Sustainable business models and small- and medium-sized enterprises – A literature review

Recent developments show that an increasing number of organisations, regardless of type and size, understand that there is a need for them to make an active contribution to society, both socially and environmentally, while maintaining their financial profitability. It is no longer possible to waste resources and ignore the expectations of both internal and external stakeholders. To address these developments, all organisations are required to adapt their business models. Against this background, this paper provides a systematic review of the extant research on sustainable business models (SBMs) in smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to establish the current body of knowledge and, on this basis, to suggest some promising avenues for future research. Given the impact of SMEs on the majority of economies and their consequent role in addressing present and future societal challenges, there is a clear justification for this study. The review of 85 refereed articles shows that, although a good body of knowledge about the topic has been developed during the period covered in this study, there is still a need for further rigorous research. It appears that certain shortcomings, stressed by some researchers in the past, still prevail. The study’s findings advance the current understanding of SBMs in SMEs and highlight several promising research avenues that scholars who are interested in the study of SBMs, in general, and SBMs in SMEs, in particular, might address.