Sustainable Business Models Through Servant Leadership: Theory and Praxis

Abstract Sustainable business models (SBMs) archetypes have been introduced to develop a common language that can be used to accelerate the development of SBMs in research and practice. The way in which SBMs are triggered by managers or entrepreneurs who act as leader of an organization has not yet been deeply investigated. Accordingly, the works aims to inquire the role of entrepreneurial and managerial leadership style—with a particular focus on servant leadership—in influencing the strategies, the organizational culture and the stakeholders engagement of companies, orienting them toward sustainable business models. After having traced the theoretical background, the empirical research in this chapter helps to shed light on corporate sustainability management and sustainable innovation in daily business and to inquire the extent to which servant leadership allows SBMs implementation. The cases-studies are relative to two Italian large-sized companies (Brunello Cucinelli Spa and Geico Spa) belonging to different sectors and geographical areas, led by managers and entrepreneurs with common traits in their servant leadership styles and characterized by the implementation of distinctive sustainable business models. Findings emphasize the role of the values and ethicalbased conducts of the managers/entrepreneurs in forging the sustainable and servant leadership model and affecting the SBMs adopted by the companies.