Stakeholders' involvement in establishing sustainable business models The case of Polish dairy cooperatives

Purpose Cooperatives play a dominant role in the European dairy sector. The aim of the study is to define a sustainable business model of dairy cooperatives and explore how stakeholders can contribute to innovation processes generated in this ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach Starting from theoretical assumption and investigation of three major cooperatives located in an ecological agricultural Poland region, known also as "Green Lungs of Poland," the authors propose a sustainable business model where the role stakeholders in the value co-creation is emphasized. Findings The findings of this paper show how the involvement of various stakeholders by the cooperatives contributes to the development of innovations that meet customer expectations, thereby concurring to the creation of social, environmental and economic value. Originality/value This paper formulates a business model integrating theoretical assumptions from the literature review with empirical evidence by exploring the roles of stakeholders that contribute and incorporate innovation, responsibility and sustainability into the core of activities of cooperatives.