieve this goal, companies need to develop more holistically sustainable business models. Without changing current business models—in which growth is predicated on selling more goods to more people—environmental stresses will increase business risks and costs—mitigating and compromising essential fundamentals of sustainability.

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