(Image above from Presidio Graduate School. (2021, 14 mei). Business Sustainability Booster (BSB) for Business Model Canvas (BMC). )
The Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a fundamental tool for both understanding and creating or changing businesses. It diagrams costs, revenues, your customers, suppliers, and more, so you can make sure they all align. A normal BMC is generally
only about economic profit, not about sustainability or other values. However, the Presidio BMC sustainability booster lists environmental and social sustainability considerations for each part of the BMC. It’s a qualitative and creative tool but it can’t quantify whether one business model is better than another. It helps you assess an existing business and helps you generate ideas for improvement in all aspects of a business.
A fast summary of the Presidio Business Model Canvas Sustainability Booster by Marsha Willard. Presented by Jeremy Faludi, professor of sustainable design engineering at TU Delft.
Usage
The Sustainability Booster is the normal BMC with added questions in each BMC box. It doesn’t tell you what to do, it just adds the prompts to help you innovate. Because each box of the BMC is different, there are different questions in each box. Each prompt has a one-page “card” describing why it’s important and listing specific questions to brainstorm.
Benefits
- Many sustainability initiatives can lead to cost savings in the long run. By analysing the business model through the lens of sustainability, opportunities for resource optimization, waste reduction, energy efficiency, and other cost-saving measures can be identified.
- Sustainability considerations can help businesses mitigate risks associated with environmental regulations, supply chain disruptions, and changing consumer preferences
Limitations/Risks
- Sustainability boosters do not advise on prioritising components in the Business model Canvas. Balancing sustainability goals with other business objectives, such as profitability and growth, can be challenging. In some cases, pursuing sustainability may require trade-offs that impact short-term financial performance or, which may not always align with shareholder expectations or market demands.
- Before formulating any future strategies within the Business Model Canvas through a sustainability lens, it is essential to have dependable data and select suitable key performance indicators (KPIs).