The paper 'Promoting textile product repair services in the European setting: do emotions shape consumers’ evaluations?' by Debora Bettiga Marco Mandolfo, and Giuliano Noci examines the factors that enable or hinder sustainable business model innovation (SBMI) across industries. The authors explore how both internal organisational dynamics and external pressures influence firms’ efforts to shift towards more sustainable models, with implications for businesses, policymakers, and support ecosystems alike.

Drawing case studies across various countries the paper identifies four key enablers of successful SBMI: long-term vision, leadership commitment, resource availability, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. Equally important, it flags common barriers such as short-termism, limited internal capabilities, and regulatory ambiguity.

The analysis also differentiates between proactive and reactive SBMI strategies. Proactive innovators tend to integrate sustainability into their core values and long-term planning, while reactive firms adjust their models in response to external drivers such as regulation or market shifts. This distinction helps illustrate the role that enabling environments and cultural shifts play in accelerating system-level change.

Key Takeaways

• Enablers of SBMI include leadership commitment, sufficient internal resources, a long-term sustainability vision, and stakeholder partnerships.
• Common barriers are short-term financial focus, lack of internal knowledge, and unclear or inconsistent regulatory frameworks.
• Proactive firms embed sustainability strategically, while reactive firms adjust due to external pressures, highlighting the importance of culture and mindset.
• A combination of internal capacity and enabling policy or market conditions is vital for driving sustainable business transformations.

The paper highlights the need to address emotional motivations - such as regret or product attachment when designing repair services or campaigns that encourage more sustainable textile behaviour.

Read the full paper 'Promoting textile product repair services in the European setting: do emotions shape consumers’ evaluations?' by Debora Bettiga Marco Mandolfo, and Giuliano Noci here.