Vanessa Campos-Climent

Purpose: This study aims to present a teaching methodology that integrates sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into entrepreneurship education to foster the development of sustainable business models (SBMs) through challenge-based learning (CBL) in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology was implemented over five years at the University of Valencia and the University of Turku, combining CBL with a proprietary framework for designing, testing and scaling SBMs. A systematic literature review (2003–2024) was conducted to support the approach. Findings: Students demonstrated improved understanding of sustainability and SDGs and produced higher quality business plans using sustainability-oriented tools. The methodology enhanced motivation and entrepreneurial competencies and fostered skills that may contribute to employability, while also strengthening collaboration between academia and local industry. Research limitations/implications: The methodology was tested on final-year business administration students in an entrepreneurship course, which may limit generalizability. Students initially struggled with sustainability tools because of prior exposure to traditional business models. Improvements in entrepreneurial skills, employability and SBM design were measured through a year-long group project based on real-world challenges. Practical implications: The approach improves students’ entrepreneurial skills, employability and ability to design SBMs using real-world challenges and tools. Social implications: The approach promotes socially responsible entrepreneurship aligned with the SDGs. Industry engagement was facilitated through the European Center for Innovative Enterprises, which participated in project feedback sessions. Originality/value: This study offers a structured, replicable model for sustainable entrepreneurship education, incorporating tools such as the Triple Layered Business Model Canvas, the Common Good Matrix and the Sustainable Lean Startup. It addresses a gap in entrepreneurship education by embedding sustainability as a core element.

The United Nations defined the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. As a result, an increasing number of companies have integrated sustainable development practices into their activities with the aim of contributing to the SDGs achievement. Similarly, the SDGs implementation becomes an opportunity for companies, since the creation of social and environmental value simultaneously increases economic and financial value. The contribution of cooperative and social economy firms to the SDGs formulation and implementation is noteworthy within the business sphere. The present study aims to identify the existing gaps in the extant literature on management and SDGs applied to cooperative and social economy firms. To this end, the authors conduct a qualitative analysis of published papers on this topic. To do so, the current work performs a bibliometric analysis using a range of scientific databases (WoS, Scopus) over the time period 2015–2023, together with VOSViewer software. Thus, this study identifies the main methodologies employed in previous studies on this topic and the results obtained. This paper evidences the scarcity of published papers analysing the relationship between cooperative management, social economy firms and sustainability as a core strategy.

Corporate sustainability is a multi-stakeholder approach with a Triple or Quadruple Bottom Line focused on long-term horizons and the creation of shared or triple value. The objective of this study is to present a theoretical framework for the implementation and measurement of corporate sustainability within companies and to propose a set of measurement scales for assessing levels of sustainability implementation. This study offers a novel conceptual model that enables the systematic classification and benchmarking of sustainability maturity levels in companies. The methodology involves a literature review and the application of the Dyllick–Muff matrix (2016), which identifies three distinct levels of sustainability: Sustainability 1.0, Sustainability 2.0, and Sustainability 3.0. This framework uses three dimensions: objectives (the “what”), value creation (the “why”), and organizational perspective (the “how”). The study highlights the scarcity of research on the practical implementation of sustainability. Furthermore, there is no widely adopted framework for measuring sustainability implementation. The diversity and fragmentation of existing sustainability measurement models make comparative analysis particularly challenging. This study concludes that the Dyllick–Muff matrix is a suitable tool for determining a company’s level of sustainability and for conducting comparative analyses across organizations.

Extant literature has pointed to a positive relationship between sustainable-driven management and business competitiveness and organizational size as a moderating factor in such a relationship. In this vein, the Economy for the Common Good is a sustainability framework based on stakeholders’ management that allows embedding sustainable behavior into business strategy and counts with a version adapted to organizations working at a smaller scale like entrepreneurial ventures and SMEs. Hence, the present study aims to assess the impact of sustainable financial management implemented using the Economy for the Common Good framework on business competitiveness and the possible moderating effects of organizational size on this relationship. To do so, the authors apply hierarchical regression analysis to data gathered from 206 European enterprises that implemented sustainable-driven financial management using the Economy for the Common Good framework. Results confirmed the positive impact of sustainable financial management on business competitiveness. However, organizational age and size resulted in nonsignificant variables. Thus, we conclude that sustainable financial management using the Economy for the Common Good framework is a suitable tool for implementation in entrepreneurial ventures and SMEs.

