We explore how sustainability companies deliver Artificial Intelligence powered (AI-Powered) solutions for Business Model Innovation (BMI) and how they balance between ecological, economic, and social value across diverse industries and company sizes.
We adopt qualitative semi-structured interviews with the top 20 sustainability executives and founders in the Netherlands as a unique context of sustainability.
We found differences between large and small sustainability companies from the Technological, Organisational, and Environmental (TOE) perspectives. Technically AI is instrumental for operational efficiency, real-time environmental monitoring, and supply chain traceability. Organisationally, sustainability companies focus on design-led approaches, bottom-up innovation, and AI–strategy alignment. Environmentally, they face challenges such as supply chain collaboration resistance, the impact of regulation, and market readiness.
This study offers original multi-case evidence from the Netherlands, providing a systemic framework based on the TOE theory to reconceptualise AI not just as a facilitator but as a foundational input shaping sustainable BMI.
It guides sustainability executives and SMEs’ founders to embed AI efficiently to align with client values.
Mohamad, M., Balıkel, A. E., Chowdhury, D., Russell, C., and Mahmoud, S. (2026): Artificial Intelligence for Business Model Innovation in Digital Sustainability Companies: Multiple Cases from the Netherlands. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development (WJEMSD), Vol. 22, Nos 1-2, pp. 71-87.
