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Sustainable Business Models

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Decent Work and Economic Growth

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

  • 349 Accesses

Synonyms

Business models for sustainability (BMfS)

Related Terms

Product service systems (PSS); Green business models; Social business models; Circular business models; Sharing business models

Definition

Sustainable business models (SBMs) draw on economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability in defining an organization’s purpose, use a triple bottom-line (people, profit, planet) approach in measuring performance, consider the needs of all stakeholders rather than giving priority to shareholder expectations, treat “nature” as a stakeholder and promote environmental stewardship, and encompass a system, as well as a firm-level perspective (based on Stubbs and Cocklin 2008).

Background

This entry introduces the concept of sustainable business models. It starts with a brief overview on the concept of business models more generally, followed by explaining business models for sustainability, or synonymously, sustainable business models. This is followed by the linkages between...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Nancy Bocken

  2. TU Delft, Industrial Design Engineering, Delft, the Netherlands

    Nancy Bocken

  3. School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland

    Nancy Bocken

Authors
  1. Nancy Bocken
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nancy Bocken .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-ALS, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences FTZ-ALS, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Ctr Neurosci & Cell Biology, 1 Floor, Univ Coimbra, Edf Fac Medicina, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökcin Özuyar

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Business Management & Organization, Social Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Edurne A. Inigo

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Bocken, N. (2019). Sustainable Business Models. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Decent Work and Economic Growth. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_48-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_48-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71058-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71058-7

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