In recent years the field of business has come under an unprecedented level of criticism in light of its role in a number of social, environmental and economic issues present in today’s society. Even though a paradigm shift that would radically improve its environmental and social performance has been strongly evoked, there has been little empirical analysis and theoretical discussions around the characteristics of such a change.
This research identifies such a paradigmatic change, and using a constructivist approach to grounded theory methodology sets its theoretical basis under the name of Valuedecentrism. Furthermore it develops a tool using the concepts of business model and eco-innovation, concepts which actually guided the way towards defining the new paradigm as well.
Through the obtained conceptual results this work intends to offer, on the one hand, a solution to motivate the business practitioners to take action in the background of the current environmental challenges and, on the other hand, to help environmental researchers enhance a higher degree of collaboration with the business sphere.