The Socio-Environmental Canvas: Making Invisible Value Visible in Sustainable Ventures

Abstract

This empirical paper introduces the "Socio-environmental Canvas," a novel strategic framework and practical instrument for policymakers, investors and socio-environmental entrepreneurs, designed to address the persistent "purpose-benefit paradox" in sustainable entrepreneurship. While traditional business design tools, such as the Business Model Canvas (BMC), are adept at maximizing direct financial returns, they frequently fail to capture the multidimensional value and systemic complexity inherent in socio-environmental ventures. These initiatives often generate significant positive impacts—including ecological restoration, social cohesion, and public health improvements—that remain "invisible" within conventional accounting frameworks, leading to structural underfunding and market marginalization. This research makes a distinct theoretical contribution by expanding current business model design theory, specifically addressing the gap in how externalized social and environmental benefits are captured. The framework explicitly integrates and quantifies "non-appropriable profitability"—the tangible economic benefits society obtains indirectly from a venture's operations—using a counterfactual cost-avoidance methodology. This approach allows ventures to demonstrate their role as strategic "cost-saving centers" for public and private stakeholders. To validate this theoretical contribution, the paper presents an empirical case study of "Abono de Mar" in Uruguay, a circular economy venture transforming monthly fish waste into high-quality compost. This case-based evidence demonstrates the tool's practical utility by quantifying an annual non-appropriable social return of USD 100,423. The methodology critically contrasts the Socio-environmental Canvas with the Triple Layered Business Model Canvas (TLBMC), identifying that while the TLBMC focuses on internal organizational sustainability layers, the Socio-environmental Canvas uniquely maps external "non-appropriable" value.

By transforming diffuse social impacts into credible financial arguments, the framework provides a credible financial narrative for institutional capital that empowers entrepreneurs to secure institutional investment and provides policymakers with an empirical basis for data-driven, equitable public policies. This shift allows ventures to be re-framed as strategic 'cost-saving centers,' where governments can justify fiscal incentives and procurement preferences based on concrete avoided costs, effectively bridging the purpose-benefit paradox.

Ultimately, this research offers a practical strategic instrument for investors and policymakers and a robust instrument for purpose-driven organizations to prevent common long-term strategic planning and operational blind spots, ensuring that their full contribution to public wealth is both visible and actionable.