En la actualidad, la agenda 2030 ha puesto las preocupaciones sociales y ambientales en el centro de la práctica empresarial. Esto ha impulsado a los nuevos emprendimientos a integrarlos a su modelo de negocio desde sus primeras etapas de desarrollo. Así, muchos de los comportamientos tradicionalmente asociados con las empresas sociales están siendo adoptados por las empresas ordinarias. Este proceso se menciona en la literatura como hibridación. En consecuencia, este enfoque híbrido sostenible adoptado por una cantidad cada vez mayor de nuevas empresas requiere el desarrollo de nuevas herramientas para diseñar, probar y escalar modelos de negocios sostenibles que aborden la integración de las preocupaciones sociales y ambientales en su modelo de negocios desde sus etapas iniciales de desarrollo. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha, no existe una herramienta disponible totalmente capaz de diseñar, probar y escalar modelos de negocios sostenibles. Por lo tanto, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo llenar este vacío en la literatura proporcionando una metodología secuencial que combina el marco de la Economía del Bien Común, el Lean Start-up y el método Delphi. Los autores han desarrollado la metodología docente propuesta en este artículo durante cinco años consecutivos, utilizando la investigación basada en la acción con estudiantes internacionales y locales del Curso de Emprendimiento que se imparte en el Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas de la Universitat de València.

Extant literature has pointed to organizational hybridity to lever sustainable business transformation. Moreover, some authors hold that there is a possible trade-off between sustainability and performance. However, there is still little empirical evidence on the impact that such sustainability-driven hybridization systems have on performance. Thus, the present study’s main goal is to fill this gap by providing empirical evidence on the impact of the implementation of the Economy for the Common Good, as a sustainability-driven organizational system, on business performance. To do so, the authors relied on a sample of 206 businesses from five European countries. Then, the authors followed a quantitative research approach based on a hierarchical regression analysis that allowed them to test for linear, curvilinear, and moderating effects. The authors found a positive relationship between the implementation of a sustainability-driven hybridization system and firm performance. Besides, they identified some curvilinear effects pointing to the existence of a “too much of a good thing” effect, along with some moderating effects derived from organizational size.

Son cada vez más las empresas que están adoptando la sostenibilidad como un enfoque estratégico que garantiza la supervivencia a largo plazo. Más allá de la Responsabilidad Social (RS), se impone un modelo empresarial basado en la triple dimensión económica, social y ambiental, que de acuerdo con el enfoque de la creación de valor compartido de Porter y Kramer, incluya la RS dentro del corazón de la estrategia de la empresa. El modelo de la Economía del Bien Común (EBC), que nace en el centro de Europa en el año 2010 de la mano del profesor de la Universidad de Viena Christian Felber, propone una herramienta, el Balance del Bien Común (BBC), que puede facilitar la implantación de la Sostenibilidad Corporativa en cualquier tipo de organización (pública o privada). El BBC permite medir el impacto social y ambiental de las empresas a través de una serie de variables e indicadores, relacionando cinco valores clave (dignidad humana, solidaridad y justicia social, sostenibilidad ecológica y transparencia y co-participación) con los diferentes stakeholders o grupos de interés. El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en comparar el modelo de la EBC con el enfoque de la Creación de Valor Compartido (CVC) de Porter y Kramer y con la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa, con el objeto de destacar sus principales aportaciones y particularidades.

Organic farming offers the producers the possibility of focusing on their business while obtaining a competitive advantage. Nevertheless, this is centered in specific activities of the production process, thus only creating environmental value. Therefore, it is not an approach based on sustainability. As a consequence of this, it becomes necessary to enlarge this approach toward people (social value) and profitability (economic value). The objective of this work is to describe a tool based on the Economy for the Common Good model applied to the agroecological sector. We propose to adapt the Common Good Matrix to the characteristics of agroecological farms to offer a useful tool to manage and monitor Mediterranean small farms following a sustainability approach. The methodology consists of: (1) A bibliometric analysis of agroecological publications to identify sustainability indicators; (2) Delphi method application to perform a screening among the identified indicators; and (3) the establishment of peer groups of producers to carry out jointly their Common Good Balance Sheets. Eighteen experts participated in the Delphi study, and 15 companies participated in peer groups, of which seven obtained certification as companies of the common good. The bibliometric analysis shows that there is a gap of publications on agroecology and sustainability. The results obtained from peer study confirm that those agroecological companies that apply the adapted Common Good Matrix can implement corporate sustainability more easily.

Over the past decades, sustainability and corporate sustainability have gained a lot of attention. Currently, the focus of attention has shifted to the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into businesses operation. The extant literature points to the proposed frameworks as not fitting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) reality and, also, to a lack of empirical evidence in this field. With research at the intersection of business and SDGs still being scarce, the Economy for the Common Good (ECG) model allows operationalizing the SDGs employing its novel measurement theory. The present study is aimed at completing the statistical validation process of the ECG measurement theory using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on a sample of 206 European firms. Thus, after having performed an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), this study takes as a starting point the previously published knowledge and proceeds with the second step of the statistical validation process. The results of CFA confirm the conclusions of the EFA and allow to redefine the measurement scales included in the ECG framework to achieve a sufficient level of goodness of fit.