Category: Journal Articles

Summary The relevance of business models for corporate performance in general and corporate sustainability in particular has been widely acknowledged in the literature while sustainable entrepreneurship research has started to explore contributions to the sustainability transformation of markets and society. Particularities of the business models of sustainable niche market pioneers have been identified in earlier … Continue reading Business Models for Sustainability – A Co-Evolutionary Analysis of Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Transformation (2016)

Summary While a consensus appears to have evolved among many sustainability researchers and practitioners that sustainable development at the societal level is not very likely without the sustainable development of organizations, the business model as a key initiating component of corporate sustainability has only recently moved into the focus of sustainability management research. Apparently, the … Continue reading Business Models for Sustainability – Origins, Present Research, and Future Avenues (2016)

Summary Between 2013 and 2015, we compiled and co-edited an Organization & Environment (Sage) special issue on "Business Models for Sustainability". The special issue was published in March 2016 and contains the following articles: Schaltegger, S.; Hansen, E. & Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2016): Business Models for Sustainability: Origins, Present Research, and Future Avenues, Organization & Environment, … Continue reading Organization & Environment Special Issue “Business Models for Sustainability – Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transformation” (2016)

Summary British Petroleum (BP) was among the first major oil companies to commercialise solar power technologies and was also one of the largest fully integrated photovoltaics companies. Following the oil crises of the 1970s and as part of its diversification strategy, BP built up its subsidiary BP Solar, which later became a central element in … Continue reading BP’s Solar Business Model – A Case Study on BP’s Solar Business Case and its Drivers (2014)

Summary The aim of this paper is to advance research on sustainable innovation by adopting a business model perspective. Through a confrontation of the literature on both topics we find that research on sustainable innovation has tended to neglect the way in which firms need to combine a value proposition, the organization of the upstream … Continue reading Business Models for Sustainable Innovation – State of the Art and Steps Towards a Research Agenda (2013)

Summary A considerable body of literature deals with the creation of economic value while increasing corporate environmental and social performance. Some publications even focus on the business case for sustainability which aims at increasing corporate economic value through environmental or social measures. The existence of a business case for sustainability is, however, mostly seen as … Continue reading Business Cases for Sustainability – The Role of Business Model Innovation for Corporate Sustainability (2012)

Summary What kinds of PV project configurations do lenders prefer to finance? Recent developments in the field of renewable energy project finance have reinforced the need for investigation, as fundraising has become more challenging and project evaluation by banks more demanding. To contribute to the limited research in this field, we focus on photovoltaic projects … Continue reading Debt for Brands – Tracking Down a Bias in Financing Photovoltaic Projects in Germany (2011)