TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustainable business model adoption among S&P 500 firms
T2 - A longitudinal content analysis study
AU - Ritala, Paavo
AU - Huotari, Pontus
AU - Bocken, Nancy
AU - Albareda, Laura
AU - Puumalainen, Kaisu
N1 - Accepted author manuscript
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - In this study, we examine the diversity of sustainable business models adopted by the largest global corporations — those listed in the S&P 500 index — over the period 2005–2014. We examine press release communications during this period, which represent public data about business-relevant events. We expect that examining this communication can reveal longitudinal patterns in the adoption of sustainable business activities and models. Empirically, we utilize academic and practitioner expert panels to build a set of keywords across nine sustainable business model archetypes and utilize automated content analysis to examine the breadth and nature of a firm's sustainable business activities and practices. We find evidence of the increasing prominence of different types of sustainable business models over time. In particular, the results show that large capitalized firms have mostly adopted the environmentally-oriented archetypes, and to much lesser extent the societal and organizational ones.
AB - In this study, we examine the diversity of sustainable business models adopted by the largest global corporations — those listed in the S&P 500 index — over the period 2005–2014. We examine press release communications during this period, which represent public data about business-relevant events. We expect that examining this communication can reveal longitudinal patterns in the adoption of sustainable business activities and models. Empirically, we utilize academic and practitioner expert panels to build a set of keywords across nine sustainable business model archetypes and utilize automated content analysis to examine the breadth and nature of a firm's sustainable business activities and practices. We find evidence of the increasing prominence of different types of sustainable business models over time. In particular, the results show that large capitalized firms have mostly adopted the environmentally-oriented archetypes, and to much lesser extent the societal and organizational ones.
KW - Sustainable business models
KW - Sustainability
KW - Content analysis
KW - Large cap
KW - S&P 500
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:775fe80b-b306-47b8-ae25-9195b7f69985
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.159
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.159
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 170
SP - 216
EP - 226
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
ER -