Harnessing AI Capacities for Sustainable Business Models: Empowering Firms Across Economic, Social, and Environmental Dimensions
通过对11家意大利化妆品公司CEO和高管的访谈，研究揭示了AI能力如何通过动态能力推动可持续商业模式创新，包括产品个性化、流程自动化和预测分析等最佳实践。
The rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries by enabling cost reduction, personalised solutions, and improved customer service. AI also supports sustainability by facilitating data-driven decisions, operational efficiency, and better management of environmental and social externalities. However, a gap persists between technological potential and the effective adoption of sustainable and responsible business practices. This study explores how AI capacities contribute to sustainable business model (SBM) innovation, focusing on the Italian cosmetics sector. Based on a qualitative analysis of interviews with chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior managers from 11 companies, the research highlights how dynamic capabilities (DCs) powered by AI capacities enable organisations to sustainably enhance value creation, delivery, and capture. The findings identify best practices that leverage AI for sustainability, including product personalisation, process automation, and predictive analytics. The study provides actionable insights into how AI-based systems can drive both innovation and sustainability. Building on these insights, the paper proposes a theoretical framework that conceptualises the link between lower-order AI capacities, high order DCs, and SBM innovation. Within this framework, best practices emerge as the operational outcome of AI-enabled DCs: they not only innovate processes and practices but also act as catalysts that transform and reconfigure the business model itself towards sustainability. By contextualising these insights within a sector-specific framework, the paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge on AI's role in supporting sustainable business transformation.