Determinants of Sustainable Business Model of Companies Early Stage of Development

This paper presents the findings of research on companies in the early stage of development based on the concept of ensuring their sustainability. The starting point are attributes that shape a sustainable model of start-ups. A solution has been proposed and examined that identifies the dynamic factors of business models, which enable the company to make fast changes in the configuration of the business model, and that apply stabilizing factors based on the concept of the “triple bottom line”. The research problem is a response to the phenomena of the bankruptcy of many start-ups that cannot find a way to survive in the long term. The business models of companies in the early stage of development should be designed to take into account the possibility of their dynamic and iterative changes when earlier assumptions turn out not to work upon implementation. A cognitive gap has been observed as the relevant literature does not propose a systemic solution to the problem of instability of the start-ups viewed from the perspective of the business model concept. The research problem, therefore, is to identify potential new methods to ensure the sustainability of young companies trying to combine dynamic aspects of business models, taking into account economic, environmental and social aspects. The findings of research on companies in the early stage of development show that when the methods of increasing the flexibility of the business model are applied and attention is drawn to environmental and social activities and a strong emphasis is put on financial performance, reflecting the expectations of shareholders, the concept of ensuring the sustainability of young companies from the point of view of sustainable business model attributes emerges.