Sustainable Business Models and their Practices - An explorative study through the lens of Practice Theory in the Hotel Industry

Abstract: Due to the serious problem of greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere driving global warming, the need for sustainable initiatives has become an imperative for companies which leads to the necessity of operating sustainably. However, to avoid taking a weak approach to sustainability, it is imperative for companies to carry out a transition involving all three dimensions (environmental, economic, and social) of sustainability across the organization. In the last decade, one solution often suggested to achieve this objective is to implement a Sustainable Business Model to plan and organize the creation, delivery, and capture of value in a sustainable way. Although the concept was rapidly adopted in the business world, there are still some uncertainties about how Sustainable Business Models are practiced and what makes them successful or not. Therefore, this study addresses this lack of knowledge by exploring the underlying processes of the implementation of a Sustainable Business Model in the Nordic hospitality industry through the lens of Strategy-as-Practice. Strategy-as-Practice is a branch of Practice Theory which considers that strategy is a deeply social phenomenon enacted by the individuals working in the company. In this theoretical view, studying how people understand Sustainable Business Models and what activities are performed within the latter allows us to uncover the meanings, skills and competences enabling the implementation of a Sustainable Business Model. This qualitative study gathered empirical material from eleven semi-structured interviews conducted with hotel sustainability professionals, hotel owners and hotel managers. Six themes emerged from the analysis of the data, showing in particular that the personal involvement and self-awareness of the managers, a right allocation of time and an adequate level of financial investments are key drivers of the practices related to the successful implementation of Sustainable Business Models.