Building a Sustainable Business Model: Incentives and Benefits for Adopting Green Entrepreneurship Practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines sustainable business models (SBMs) as a strategic response to environmental pressure, changing consumer preferences and tightening regulation, and asks what incentives and benefits are associated with adopting green entrepreneurship practices. It uses a descriptive, document-based design. Company sustainability and annual reports for seven firms in six sectors (2019–2021), together with regional and industry reports, are analysed under a framework that draws on Stakeholder Theory, the Resource-Based View and Diffusion of Innovations Theory. The firms were selected purposively, and their figures are self-reported. The study therefore keeps its own findings apart from the arguments established in prior literature and treats the results as associations, not causal effects. The reported evidence points to cost savings, revenue growth in sustainability-linked lines, brand loyalty and operational resilience, but the benefits differ widely by sector and region and are hardest to realise in agriculture, energy and small firms. The study also considers cases in which sustainability investment does not yield immediate returns or conflicts with short-term business priorities, and it sets out why outcomes are difficult to compare across sectors. Recommendations are offered for SMEs, policymakers and future research.