Business models for environmental sustainability: Contemporary shortcomings and some perspectives

Abstract

Recently, business models for environmental sustainability have gained increasing attention in the management field and among practitioners and stakeholders. This study aims to analyse the state of the art on the topic by reviewing the growing but mainly phenomenon-driven research. In particular, by identifying main research trends and relevant gaps in the literature and by providing future research avenues, this paper advances the debate on the need for alternative concepts of doing business that go beyond the creation of economic value for a company in a way that generates value for the society. Our article undertakes two stages of screening the available literature and selects 151 peer-reviewed articles published between 2007 and early 2019 for the review. The paper provides the first comprehensive systematic review of business models in the field of environmental sustainability with a detailed descriptive and critical analysis and with a discussion of future research opportunities.