The topic of sustainable business models is growing in literature and in the industry, driving companies to search for opportunities to improve their impact on the three pillars of sustainability—profit, people, and planet (economic, social, and environmental). However, the process of developing sustainable business models is often complex, due to conflicting objectives from the three dimensions of sustainability. This paper presents a procedure model that supports the design and assessment of business models with a sustainable perspective, by integrating a new business model canvas for sustainability (BMCS) and an evaluation method to assess it. A comprehensive assessment is proposed, performed in a life cycle perspective. The proposed model is applied and validated with a real case study, based on a new business model for an aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul company. The case is based on shifting from traditional maintenance, repair, and overhaul activities to adopting additive manufacturing as an activity that allows manufacturing optimized spare parts with benefits for the costumer. The results show the application of the procedure model on a specific case study, as well as the potential of additive manufacturing as a driver for more sustainable business models in the aircraft maintenance sector.
Recent developments, such as climate change, demographic change and resource scarcity, have forced companies to turn towards more sustainable resources, processes and products. Thus, their business models should be developed in a way that meets social, ecological and economic challenges. A vital part of this development process is the evaluation of business models against the background of sustainability targets during different phases of this process. This paper addresses the, thus far, largely neglected sustainability-related strategic evaluation in the earlier phases of business model development. Based on a sustainability-related canvas approach and concepts from strategic management theory, it suggests a method for sustainability-related strategic evaluation of business models as well as business model ideas and options. Therefore, a procedure for evaluation is presented and five main criteria are developed that should be taken into account: eligibility to create stakeholder’s benefit, market attractiveness, heterogeneity/singularity, permanence and eligibility to generate sustainability-oriented value.
Since the need of sustainable development is indisputable, companies are forced to strive for resources, processes, and products that are sustainable. Thus, their business models as the main representation of their activities should be designed in an ecologically, economically, and socially beneficial way. However, designing and developing sustainable business models is closely linked to their evaluation. Sustainable business model evaluation as a vital part of business model development has been addressed in literature in the past with increasing frequency. As a consequence, the plethora of different approaches of sustainability-oriented business model evaluation calls for a systematic literature review. Thus, in this study, we reviewed existing articles on sustainability-oriented business model evaluation and identified four main categories of evaluation methods: single indicators (I), indicator system/framework (II), simulation-based evaluation (III), and multi criteria decision-making (IV). By analyzing and structuring the proposed approaches, their benefits and limitations are revealed, pointing out gaps and future research needs for successfully designing and evaluating business models today and in the future.
There is an ever-growing need for companies and manufacturing systems to be flexible in order for them to adapt to the rapid changes and increasing uncertainty in society, markets, and supply chains. Several studies suggest that Industry 4.0 solutions foster shorter innovation/development cycles, resource efficiency, individualization on demand, faster decision making, and, finally, higher flexibility in production. However, little is still known about the relationship between Industry 4.0 and manufacturing flexibility. One of the existing gaps in the literature is the lack of a methodology to assess the potential impact of Industry 4.0 solutions on manufacturing flexibility and companies’ profitability. This paper contributes to closing such a gap from a theoretical perspective. First, it conceptualized the role of flexibility in manufacturing systems. Then, the relationship between Industry 4.0 solutions and manufacturing flexibility was analyzed on a conceptual level, in which the I–T–O model was used to distinguish between the needed and available flexibility. Lastly, based on a decision-theory-based procedure model, a methodological approach for evaluating Industry 4.0 solutions is suggested. This methodological approach is intended to support transparent assessments tailored to different technological concepts as well as the affected types of flexibility (available and needed). It is able to integrate existing methods from decision and investment appraisal theory as well as specific flexibility-related approaches. The results of the paper will be useful for both academicians and practitioners. Besides enabling quantitative evaluations, the methodological approach can be used by companies as a structured path to explore the possible ways they can increase their manufacturing flexibility.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.