This research paper can be segmented into three parts. The first segment aims to understand the concept of sustainability by looking at the evolution of the definition over time, as well as relevant scientifically founded frameworks that explain the root causes that have generated our current unsustainable state of society. e second segment looks at stories of enterprises that have managed to successfully integrate sustainability into their business model to develop sustainable on-going operations that have bene ted all stakeholders involved equitably. The third segment is an initial assessment of the Peruvian alpaca wool sector to demonstrate some of the challenges entrepreneurs face to developuda sustainable enterprise, as well as probe applicability of the tools we developed from our work in the previous two segments.ududFindings from the first and second segments of this paper served as fundamental basis for the development of our output: The Bottom-up pyramid model, and the Sustainability guiding principles. The Bottom-up pyramid model visually represents our understanding of the required components to develop a sustainable enterprise from the ground up. The main takeaway of this representation is that a sustainable enterprise should be founded on knowledge from the incumbent community home to a natural resource, and that business development and growth should be bottom-up, taking into account community concerns and points of view. e Sustainability guiding principles are a list of guidelines entrepre- neurs can use to get a better understanding of some of the challenges they may face when attempting to develop a sustainable enterprise in a rural community. Ultimately, these instruments are aimed at providing guidance to leaders and entrepreneurs who want to establish business models with sustainable operations that do not compromise the long- term welfare of a natural resource and the community reliant on it.ud e last segment of this paper aims to probe the tools we developed to iterate their practicality and relevance with a contemporary real-world situation. We chose the alpaca wool sector in Peru because it is representative of the types of hurdles leaders could face when attempting to initiate a sustainable enterprise. Additionally, one of the team’s researchers had access to stakeholders in this sector, which provided primary research to complement and corroborate our literary review. is assessment is an initial step that needs further validation with more pragmatic information and on-site data for a more detailed analysis of the issues hindering specific communities in the Andes.
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