Competitive Advantages of Sustainable Startups: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Directions

Adriano Martins de Souza (), Fabio Neves Puglieri and Antonio Carlos de Francisco
Additional contact information
Adriano Martins de Souza: Sustainable Production Systems Laboratory (LESP), Postgraduate Program of Production Engineering (PPGEP), Federal University of Technology—Parana (UTFPR), R. Doutor Washington Subtil Chueire 330—Jardim Carvalho, Ponta Grossa 84017-220, Parana, Brazil
Fabio Neves Puglieri: Sustainable Production Systems Laboratory (LESP), Postgraduate Program of Production Engineering (PPGEP), Federal University of Technology—Parana (UTFPR), R. Doutor Washington Subtil Chueire 330—Jardim Carvalho, Ponta Grossa 84017-220, Parana, Brazil
Antonio Carlos de Francisco: Sustainable Production Systems Laboratory (LESP), Postgraduate Program of Production Engineering (PPGEP), Federal University of Technology—Parana (UTFPR), R. Doutor Washington Subtil Chueire 330—Jardim Carvalho, Ponta Grossa 84017-220, Parana, Brazil

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-24

Abstract: Growing awareness of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues drives a significant transformation in the global business environment, making sustainability an urgent necessity and a source of competitive advantage. However, despite advances in research, there are still significant gaps in how these practices can confer competitive advantages to startups. We seek to fill this gap by conducting a systematic literature review on the competitive advantages of sustainable startups. We used the PRISMA 2020 protocol to conduct a comprehensive search in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, which led to the inclusion of 44 articles in the final review. The results indicate that sustainable startups align economic and environmental benefits, promote continuous innovation, attract investment, mitigate regulatory risks, and adapt quickly to market changes. The analysis reveals that adopting advanced technologies and circularity strategies is critical to operational efficiency and regulatory compliance. In addition, this study has mapped gaps in the literature, identifying key areas for future research into the competitive advantages of sustainable startups.

Keywords: sustainable startups; competitive advantages; sustainability; innovation; sustainable investment; systematic literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7665/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7665/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7665-:d:1470793

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().