Sustainable business practices for transformative change: The case of Eataly

Contributing to sustainable development in line with the UN Agenda 2030 (UN, 2015) has become a key goal of many governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals. The present chapter aims to analyze the role that sustainable practices can play in enabling and supporting such a transformation. Our focus is on the dynamics and mechanisms that trigger transformative change through the adoption of sustainable practices. The case of Eataly (an Italian food chain) is presented in the form of a narrative based on in-depth interviews, company documents, and observation data. An analysis of the narrative shows the power of values resonance, in which Eataly’s core values are in line with foundational values in society and the values of a majority of customers. This case study shows that business values, and the sustainable practices that emerge from them, contribute to value creation throughout the relationships that the company establishes and manages with all its stakeholders, which together form a dynamic and values-driven business that can be described as a sustainable service ecosystem. Accordingly, sustainable and innovative practices feed each one another, triggering a continuous cycle of transformative change that starts with values resonance with the stakeholders.