Sustainable Business Model Contributing to Corporate Social Responsibility and Regenerative Tourism A Case Study of Midgard Business Practices

• Main Author: Hildur Guðbjörg Kristjánsdóttir 1987-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Umhverfis- og auðlindafræði; Umhverfisfræði; Ferðaþjónusta; Sjálfbærni; Midgard; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/45820

Verkefnið er lokað í þrjú ár með samþykki Viðskiptafræðideildar. Tourism has many recognized benefits relevant to social, environmental, local cultural, and economic impact but the negative impacts must not be overlooked. Tourism has, for instance, profound climate impacts. This thesis explores the Flourishing Business Canvas (FBC) as a strategic tool for Midgard Adventure to investigate how to mitigate the negative impacts of the company, promote sustainable development and examine the potential of a Regenerative tourism approach. It further aims to examine if the core activities of Midgard Adventure aligns to the regenerative tourism approach and if the FBC can be used to frame Midgard Business Model in accordance with the Corporate Social Responsibility idealogy. The Flourishing enterprise strategy design method was used as a tool for sustainable business innovation and tested through the case study. The Aspirational Business Model was compared to the current Business Model and finally, continued improvements were suggested. The findings showed Flourishing Business Canvas to be a helpful strategic tool to examine the business model of Midgard Adventure and compare it to its future vision. The idealogy of Flourishing Business Canvas aligns with regenerative idealogy and therefore this tool can be used for other companies that like to implement regenerative tourism into their core business. This thesis explores a research gap by employing a particular framework to analyse the business model of a tourism company in Iceland in order to find improvement opportunities for the tourism sector in Iceland. The results from this thesis are therefore relevant to academia and future studies as well as policymakers seeking to understand the Sustainable Business Model in practice.