Creation of business value is a major objective of any enterprise, but the way in which value is created and its consequences call for re-evaluation in response to current sustainability goals. The agricultural sector serves basic human needs, but its systems and methods for production, processing, and consumption often pose challenges to sustainable development. To address these challenges, this study consolidated value-creating factors identified in a systematic literature review into nine clusters: collaboration, communication, knowledge, production, diversification, entrepreneurism, funding, policies, and inclusiveness. These clusters were analyzed with a Triple Bottom Line framework where financial, environmental, and social dimensions are part of sustainable development. The analysis revealed that agricultural enterprises pursue business activities in a near-term perspective, with few having strategies for long-term activities such as innovativeness, knowledge acquisition, and collaboration with external stakeholders. These findings highlight the complexity in creation of sustainable business value and call for further investigation of how value is conceptualized in the agricultural sector. Re-thinking value creation in the sector should consider why value is created, for whom, the time perspective in which value is assessed, and the aspects given weight in the assessment.

The agricultural sector in Sweden, as elsewhere, is affected by increased intensification and specialisation, leading to fewer and larger farms. The majority of agricultural firms acquire profits by pushing an economies of scale strategy, which is not always possible for small farms. However, there are alternative strategies. This teaching case focuses on a small farm in Sweden and offers students an opportunity to study the management of business model innovation in this context. The case explores the value creation strategy of a cattle farm and applies activities such as mapping a business model, developing suggestions for business model innovation, analysing existing and lacking managerial competences and pinpointing implications for agricultural policy. As a result, profitability, competitiveness and sustainability of the study farm should be achieved, together with acquisition of knowledge and skills by its owner. This educational case is suitable for agricultural students of different levels requiring knowledge of business and management.

Society is facing global challenges, such as poverty and climate change, that affect entire ecosystems and human communities. Many sustainability challenges arise from existing production and consumption patterns, and thus many believe that business transformation to sustainability is essential to solving global socio-ecological problems. Understanding how sustainable business models are configured, and why companies adopt them, can be a pathway to system transformation. However, because of the complexity of sustainability challenges, they resist simple solutions and require innovative approaches. This thesis explored the potential for transformation to sustainability from the viewpoint of business model transformation in agri-food businesses, to understand why and how transformation happens, and how it can be facilitated at systems level. The focus on businesses in the agri-food sector was chosen to improve understanding of sustainable value creation in the agricultural and food production sector by transformation of business models to include sustainability. Creation of sustainable value through transformation of agricultural business models for sustainability, which act as a unifying structure for policy implementation by integrating the strategic, procedural and operational activities of a business, was analysed. The results revealed managerial, organisational and inter-organisational processes related to this transformation, which were further conceptualised. Examination of the concept of value in the agri-food sector and the business models of agri-food companies revealed a multiplicity of value creation activities, a range of motives for sustainable business model transformation and interconnectivity between companies and their surrounding environment. Overall, the results showed that sustainability can be placed at the core of an organisation. A novel contribution to the conceptual domain was creation of a new framework for sustainable value creation in the agri-food sector. This framework emphasises the need for simultaneous and equal integration of economic, social and environmental principles of sustainable development in value creation logic. It builds on the open character of sustainable business models and recognises theimportance of inter-organisational interactions to navigate transformation to sustainability. In particular, the framework promotes a more contextualised perspective on business model research, paying particular attention to multi-stakeholder interactions, learning, leadership and individual beliefs of key decision-makers.

Chapter 7, written by Vera Sadovska, Oksana Mont and Yuliya Voytenko Palgan, explores the economic sustainability of food-sharing initiatives (FSIs). Bringing together insights from a systematic literature review and empirical research in Barcelona, the chapter examines the economic challenges FSIs face, such as managing operational costs, obtaining funding and dealing with regulatory complexities. Some challenges are typical for all FSIs, while others are unique to different organisations and contexts. The chapter proposes a classification of costs associated with FSIs, including asset, operational, administrative, personnel, communication, public relations and legal compliance costs. Empirical findings highlight specific challenges in Barcelona's FSIs, emphasising the role of local government and stakeholders in supporting economic viability through grants, subsidies and partnerships. The chapter underscores the balance FSIs must maintain between social missions and financial sustainability and calls for innovative funding models and further research into economic strategies for FSIs in urban settings.