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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: societal impact; open innovation; science policy
Interests: entrepreneurship; innovation policy; science policy
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The aim of this Special Issue is to publish recent original insights and perspectives made in sustainable business strategy and entrepreneurship research. We solicit contributions from all relevant scientific domains, including, but not limited to, management, strategy, entrepreneurship, and organisation theory. Contributions can be theory development, quantitative as well as qualitative empirical studies, or inspire future research on the subject by presenting conceptual insights. The publication by the United Nations in 2015 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has not gone unnoticed (Mio et al., forthcoming). Achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their 169 targets will require businesses to implement effective changes toward sustainable business models. Sustainable business models draw less on profit motives, which traditionally give rise to innovative business strategies, and introduce societal impact as an alternative motive. Entrepreneurs are thus challenged to integrate sustainability in their business plans: whereas value creation and capture remain important ingredients of sustainable business models, the priorities of entrepreneurs have to be reorganised to resolve societal issues.
This call for papers challenges scholars to elaborate on, but not limit themselves to, the following research themes:
First, the theoretical foundations of sustainable business models (Evans et al., 2017): What fundamental principles and premises underpin the idea of sustainable entrepreneurship and business strategy?
Second, the variety of organisational settings of sustainable business models (Roome and Louche, 2016): How do sustainable and conventional business models differ? How should sustainable business models be implemented? What are the entrepreneurial drivers and barriers of sustainable business models? Do sustainable entrepreneurs create and use innovative business models? What are success criteria for sustainable business strategies?
Third, the challenges of value creation of sustainable business models (Lakti et al., 2018): How can stakeholders with diverging values and missions coordinate their activities focused on sustainability?
Fourth, the societal impact of sustainable entrepreneurship (Bacq et al., 2020): How can sustainable business models provide societal impact, and how can that impact be measured?
Fifth, reviews of sustainable business strategies in different sectors such as manufacturing, services, or particular industries (Wagner et al., 2020) or countries located in developed or emerging markets (Leonidou et al., 2019): Are entrepreneurs in some industries or countries better at developing sustainable business strategies than others? Why? Is there a role for public policy? Which?
All papers will be subject to an intensive peer review process. Authors are requested to follow the Sustainability guidelines for authors (cf. https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/instructions) and to submit a full paper via the online system.
Selected references
- Bacq, S., Hertel, C., & Lumpkin, G. T. (2020). Societal Impact at the Nexus of Community and Entrepreneurship: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2020, No. 1, p. 13916). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
- Evans, S., Vladimirova, D., Holgado, M., Van Fossen, K., Yang, M., Silva, E. A., & Barlow, C. Y. (2017). Business model innovation for sustainability: Towards a unified perspective for creation of sustainable business models. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(5), 597-608.
- Lahti, T., Wincent, J., & Parida, V. (2018). A definition and theoretical review of the circular economy, value creation, and sustainable business models: where are we now and where should research move in the future?. Sustainability, 10(8), 2799.
- Leonidou, L. C., Katsikeas, C. S., Samiee, S., & Leonidou, C. N. (Eds.). (2019). Socially Responsible International Business: Critical Issues and the Way Forward. Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Mio, C., Panfilo, S., & Blundo, B. (forthcoming). Sustainable development goals and the strategic role of business: A systematic literature review. Business Strategy and the Environment.
- Roome, N., & Louche, C. (2016). Journeying toward business models for sustainability: A conceptual model found inside the black box of organisational transformation. Organization & Environment, 29(1), 11-35.
- Straková, J., Rajiani, I., Pártlová, P., Váchal, J., & Dobrovič, J. (2020). Use of the Value Chain in the Process of Generating a Sustainable Business Strategy on the Example of Manufacturing and Industrial Enterprises in the Czech Republic. Sustainability, 12(4), 1520.
- Wagner, O., Adisorn, T., Tholen, L., & Kiyar, D. (2020). Surviving the Energy Transition: Development of a Proposal for Evaluating Sustainable Business Models for Incumbents in Germany’s Electricity Market. Energies, 13(3), 730.
Prof. Dr. André Spithoven
Prof. Dr. Maikel Pellens
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sustainable entrepreneurship
- innovation
- business strategy
- value chain
- societal impact