Abstract
Everyday living is supported by an array of services provided by a complex local infrastructure nexus that is financed and funded by the public, private and third sectors. The on-going debate on the financialization of infrastructure has neglected to explore the provision of local infrastructure in places experiencing infrastructural exclusion. This paper seeks to contribute toward filling this gap by exploring local infrastructure in the UK that has been provided by blending non-capitalist with capitalist activities. In other words, the provision of local infrastructure using an ‘alternative’ approach that attempts to address infrastructure exclusion by filling gaps in the provision of local infrastructure. The question is: how is infrastructure provided when it does not meet either a value for money calculation undertaken by the state or does not meet the investment criteria required by capital markets? This paper is the first to develop a dialogue between three unrelated literatures - financialization, business models and alterity – by developing a conceptual framework for exploring local infrastructure that is provided by alternative-substitute business models. The paper explores this approach through the analysis of two alternative infrastructure projects – Broadband 4 the Rural North and Malvern’s heritage gas lamps.
Highlights
Everyday living, including reproduction, work and leisure, or liveability and livelihoods, is supported by an array of services provided by a complex local infrastructure nexus (Amin and Thrift, 2017: 9)
We explore the relationship between the alterity and business model literatures with a focus on non-capitalist activities and non-monetized inputs
A business model approach applied to the alterity debate provides a comparative framework for identifying and comparing alternatives based on the identification of transaction content, structure/governance and the substitution of monetised value with non-monetarised values
Summary
Everyday living, including reproduction, work and leisure, or liveability and livelihoods, is supported by an array of services provided by a complex local infrastructure nexus (Amin and Thrift, 2017: 9). The business model literature has yet to conceptualise value and to include within this discussion non-pecuniary inputs and the emergence of what can be termed ‘alternative-substitute business models’ (ASBM) This is unfortunate as ASBMs reflect innovations that have the potential to reconfigure capitalism itself through the development of localised place-based solutions. A business model approach applied to the alterity debate provides a comparative framework for identifying and comparing alternatives based on the identification of transaction content, structure/governance and the substitution of monetised value with non-monetarised values. Cloning is potentially a major problem for profit-maximising firms, but not for ASBMs that are locally embedded and whose primary aim is to overcome some form of
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