MSc Sustainable Business

The unit introduces the concept of business models for sustainability to explain how firms can engage in sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship.

Students will learn how business model innovation can help firms to create, deliver, and capture social, environmental, and economic value to a wide range of stakeholders.

Students will learn to design sustainable business models and engage in sustainable entrepreneurship.

Theory about sustainable business models and sustainable entrepreneurship will be applied to cases which relate to redesigning existing business models of unsustainable firms and designing new sustainable business models for start-ups.
 

The unit aims to:

Enable students to develop business models for sustainability and engage in sustainable entrepreneurship.

The practice of sustainable business modelling and entrepreneurship will be applied to cases for redesigning existing business models of unsustainable firms and designing new sustainable business models for start-ups and social enterprises

There is increased concern about the adverse impact of business on society and the natural environment. In response to government regulation and increased customer demand for sustainable products and services, the business world has woken up to the need to address sustainability challenges proactively. There is widespread agreement that business should no longer be the problem but part of the solution. However, how can firms identify and exploit business opportunities that solve sustainability challenges and how can they develop sustainable business models that not only prevent harm but do good, too?  

This course unit teaches students how entrepreneurship can be a force for good to create sustainable or even regenerative business ventures. On completion of this course, students will know how to use business model design and thinking to develop creative solutions for urgent sustainability challenges. At the same time, they will be aware of the complexities involved in the process of sustainable business modelling due to the unavoidable tensions between social, environmental, and economic sustainability and the need to think beyond firm-level outcomes and reckon with the planetary boundaries.

This course unit offers students tools and techniques for sustainable entrepreneurship and business modelling and enhances teamwork and presentation skills to successfully pitch their ideas for a sustainable business venture to relevant stakeholders to gain support. 
 

Syllabus (indicative curriculum content):

The unit builds on a systems perspective of the process of business model innovation where sustainability is defined in relation to improved sustainability of a system of provision. As such, it combines entrepreneurial drive with a critical systems perspective.

The unit is structured around the process of starting a sustainable business venture in the form of a new start-up. The first five weeks will be focused on the process of using creativity and business model thinking to identify entrepreneurial opportunities in relation to existing unsustainable systems of provision that will form the basis of a start-up while providing solutions to urgent sustainability challenges.

The second part of the unit will discuss the conditions under which creative ideas become commercially successful business ventures that effectively address the sustainability challenges they are aimed at. Students will learn about the process of how to select the best creative and impactful ideas. The unit will then focus on the entrepreneurial journey of creating and validating a sustainable business model for a start-up, using insights from the sustainable entrepreneurship and business model literature. The aim of the second part is to create a concrete sustainable business model for a real start-up and validate stakeholder interest in the sustainable value proposition.

The unit will consist of 10 2-hour sessions combining lecture and workshop components. In addition, a virtual learning environment will be offered which provides instructional videos of key concepts, exemplary cases of sustainable business ventures, and supplementary readings.

The lecture component will introduce the students to the main theoretical ideas behind sustainable entrepreneurship and business model innovation and present inspirational cases of successful sustainable business ventures (start-ups).

The workshop component aims to put the (theoretical) ideas, models, frameworks, and tools in practice by doing various exercises, case analyses, debates, and role-playing games to stimulate creativity to learn how to apply business model thinking to develop a sustainable business venture. Throughout the weeks, students will work on assignments that will build towards developing a business model for a real sustainable start-up. 
 

KU1 Examine the role of business models in sustainable business ventures. - Group work and individual pitch / essay

KU2 Identify how business models enable firms to successfully pursue social, environmental, and economic sustainability - Group work and individual pitch / essay

KU3 Critically analyse the role of business models innovation and entrepreneurship in sustainability transitions - Group work and individual pitch / essay
 

IS1 Develop an entrepreneurial mindset aimed at identifying and exploiting sustainable business opportunities - Group work and individual pitch / essay

IS2 Create awareness of the tensions and trade-offs involved in sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation -  Group work and individual pitch / essay

IS3 Develop solutions for sustainability challenges through business model innovation - Group work and individual pitch / essay
 

PS1 Apply sustainable business modelling with the relevant tools and frameworks -Group work and individual pitch / essay

PS2 Assess the value a sustainable business venture creates across social, environmental and economic dimensions - Group work and individual pitch / essay

PS3 Communicate the strengths of a sustainable business venture based on scientific insight and evidence - Group work and Individual pitch / essay

TS1 Identify and exploit novel business opportunities with significant social and environmental impact - Group work and individual pitch / essay

TS2 Collaborate as a member of a mixed team and develop effective team dynamics to create a sustainable business venture - Group work  / essay

TS3 Make a pitch for a sustainable business venture to relevant stakeholders to gain support - Individual pitch
 

In-class feedback from peers and seminar leader

In writing via BB within 15 days

• Boons, F., & Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2014). Business models for sustainable innovation: State-of-the-art and steps towards a research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production, 45, 9–19. 
• Boons, F., & Bocken, N. (2018). Towards a sharing economy–Innovating ecologies of business models. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 137(C), 40-52.
• Bocken, N., Boons, F., & Baldassarre, B. (2019). Sustainable business model experimentation by understanding ecologies of business models. Journal of Cleaner Production, 208, 1498-1512.
• Bocken, N., Short, S., Rana, P., & Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes. Journal of Cleaner Production, 65, 42–56.
• Patala, S., Jalkala, A., Keränen, J., Väisänen, S., Tuominen, V., & Soukka, R. (2016). Sustainable value propositions: Framework and implications for technology suppliers. Industrial Marketing Management, 59, 144–156. 
• Bohnsack, R., & Pinkse, J. (2017). Value propositions for disruptive technologies: Reconfiguration tactics in the case of electric vehicles. California Management Review, 59(4), 79-96.
• Delmas, M. A., & Curuel Burbano, V. (2011). The Drivers of Greenwashing. California Management Review, 54(1), 64–87.
• Schaltegger, S., & Wagner, M. (2011). Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: Categories and interactions. Business Strategy and the Environment, 20(4), 222–237.
• Hockerts, K., & Wüstenhagen, R. (2010). Greening Goliaths versus emerging Davids—Theorizing about the role of incumbents and new entrants in sustainable entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 25(5), 481–492.
• Pereira, G.I., Niesten, E., & Pinkse, J. (2022). Sustainable energy systems in the making: A study on business model adaptation in incumbent utilities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 174, 121207. 
• Pinkse, J., Lüdeke-Freund, F., Laasch, O., Snihur, Y., & Bohnsack, R. (2023). The Organizational Dynamics of Business Models for Sustainability: Discursive and Cognitive Pathways for Change. Organization & Environment, 36(2), 211–227.
•  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.

ENHANCEMENT OF DIGITAL LITERACY  

Students will learn how to use digital tools to effectively communicate ideas for a sustainable business venture to relevant stakeholders.

They will learn how to produce digital media content such as blogs or podcasts that effectively brings across the main message of their sustainable business venture.

There will be specific attention for various forms of visualization, including short videos, to attract attention of the relevant stakeholders while being aware that these stakeholders will have different expectations. 

STATEMENT TO SUPPORT EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The core topic of this unit concerns how business can create social and environmental value, on top of economic value. The focus of social and environmental value creation shifts the focus towards seeing business as being more inclusive as firms no longer just target affluent customers. Besides, there will be debate and readings about what it means for a firm to have a sustainable business model and how to implement this. The theory behind this highlights the need for business to form partnership with stakeholders – local communities, social activists, suppliers, and/or employees – that either tend to get marginalized or receive unfair compensation when firms implement conventional business models.