Eco-sustainable luxury jewellery firms: The case of Courbet's social entrepreneurship model Theme of the case: sustainable business models (SBMs) and social entrepreneurship
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2025
Eco-sustainable luxury jewellery firms: The case of Courbet's social entrepreneurship model Theme of the case: sustainable business models (SBMs) and social entrepreneurship
Manuel Mallen co-founded Courbet in 2018, an eco-sustainable luxury jewellery firm, with the objective of being the first Maison on Place Vendôme (Paris) to market laboratory-grown diamonds. This case discusses the challenges faced by this French entrepreneur as he confronts traditional luxury brands that sell diamonds from open-pit mining and claim responsible practices. The seven largest diamond producers, representing 75% of world production and grouped in the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), financed a public report (the Trucost report), showcasing their compliance with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), threatening Courbet's assertions about eco-luxury. By comparing the components of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental) and value (proposition, creation, and capture), how can Courbet leverage a new business model against traditional jewellery brands? The case also questions whether Courbet's alignment with the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can foster market evolution towards sustainability and social change.
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