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Business Model Innovation for SMEs Sustainability

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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: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 9512

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Uwe Götze

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Chair of Management Accounting and Control, Chemnitz University of Technology, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany
Interests: management accounting and control; investment appraisal; sustainability assessment and management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Marlen Gabriele Arnold

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Corporate Environmental Management and Sustainability, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Technische Universität Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany
Interests: sustainability; management; strategy; innovation; business cases; change; ESD
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Prof. Dr. Paulo Peças

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IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649004 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: sustainable manufacturing and operations management; agile and lean manufacturing; industry 4.0
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Prof. Dr. Inês Ribeiro

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Guest Editor

IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649004 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: sustainability; manufacturing; sustainable business models; life cycle assessment; cost modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to resource depletion, planetary boundaries, globalization, climate crisis, insecurities and transformation, the Agenda 2030 as well as many other reasons, companies need to take care for a sustainable development regarding their resources, processes and products and services as well as whole business models. As a result, business models and business model innovations should be designed considering economic, ecological as well as social aspects. Especially for SMEs, it is very challenging to adjust their business model to sustainability goals and maintain sustainability.

This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers developing and deploying approaches, methods, and tools to support business models and busines models innovation for SMEs with focus on sustainability.

Research papers should present and discuss, among others,

Theories, concepts, methods and tools to substantiate an informed sustainability-oriented decision-making and support sustainable business model innovations under a SME context;
Strategies, methods and guidelines regarding the sustainability evaluation of business models for SMEs;
Empirical studies including case studies regarding the design, evaluation and implementation of sustainable business model innovations of SMEs, including the topics above.

These topics can be addressed by research papers proposing new theories, concepts, methods and tools, review papers presenting an overview of the state-of-the-art as well as empirical studies/case studies exploring and validating the application of theories, concepts, methods and tools in SMEs or the emergence of sustainable business model innovations in such companies.

Prof. Dr. Uwe Götze
Prof. Dr. Marlen Gabriele Arnold
Prof. Dr. Paulo Peças
Prof. Dr. Inês Ribeiro
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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 2400 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 / sustainability business models
business model innovations
sustainability of SMEs
sustainability evaluation

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

29 pages, 3932 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Circular Business Model Strategies Progressing Sustainability in the German Textile Manufacturing Industry

by Marlen Gabriele Arnold, Constanze Pfaff and Thomas Pfaff

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4595; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054595 - 4 Mar 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3797

Abstract

The EU Textile Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles calls for circularity along the whole value chain of textiles. However, little is known about how circularity is already embedded in German manufacturing textile industries due to a lack of literature. Having conducted a survey study in December 2022 and January 2023, the results of 56 participating German manufacturing textile industries will be presented by applying descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis. The study shows that there is already an understanding of circularity including circular strategies in the German textile manufacturing industry. There are companies that apply the following circular business model strategies: upcycling and recycling, product-as-a-service, repair and reuse, and material innovation. Closed-loop supply chain companies are not yet prominent. Many manufacturing textile companies are not prepared yet for a circular transformation. Another finding is that the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles is so far insufficiently known by the respondents of the sample. A more structured provision of information or financial state support should be discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business Model Innovation for SMEs Sustainability)

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22 pages, 637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Socially Responsible Activity of Micro-, Small-, and Medium-Sized Enterprises—Benefits for the Enterprise

by Aurelia Bielawska

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9603; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159603 - 4 Aug 2022

Viewed by 2630

Abstract

As a research hypothesis, it was assumed that micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprise SMEs undertake Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mainly guided by the benefits obtainable from this activity. The aim of the study was to identify the achievable and achieved benefits of undertaking CSR by SME enterprises. SMEs are not obliged to report this activity. The exploration included literature studies and empirical research, according to the expert method, in three stages: (1) selection of experts, (2) collection of information using the CAWI and CATI method, (3) development and interpretation of research results. Research has indicated that CSR is becoming closer to SMEs. The research has shown that experts are implementing CSR and gaining benefits from it. It has also shown that experts’ knowledge of CSR is insufficient, which results in many opportunities resulting from the implementation of this activity being overlooked. The European Commission (EC) guidelines introduced an obligation of reporting CSR only for listed companies; indirectly, this obligation will also affect other companies. Voluntary reporting will increase the knowledge of CSR and bring many benefits to SMEs, provided that a legal framework is created to facilitate the implementation of CSR and its reporting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business Model Innovation for SMEs Sustainability)

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21 pages, 1554 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Synergy between Entrepreneurial Service and Financial Support in Crowd Innovation Space Ecosystem

by Xin Jin, Chunwu Chen and Min Zhang

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 5966; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105966 - 14 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1924

Abstract

Crowd innovation space ecosystem (CISE) can realize the combination of innovation and entrepreneurship and that of incubation and investment. Based on synergetics, this paper defines the agent interactions and subsystem synergy of the CISE, explores the co-evolution mechanism of the CISE and the development trend of the agents in the CISE through simulation experiments, and studies the impact of synergy on the operation scale of the CISE through empirical analysis. The research findings reveal the following: (1) The synergy between financial support and entrepreneurial services affects the evolution and development of the CISE, and the synergy has a positive impact on the operating scale of the CISE. (2) The CISE should focus on improving the quality of financial support and the efficiency of entrepreneurial services, ensuring the coordinated development of financial support and entrepreneurial service, optimizing internal operating mechanisms, and achieving high-quality development. (3) Small and micro startups can rely on the CISE, with the help of entrepreneurial services provided by MMS service platforms and financial support provided by financial institutions, to optimize the external environment, integrate resource endowments, and enhance core values, thereby promoting business model innovation and sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business Model Innovation for SMEs Sustainability)

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