Understanding the Evolution of Organizations Towards a Sustainable Business Model Within the Framework of the SDGs: The Case of Laboratorio de Hemoderivados-UNC

Responsible Consumption and Sustainability

Springer

Año: 2023; p. 1 - 307

Innovation that takes place in the public sphere is transcendental for the community at large (Agarwal et al., 2021), although it experiences great challenges linked to resources, the capacity to innovate, and the generation of value that reaches the community (Hartley, 2006). Among the possible innovations, the business model deserves special attention as it is relevant to the creation of value for citizens, industry and government, where the different priorities presented by stakeholders deserve careful matching in order to meet diverse expectations.A business model ?describes the logic of how an organization creates, deliversand captures value? (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). Traditional business modelsoften face challenges linked to the prioritization of monetary value at the cost of overexploitation of natural resources, jeopardizing their sustainability in the public interest. It becomes necessary to think of models that allow guaranteeing the interests of multiple stakeholders, benefiting the society and the environment and generating both monetary and nonmonetary value (Pan et al., 2022).With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development by the UnitedNations, and its 17 SDGs, the concept of sustainability has regained vigour, as well as the sustainable business model and innovation in it is gaining momentum.Among the various social organizations called upon to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, universities stand out. They have the ?social responsibility? to promote competencies for sustainable development, not only among their students but also among the community (Franco et al., 2019). Universities play a great role, through linking and raising awareness in society and becoming living experimentation environments for sustainability (Ferguson & Roofe, 2020).The adoption of sustainable business practices and models can be motivated byvarious factors, including the existence of competitive opportunities, the need for compliance and pressure from various stakeholders. Several theories have tried to explain the reason for the incorporation of such practices in both public and private organizations; among them, we can highlight the Legitimacy Theory, the Stakeholder Theory and the Signalling Theory (Hahn & Kühnen, 2013).After having introduced the subject matter of this analysis, the case of the?Laboratorio de Hemoderivados? (Hemoderivados or LH) of the UniversidadNacional de Córdoba (UNC) will be presented as an organization that assumesseveral roles, as a public pharmaceutical company under university managementcommitted with sustainability management in the framework of the SDGs. Therefore, first, the context of the pharmaceutical industry as an actor committed to the SDGs and various sustainable practices will be introduced, to then address the innovation of LH?s sustainable business model in recent years and finally to show how its different sustainable actions are reflected in the organization?s sustainability report.