Volume 27, 2016
Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting
Michael Kohlgrüber
Pages 101-111
The Emergence and Diffusion of Sustainable Business Model Innovations in Retail Logistics From an Institutional Theory Perspective
In this paper empirical findings and theoretical explanations are presented on how sustainable business model innovations emerge and diffuse in the practices of retail logistics companies. This entails different forms of sustainable business model innovations (BMI) depending on the type of company as well as different interacting factors that drive their emergence and diffusion. This paper contends that neither the institutional environment nor the initiatives of agents alone can explain these processes but an intersection between both can do – within an institutional theory. This means that win-win-situations between companies and relevant stakeholders are an important precondition for sustainable business model innovations. There are also intersections of different reasons driving the emergence and diffusion of sustainable BMI. These reasons are legitimacy, instrumentally rational and value-rational reasons.