Driving Business Models Toward Sustainability in Arctic Nature Tourism

Sahebalzamani, Samira

doi:10.1590/1982-7849rac2021190384.en

Samira Sahebalzamani * Corresponding Author

UiT The Arctic University of Norway, School of Business and Economics, Tromso, Norway.

Authorship Samira Sahebalzamani* UiT The Arctic University of Norway, School of Business and Economics, Breivangvegen 23, 9010 Tromsø, Norway. E-mail address: samira.sahebalzamani@uit.no, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0740-6850

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0740-6850

* Corresponding Author

Editor-in-chief: Wesley Mendes-Da-Silva (Fundação Getulio Vargas, EAESP, Brazil)

Associate Editor: Elin Oftedal (The Artic University of Norway, Norway)

Reviewers: Two reviewers chose not to disclose their identities.

Peer Review Report: The disclosure of the Peer Review Report was not authorized by its reviewers.

Authorship

Samira Sahebalzamani* UiT The Arctic University of Norway, School of Business and Economics, Breivangvegen 23, 9010 Tromsø, Norway. E-mail address: samira.sahebalzamani@uit.no, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0740-6850

Conflict of Interests

The authors have stated that there is no conflict of interest.

Authors' Contributions

1^st author: conceptualization (lead); data curation (lead); formal analysis (lead); methodology (lead); software (lead); visualization (lead); writing - original draft (lead); writing - review & editing (lead).

Author(s)	Methodology	External drivers	Internal drivers
Andreini and Bettinelli (2017)Andreini, D., & Bettinelli, C. (2017). Business model innovation: From systematic literature review to future research directions. New York: Springer.	Literature review	Networking, cooperation, and sustainability opportunities	Activities, organizational capabilities, and managerial cognitive processes
Rauter et al., 2017Rauter, R., Jonker, J., & Baumgartner, R. (2017). Going one’s own way: Drivers in developing business models for sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140 (Part 1), 144-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.104 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.0...	Case study	Legal regulation	Employee satisfaction, commitment, organizational culture, leaders and their values, and corporate strategies
Foss and Saebi (2017)Foss, N., & Saebi, T. (2017). Fifteen years of research on business model innovation: How far have we come, and where should we go? Journal of Management, 43(1), 200-227. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316675927 https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316675927...	Literature review	Change in competition, network stakeholders demand, technologies, and regulations	Change in strategies, dynamic capabilities, organizational values, culture, leadership, and managerial cognition
Bossle et al., 2016Bossle, M., Barcellos, M. de, Vieira, L., & Sauvee, L. (2016). The drivers for adoption of eco-innovation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 113, 861-872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.11.033 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.1...	Literature review	Change in technology, regulatory and normative pressures, market demand, and cooperation with external stakeholders	Efficiency, managers' concerns, leadership, human resource, culture, encouraging the suppliers, and corporate environmental strategies
Stampfl (2016)Stampfl, G. (2016). The process of business model innovation: An empirical exploration. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler; Springer Fachmedien.	Case study	Customers, economic pressures, stakeholders, and context	Top management involvement, commitment, culture, processes, and employees
Zollo et al. (2013)Zollo, M., Cennamo, C., & Neumann, K. (2013). Beyond what and why: understanding organisational evolution towards sustainable enterprise models. Organization & Environment, 26(3), 241-259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026613496433 https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026613496433...	Conceptual study	Competitors, policy makers, stakeholders, and broader society	Motivations and aspirations

Cases' name^* * All the names are fictive.	Established year	Location	Activities	Interviewee	Eco-certified
Vegex	2017	Alta	Northern lights safari, whale safari, fjord safari, tours related to national parks and Sami culture, food, and accommodation	Founder/CEO and main tour guide	No
Hunder	2011	Alta	Food, accommodation, and dogsledding	Founder/ CEO	Yes
Auro	1965	Alta	Food, accommodation, northern lights safari, snowmobile safari, ice fishing, and reindeer safari	Marketing manager	No
Øya	2001	Varanger	Accommodation, guided bird-watching, and northern lights tours	Founder/ CEO	Yes
Archart	2012	Varanger	Nature-based architecture (bird hides and wind shelters), and providing online content	Founder/ CEO	No

