What Makes a Business Model Sustainable? Activities, Design Themes, and Value Functions

Abstract

What makes a business model sustainable? To answer this question, we conducted a systematic review of 390 journal articles on business models for sustainability (BMfS). Building on the activity system perspective, we engaged in an active categorization process, in which we identified 26 activity groups focused on 12 design themes. These activities and design themes are associated with organizations’ potential to use their business models to contribute to sustainable value creation. Our analysis also revealed that the identified activities and design themes can be related to three overarching value functions of BMfS: maintaining, unlocking, and sharing value. Our findings indicate that these value functions play a pivotal role in creating sustainable value through business models. The identified design themes can serve as guiding principles for organizations seeking to make their business models sustainable, while the identified value functions can provide a foundation for theorizing on sustainable value creation through business models.