Sustainable European business models that drive growth

Realizing that Europe's and most importantly, Earth's resources are finite, governmental bodies, European bodies and businesses seem to be drawn more and more to adopting a circular economy model and regulating their activity in such a fashion to impact the environment less. The world population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, and this calls for protective measures and strategies that allow the European and world population to grow and develop in a sustainable fashion. The Corporate Social Responsibility Europe (CSR Europe) is the leading European business network, formed out of more than 40 National CSR organizations and 45 corporate members from Europe. The main goal the body currently has is to sustain and promote the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Besides, the Enterprise 2020 strategy was developed at a European level to address new ways of learning, communicating and managing businesses in a more sustainable fashion. By collaborating with key-stakeholders in various industries, the Enterprise 2020 has proposed a series of business models that shift the European economy and industry to more sustainable directions and action paths.

Sustainable Business Models in Europe

Business models are action paths that companies in various industries choose to follow to implement the business strategy that defines them. A business model has to clearly identify a strategic supply and meet a strategic demand, to meet certain development trends, macroeconomic environment, technological readiness and labor efficacy, and more. Experts have created throughout the time operative business models which usually consist out of nine coordinates.

• Customer segments;
• Value propositions;
• Channels;
• Customer relationships;
• Revenue sources;
• Key resources;
• Key activities;
• Key partnerships;
• A well-defined structure of their costs.

In the current evolution of the European market and industry climate, business models are expected to become more dynamic and flexible, increase the existing opportunities for product development, intellectual property and financing, but not only. The models described below seem to meet all the demands and coordinates of a sustainable business model and have begun to be widely adopted by companies throughout Europe.

Open Innovation Business Models

Technology today is increasingly intuitive, complex and innovative. New goods or services developed based on an open innovation business model have to use all their internal and external resources in terms of financing, but also sets of skills and knowledge, if they want to deliver innovative services or products. Innovation has to be extensively used in this model's case, as it is desired to shift the traditional industry-based European model to a network-based business model. In an interactive and technologized society, like Europe aims to shortly become, these coordinates have to be met. User and consumer feedback, data and product recommendations have to be taken into account before developing a business plan of this kind. A business plan consultant is most likely to develop a suitable strategy and approach for those companies that aim to adopt a similar business model.

Service Design Business Models

While the products or services developed based on these business models are usually associated with higher prices, these are expected to also be more sustainable and meet all the demands of product lifecycle. These models cover an array of sustainability concepts, which are not this preeminent in other models. The Sustainable Design Centre in Berlin is responsible for creating a new business model based on which the consumer can purchase a product for a fixed price, and return it to the manufacturer after it ends its lifecycle. Similar to the recycling system used in the older days in Europe, this business model is expected to boost sustainability and the recycling rates generated by big European manufacturers. Technological developments allow manufacturers to redesign, rebuilt and reuse old parts of their previous products, which leads to a more sustainable approach to the European manufacturing industry.

The European-Style Management, Sustainability and Responsibility

The European-style management system is developed based on the CSR Europe recommendations and under the pressure of vital ecological and social matters. For businesses, this management style is attractive as they can make themselves distinctive and appealing to the concerned consumer in Europe, but also for the European society as a whole, as they promote core values to aid the development of all social and economic categories, without discrimination. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are extensive and comprehensive and address the following.

• Poverty;
• Hunger;
• Universal health and well-being measures;
• Quality education for all social and economic classes in Europe;
• Clean water and sanitary inhabitation conditions for everybody;
• To promote an ascending economic growth and development, through more sustainable and responsible companies;
• Affordable "green" energy;
• Industrial developments, infrastructural developments and innovation developments;
• Diminished inequality;
• Development of sustainable cities and communities;
• Responsible production and consumption;
• Creating partnerships between manufacturing companies, shareholders and stakeholders in various industries to meet the previously mentioned goals.

The European-style management system aims to place the concepts of responsibility and sustainability at the top of its core values, as it is obvious that these matters cannot be postponed and have to be solved before the end of the Europe 2030 agenda. While many of the issues presented above are societal matters, companies in the manufacturing and service industry have to promote higher standards to sustain and promote a higher living conditions, a more sustainable manufacturing process. A circular economy model has already been adopted by a series of manufacturing companies and it aims to reduce waste, in all environments: landfills, water, food waste etc.

On the other hand, a sensitive economic growth is anticipated for those companies that choose more sustainable and responsible paths in their activity, as these and their products or services become more appealing to the general consumer, shareholders and stakeholders. While sustainability and responsibility were previously thought to be only additional measures to increase the yearly expenses a company has, it has been recently observed that those companies with sustainability policies implemented have higher profits, in spite of the higher expenses associated with such measures and agendas.