Knowledge Agora



Scientific Article details

Title Mainstreaming Business Models for Sustainability in Mature Industries: Leveraging Alternative Institutional Logics for Optimal Distinctiveness
ID_Doc 65380
Authors Vernay, AL; Cartel, M; Pinkse, J
Title Mainstreaming Business Models for Sustainability in Mature Industries: Leveraging Alternative Institutional Logics for Optimal Distinctiveness
Year 2022
Published Organization & Environment, 35.0, 3
DOI 10.1177/10860266221079406
Abstract Addressing global sustainability challenges requires a mainstreaming of business models for sustainability (BMfS) in mature industries. However, the presence of an already dominant mainstream business model in an industry tends to hold back BMfS. This article investigates how new types of BMfS can become generally accepted and widely adopted in an industry. It presents a qualitative study of the mainstreaming of BMfS in the Dutch electricity industry. The findings show that this process depends on entrepreneurs' capacity to (1) incorporate alternative institutional logics into the design of BMfS to achieve optimal distinctiveness and (2) to directly alter the dominant institutional logic of the industry to make it more conducive to BMfS. Furthermore, successful BMfS act as anomalies that indirectly alter the industry's dominant institutional logic. Anomalies support a self-reinforcing loop that accelerates the mainstreaming process. We integrate these findings into a dynamic model of the mainstreaming of BMfS.
Author Keywords business models for sustainability; institutional; logics; business model innovation; sustainable entrepreneurship; electricity industry
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000776729200001
WoS Category Environmental Studies; Management
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Business & Economics
PDF https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10860266221079406
Similar atricles
Scroll