Sustainable Business Models of Small-Scale Renewable Energy Systems: Two Resource-Scarce Approaches for Design and Manufacturing

We need to pay attention to both the design and manufacturing and business model approaches when analysing the sustainability of firms. Though there is increasing literature on the sustainable business model, little attention has been paid to solution design's implication for the sustainability of the business model. In this article, I compare the solution design and business model approaches of two similar small-scale bioenergy solutions (using the high-income context in a developed country and the low-income context in a developing country). The sustainability perspective is integrated into the business model framework, and the implications of technological solutions to business models are analysed. I demonstrate in this study that while a high-tech solution in the high-income context has been able to integrate technological and organisational sustainability into its business model, a low-tech solution in the low-income context has mainly focused on social sustainability, has not paid attention to ecological sustainability and is struggling with financial sustainability.