Chapter 3.2: A Stakeholder-Theory Based Canvas for Sustainable Business Models

Organizations worldwide increasingly understand the importance of sustainability and the necessity to change their business models accordingly. In order to support this process, academics and practitioners have proposed numerous tools which help organizations develop, analyze, and communicate business models. However, the applicability of these tools in the context of sustainability is limited due to several shortcomings regarding the insufficient characterization of captured value and the negligence of relevant stakeholders, their demands for sustainable values, and their positions within the value chain. We propose a sustainable business model canvas (SUBMOC) which synthesizes the widely used business-model canvas of Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) and stakeholder theory. By illustrating the case of a sustainability-oriented start-up, we demonstrate that the SUBMOC is an intuitive and easy-to-use tool which overcomes the highlighted shortcomings. We discuss several implications for business model research and practice.