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In recent years, increasing resource consumption worldwide has alarmed experts. This problem contributes to the need for more ecological solutions and processes including the use of renewable energies, which reduces organizations’ environmental impact. To find ways to improve new green solutions and process integration, researchers need to study and measure these innovation effects, especially on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, evaluating renewable energy impacts on SMEs is not as easy as would first appear. This challenge can be addressed by developing an analysis model to mitigate the limitations of recent studies and, concurrently, deal with this complex subjective issue. In this article, the combined use of cognitive mapping and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique facilitated the generation of a complete, transparent, and informed model that can help managers make better decisions in this context. Specifically, grounded in intensive group work sessions with renewable energy specialists, the results address some of the limitations of more generic models and include a multicriteria analysis system that provides guidelines for renewable energy management practices, with the potential to improve SME performance. To enable a fuller interpretation of the decision problem in question, the most important indicators were identified and the cause-and-effect relationships between these criteria were analyzed. The findings were validated by the panel members and a member of the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association. The advantages and limitations of the proposed model are also discussed.

The research background rests on the shortcomings of existing electronic business development models. The main aspects of the framework for e-business development as a prerequisite for sustainable competitive advantage are based on an analysis of scientific literature on sustainable competitive advantage and electronic business development. The paper aims to form a framework of electronic business development model oriented at the creation of sustainable competitive advantage for the enterprise. The research methodology consists of the critical analysis of e-business development and the analysis and related theories of the sustainable competitive advantage activities based on task-oriented questions that were met using the method of essential components identification. The main research findings are presented in the form of newly formed framework for the development of an electronic business that integrates the goals of economic, ecologic, and social dimensions into the IT-driven business activities. The framework is based on four dimensions identified as key to the company and influenced by the use of information technology: the dimensions of interoperability and robustness that incorporate external environment factors; value creation that includes the internal environment; the productivity dimension that includes changes to IT infrastructure and separation of key business areas.