SUSTAINABILITY, KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND FAMILY VALUES: BUSINESS MODELLING AND BUSINESS MODEL AS AN INNOVATIVE “NAVIGATOR” OF NEW BUSINESS PARADIGMS

Today “competitiveness” is shifting toward “sustainability”: firms need to change their business model in order to obtain not only economic performance, but also social and environmental results. The relevance of this topic has been highlighted by United Nation in the Agenda 2030, by EU in the European 2020 Strategic Plan and also by the the Pope in the encyclical “Laudato Si’” where he laments environmental and social degradation. Consequently, the economic-environment-social sustainability became a hot topic. The aim of this paper is to integrate triple sustainability into the theory of business model and so to enrich the literature. In order to reach the goal, the paper first introduces the concept of triple sustainability and reviews all managerial studies on this topic and then it analyzes in depth the existing literature on business model. This study provides a new and more complete definition of business model that includes the concept of triple bottom line and a reconfiguration of “business model canvas” by Alex Osterwalder. I provide a new management tool for business sustainability management called “business sustainability model” that allows firms and practitioners to create more value by integrating social, environmental and business activities.