Startups’ sustainable business models as reference points for achieving the optimal integration of value networks

For startups, the success of sustainable business models (SBMs) hinges on building integrated value networks, yet conventional network characteristics like breadth and depth often fall short of capturing the degree of integration, and how to achieve such integration remains unclear. This paper explores how stakeholder engagement strategies enable startups to achieve optimal stakeholder integration for SBMs. An exploratory, qualitative study identifies two characteristics – stakeholder resistance and resource flow – to capture the degree of network integration, highlighting that the level of incorporating a sustainability mission into SBMs determines the optimal degrees of both characteristics. Then, this study reveals four engagement strategies – empathy, confidence, exploration and implementation – that influence these characteristics to achieve an optimal integration. Specifically, startups with a strong sustainability mission require low-resistance & high resource integration; those with a medium sustainability mission need moderate levels of both; and weak sustainability mission startups require high-resistance & low resource integration.