Managing entrepreneurial and corporate contributions to sustainability transitions

Abstract

To achieve an economy within ecological boundaries that meets the needs of all requires societal transitions (i.e. systemic changes of collective cultures, structures and practices). Such a societal and economic transition requires corporate and entrepreneurial organisations to transform their businesses, business models and societal roles. While the importance of companies for sustainable development has been acknowledged in the existing literature the link between transformations at the organizational level and sustainability transitions beyond organizational boundaries needs further investigation. This contribution therefore unpacks the duality of companies in sustainability transitions: they are subject to the transformative changes in the economy and society, and they can be leaders of sustainability transitions of the economy and society. Companies are challenged to proactively manage a simultaneous build‐up of sustainable and phase‐out of unsustainable products, services and practices. Key approaches for sustainability transformation management are discussed and conclusions for research and practice deducted.

Sustainability impact assessment of new ventures: An emerging field of research

“…We favor a rather non-linear reasoning and suggest that the steps in the evolution of a sustainability effect must be conceptualized in a dynamic and iterative perspective. This includes feedback loops between both the different levels and types of sustainability effects (Schaltegger et al, 2022b). This points to rather iterative and cyclical instead of purely linear relationships between the sequential steps discussed in the Theory of Changeas indicated in the center of Fig.…”

“…Change, on the level of systems, unfolds in the medium or long-term (Bagnoli and Megali, 2011). Hence, in its positive version, 'sustainability impact' refers to longer-term changes in social, technical, or natural systems that bring us closer to sustainable development (Dembek et al, 2022;Dijkstra-Silva et al, 2022;Schaltegger et al, 2022b).…”

“…Given the fact that hardly any empirical data exists on the system-level potential effects of new ventures, there is a need to expand the research in two ways: First, there is a need for accompanying research into the development of new ventures and their business models over a longer period of time. Longitudinal studies would help to understand how the interaction between the venture and its stakeholders and institutional contexts leads to different effects over time (Schaltegger et al, 2022b). Usually, the Theory of Change is applied using a rather linear understanding of how effects emerge.…”

Business research for sustainable development: How does sustainable business model research reflect doughnut economics?

“…Research on sustainable business models (SBMs) is a young and dynamic stream of research that explores how companies propose, create, deliver and capture value (Lüdeke‐Freund, 2020; Lüdeke‐Freund et al, 2018; Lüdeke‐Freund & Dembek, 2017; Méndez‐León et al, 2022; Preghenella & Battistella, 2021). Recently, scholarly interest has moved towards the question of how SBMs foster broader sustainability transitions and, in turn, how such transitions spawn novel SBMs (Aagaard et al, 2021; Proka et al, 2018; Schaltegger et al, 2022). SBM researchers stress the need to develop new ways of thinking to design SBMs that boost comprehensive transitions towards a sustainable development of business and society as a whole (Aagaard et al, 2021; Birkin et al, 2009; Madsen, 2020; Schaltegger et al, 2022; Shakeel et al, 2020).…”

“…Recently, scholarly interest has moved towards the question of how SBMs foster broader sustainability transitions and, in turn, how such transitions spawn novel SBMs (Aagaard et al, 2021; Proka et al, 2018; Schaltegger et al, 2022). SBM researchers stress the need to develop new ways of thinking to design SBMs that boost comprehensive transitions towards a sustainable development of business and society as a whole (Aagaard et al, 2021; Birkin et al, 2009; Madsen, 2020; Schaltegger et al, 2022; Shakeel et al, 2020).…”