One Field, Many Fictions? A Clarifying Taxonomy of Sustainability‐Oriented Business Model Concepts
Business Strategy and the Environment
Published online on August 05, 2026
Abstract
["Business Strategy and the Environment, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nSustainability‐Oriented Business Models (SOBMs) represent promising solutions to sustainability challenges, but their potential is constrained by a fragmented conceptual landscape with inconsistently defined and utilized key constructs. This fragmentation limits the SOBM field's cumulative development and practitioners' ability to select and implement SOBMs aligned with their sustainability objectives. We identified 16 key SOBM concepts through a systematic literature review, developing structured definitions in terms of goals, mechanisms, and enablers. We then constructed a taxonomy classifying the concepts by category, sustainability orientation, and impact, and formalized their relationships in an ontology. Our findings reveal that SOBM concepts span categorically distinct classes, a distinction often conflated in the literature. Environmental and economic orientations dominate, while social sustainability and net‐positive impact remain underrepresented, indicating the SOBM field emphasizes harm reduction over restorative objectives. Our framework offers scholars a reference point for cumulative research and practitioners a clearer basis for SOBM selection and implementation.\n"]