Internal driver	Related theme	Examples (quotes)	SBM principles
Internal driver	Related theme	Examples (quotes)	Sustainability orientation	Extended value creation	Systematic thinking	Stakeholder integration
Founder	Founder's sense of responsibility toward nature, animals, society, and partners. Engaging with the local community as well as supporting other actors and partners.	"When new companies come you shouldn't just sit back, ..., you need to meet them and engage with them" (Archart) "It is a MUST that we have to be sustainable with a society around us." (Auro)		×		×
	Founder's time perspective depending on different attitudes toward sustainability, whether pursuing long-run approach albeit it seems costly in the short-run. It also determines how employment policies are formed to inspire employees.	"If you have short term financial perspective, you just want to grab as much as you can by acting not sustainable, ..., but not economically clever, ..., and not just for the sustainability but also the financial perspective." (Archart)	×		×
	Founder's perspective in communicating the company's values and performance to the public through an open and transparent approach.	Pursuit of such approach leads to attract individuals who are eager to cooperate, as they have similar (sustainability) concerns and personal values. Such open practices can provide the local community with clear information regarding the company's green profile.				×
	Commitment toward the necessities of the certificate.	The founders who have their businesses eco-certified try to remain dedicated to the label liabilities.+	×
Organizational culture	A responsible culture, as this study realized, is defined as stimulating an organizational culture that not only inspires the organization internally but can also contribute to building up awareness surrounding the company, namely, among tourists, public, and partners.	Such a culture results in active contribution of Archart in playing the role of a destination development company.	×	×
	An open and transparent approach to seek the individuals who have the best fit with their culture and organizational values.	Hunder and Auro define their culture as one that attempts to cherish and inspire employees to enhance their contribution in defining a company's sustainable performance. "Every fall, ..., we have new staff, ..., I explain to them like a full day, ..., their behavior, ..., important that they feel that they are 'Hunder ,' a business that thinks about sustainability so they have to do it, ..., for me it is a way of living, ..., so it doesn't make any difference to think like that." (Hunder)	×
	Flat structure.	"It is in our bones, it is a culture in 'Auro .' If you should be working here, you should have this under your hood, ..., we will be stronger together, it is a big team." (Auro)	×
Internal resources	The most important internal resource is the employees who fulfill the related education requirement. Moreover, the crucial role of employees is highlighted in regard to quality enhancement and creating activities from scratch, therefore companies are willing to offer long-term contracts instead of seasonal contracts. To ensure the delivery of sustainable values, the companies point to their focus on hiring the right people who are more likely to acknowledge organizational values.	"I'd like to employ people that appreciate the whole thinking we have, ..., we are attracting the people we want to hire, so it is not so much job for us going out searching for the right person." (Archart) "That is the uniqueness we have in our staff, ..., they are locals, and we don't have to carry them by airplanes and pay them high salaries." (Auro) "All of our guides should have arctic education from UiT" (Vegex, the founder), "my education is Arctic Nature Guide focusing on taking care of the nature." (Vegex, the tour guide) "We don't want to hire seasonal workers who have better skills than people from Alta, we prefer the locals." (Auro) "It costs more money, but in the long run that's worth it, ..., we use our employees more than anybody else." (Hunder)	×	×
	The reliance on particular knowledge to develop the activities.	Such knowledge is internalized through hiring the right people from local community. (Auro)	×
	The natural resources and the efficient usage of them.	Efficient usage of water and electricity, eco-efficient engines with less pollution, and short-distance traveling perspectives associated with procurement and employees.	×		×
Certificate	Being certified is not perceived as a significant driver toward sustainability.	Out of the two certified companies (Hunder and Øya), one believes that holding this certificate is a means to evaluate and review the performance and resulted in making improvements, while the other states that this certificate did not impact their business significantly, as the procedures dealing with certificate and renewing it are more bureaucratic than a driver. Based on the other three companies not holding this certificate, two (Auro and Archart) do not believe that being certified can assist the businesses to transform toward sustainability. They argue that the certificate is more about formalities, a 'bureaucratic exercise' (Archart), and built upon definitions and assumptions that do not seem sound and solid (Auro). Additionally, Vegex postpones the certificate for the future to satisfy the upcoming customers who will demand such certificates since certificate would become increasingly crucial for the customers when choosing their tour operator (Vegex); thus, the founder does not point to the certificate as a driver.

