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Sustainability Models for Social Innovation Projects: A Theoretical Perspective

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Universities as Drivers of Social Innovation

Part of the book series: Research for Development ((REDE))

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Abstract

How can social innovation projects evolve into organizations with long-term economic sustainability? How can organizations aiming for a triple bottom line become economically sustainable in the long run? Can these organizations use the tools and methods used by for-profit organizations to describe their business model? This chapter starts off with an in-depth analysis of the existing literature on business models of for-profit organizations to understand if there is a need for a sustainability model for the triple bottom line and nonprofit organizations. The most widespread tool to represent the business models for for-profit organizations is described and illustrated in this chapter. The literature review shows that the current tools that aim to describe business models for for-profit organizations focus only on financial and economic objectives, whereas triple bottom line organizations and social innovation projects additionally pursue social and environmental objectives, which need to be considered when designing and defining the activities, resources, and stakeholders of the organization.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the contributions of Elena Perondi during the development of this research and of Francesca Bazurro and Andrea Vucetich in the data gathering and data analysis. The usual disclaimers apply.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy

    Paolo Landoni

  2. School of Management, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Daniel Trabucchi

Authors
  1. Paolo Landoni
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  2. Daniel Trabucchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paolo Landoni .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Design, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Davide Fassi

  2. Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy

    Paolo Landoni

  3. Dipartimento di Design, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Francesca Piredda

  4. Dipartimento Architettura e Studi Urbani, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Pierluigi Salvadeo

Appendix: Example of a Business Model Canvas

Appendix: Example of a Business Model Canvas

figure a

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Landoni, P., Trabucchi, D. (2020). Sustainability Models for Social Innovation Projects: A Theoretical Perspective. In: Fassi, D., Landoni, P., Piredda, F., Salvadeo, P. (eds) Universities as Drivers of Social Innovation. Research for Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31117-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31117-9_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-31116-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-31117-9

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