Addressing social and ecological problematics is an important activity in the modern world. Much has already been examined about how governments, businesses and societies can change or contribute in order to realise more sustainable development. Poverty, climate change, education, access to drinking water and pollution are just some of the problematics that have to be faced.
This thesis aims to contribute to a more sustainable development by examining the concept of sustainable entrepreneurship, an approach that is considered by researchers to support sustainable development. What is elaborated are competitive advantages of sustainable entrepreneurs in comparison to conventional entrepreneurs, critical success factors that apply for sustainable entrepreneurs in order to realise their mission, and the business model innovations that served for those entrepreneurs to manage the respective critical success factors.
An empirical qualitative study in form of expert interviews serves to identify characteristics for two types of sustainable entrepreneurs - entrepreneurs offering a sustainably-created value proposition and entrepreneurs offering a sustainablyuseful value proposition. A central characteristic is the difference that was observed for those two types of sustainable entrepreneurs. Ultimately, a model is developed about through which business model innovations certain critical success factors are managed and addressed.
The results of the empirical study serve to identify key learnings for sustainable entrepreneurs regarding the circumstances of competitive advantages and critical success factors. In relation to these key learnings, managerial implications how sustainable entrepreneurs can react to the emergence of certain competitive advantages and critical success factors by business model innovation are developed.

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