External driver	Related theme	Examples (quotes)	SBM principles
External driver	Related theme	Examples (quotes)	Sustainability orientation	Extended value creation	Systematic thinking	Stakeholder integration
Tourist	Tourist segments can perform as either a driver or barrier. Three tourist segments are recognized as responsible, common, and irresponsible tourists.	'Responsible tourists' have serious concerns regarding sustainability, thus they require the company to operate in an eco-friendly manner. 'Irresponsible tourists' are described by Archart as the tourists who are actively seeking to take photos of very rare and endangered birds and animal species. This company tries not to expose these habitats, as it can cause animal and bird disturbance, forcing them to leave their habitats in which they have been living for hundreds of years. Vegex reflects upon 'common tourists' demands, saying that "the RIB boat is not eco-friendly compared to kayaking, but people still ask for such activities, ..., [customers] don't care about CO2 engines produce."	×	×	×
	Educating and increasing awareness.	The companies create sustainable value through educating the tourists about nature, animals, and the local community and shaping their behavior through increasing their awareness. In contrast, Vegex, which is not integrating relatively strong sustainability practices into its BM, explicitly mentions that the company does not have intention to educate the tourists.	×	×	×
	Providing information and knowledge.	The purpose of the company is limited to keeping the tourists informed of different aspects without any educational purpose in the form of stories behind the places, nature, animals, local culture, the company's sustainable approach, and activities to ensure a more authentic experience.	×
External resources	The natural environment.	Purposeful pursuit of practices focusing on nature and animal protection enables a company to present these habitats every year, as quite untouched. "It is a fragile habitat that has a bird life, ..., we have chosen not to tell you about it and having that consciousness about where we advise people to go, that's a huge part of the sustainability." (Archart)	×	×	×
	The key materials for developing activities and conducting the business in the long run.	Companies highly depend on establishing long-term relationships with local suppliers to make effective partnerships, although they could have the opportunity to receive the same materials with a higher quality from other suppliers (not local).	×	×		×
	Make contribution into the scientific knowledge pool.	Such contribution creates value for both society and environment via either initiating projects or active collaboration within the external research projects. Archart has launched a project focusing on bird conservation through establishing regional bird-ringing stations to both increase awareness across the community and contribute to the scientific knowledge.	×	×	×	×
Actors-stakeholders	Cooperating with stakeholders to benefit them, engage with them, and encourage them to contribute to the SD of the destination.	"The sustainability is about how we are setting up the whole tourism scene to benefit the whole local community, and not just economically by supporting one big company." (Archart) Auro also affirms that they follow a strategy in which newly established companies receive support as they have all the settlements and supply chain already in place in order to assist these newcomers in establishing their own networks.	×	×	×	×
	Companies are forced to adopt a sustainable orientation as receiving pressure from the partners with strong concerns.	Company has to adjust its perspective according to those partners to establish a continuous partnership; otherwise, the company might lose those partners.	×	×	×	×
	Company might decline some partnerships to maintain its sustainable performance or it may keep such a performance to attract the partners with mutual concerns.	Hunder and Øya, both have been certified, express the notion of being selective in terms of various stakeholders.	×	×	×	×
Issue or challenge	Arctic context raises the concern over the possible environmental degradation, harm, disturbance of animal and bird habitats. Solutions that a company figures out to manage the negative impacts can create sustainable value for both the environment and upcoming businesses that may offer the same natural context.	Archart strives to place the wind shelters at certain locations to guide birdwatchers through specific tracks in nature to make their patterns of moving predictable for birds. Archart also highlights that previously, they withdrew some of their wind shelters at particular locations after assessing the risk and harm. Auro stopped offering an activity that would cause harm: "we had one special product that we haven't started yet and probably will not, ..., and it is ATV tours, ..., doing trips in the nature, ..., but we don't want to use those engines because they are destroying the nature, they make tracks that will not grow."	×	×	×
	Carbon footprint of some activities and vehicles, thus the company is expected to seek ways to make the least amount of pollution as possible.	A company might consider replacing the current vehicles and snowmobiles with more eco-friendly engines. (Auro) However, an obstacle hindering the transformation toward applying more eco-friendly engines is transaction costs that may slow down the company's transition. (Auro)	×	×	×
	A lack of municipality support.	This challenge is expressed by two cases, as it puts the burden on the actors to enhance the sustainable performance of the destination (Archart). Auro commented that a lack of destination management organization (DMO) in Alta increases the actors' responsibility to collaborate with each other and develop strategies for the region to establish a sustainable destination.	×	×	×	×
	A lack of the specific knowledge required in developing an activity	Auro overcame such a challenge through applying competencies from local partners and artists, because no competitor was willing to share such crucial expertise. Hence, a sustainable solution (social sustainability) to this problem resulted in hiring local artists to generate an authentic experience instead of employing art professionals from other parts of the world.	×	×		×
State and regulation	Regulatory pressure is underlined as a significant driver making the companies align their performance toward sustainability.	To keep operating, companies are obliged to consider all aspects of their business, as directed by regulations. Auro argues that the State has to approve related supplementary regulations to secure the sustainable performance of the whole supply chain, and the lack of such a regulatory system is thus emphasized.	×		×
State and regulation	State's role as a motivator or promoter.	Three cases (Auro, Øya, and Archart) confirm the critical role of government in the SD of various destinations through lunching various projects.	×	×	×	×
Market incentives	Reaching the market.	Three cases (Vegex, Auro, and Øya) perceive their sustainable performance as a way of marketing the company and establishing their public image as a sustainable business to increase their reputation. Consequently, such an incentive can be featured as a driver, although the main purpose concentrates on financial rewards.	×
	A potentiality closely linked to a destination may encourage companies to exploit that in a sustainable manner to generate profits, and simultaneously offering the activities in terms of tackling the issues related to the context.	"When I came to Vardø, I was just struck by how incredible the potential here was and how little had been done in nature scene." (Archart)	×
	The nature tourism market.	Such market calls for creating value for nature and more importantly for the local community, as noted by Øya.	×	×	×

[1] * Corresponding Author

Brasil

Brasil

Driving Business Models Toward Sustainability in Arctic Nature Tourism

Direcionamento de Modelos de Negócio para a Sustentabilidade no Turismo de Natureza do Ártico

ABSTRACT

Context:

Objective:

Methods:

Results:

Conclusion: