Evolution of the Indian LPG industry: Exploring conditions for public sector business model innovation

Abstract

Business model innovation in the public sector is important in creating value for citizens, industry, and government. The differing priorities of these stakeholders, which often require intervention or unification to address a societal need, are at the heart of both supply-side and demand-side strategy research. Moreover, it represents a core element of the business model innovation delivering a key commodity, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), to large populations in the developing world. In this paper, we examine varying conditions in the public sector that require both supply-side and demand-side business model innovation for value creation, capture, and appropriation through deployment of digital government initiatives and policy interventions. By analysing the Indian LPG industry over a 70-year period, we argue that the supply-side and demand-side perspective, along with the business model concept, promote a better understanding of government industry interventions in the interest of all stakeholders. Specifically, the contribution of this paper to the public sector is unique, because (i) research on demand-side strategy can help business model scholars gain a more robust, granular understanding of effective value propositions for citizens, (ii) supply-side strategy business models create a seamless delivery mechanism, and (iii) both supply-side and demand-side strategy with their unique propositions serve as a “bridging concept” in coming up with the Framework for the Customer-Integrated Public Sector Business Model that connects the shared ideas of both areas of study to resource-based streams of strategy research.