Business Model Perspective Research Articles

Business as Usual for the Biomass Energy Sector? State of the Art and Future Avenues

Many companies are increasingly confronting the challenge of changing their business models as they face a future in which energy solutions are needed that are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. Too often, the development process is sequential and stepwise rather than parallel, especially as far as dealing with technological, sustainability, and economic issues. This paper identifies trends as well as challenges and complications in the use of biomass from a business model perspective and address future avenues. We conduct a systematic literature review to identify state of art in the field of business model development in the biomass energy sector. We use several databases to identify international, peer-reviewed research articles published between 2002 and 2022.Our review presents data from more than 200 articles including author affiliation by country, article publication date, article title, journal of publication, journal impact factor, country of empirical data, unit of analysis, research methodology, and research area addressed. The research areas identified include: (i) biomass as an energy source with multiple applications from small-scale household use to large-scale industry use, (ii) biomass as a renewable resource developed based on industrial and political initiatives, (iii) the feasibility of conventional bioenergy, (iv) the industrial ecosystem, stakeholders, and the business environment in the biomass industry, and (v) biomass as a potential energy source that can mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. Although much of this research on the use of biomass takes a technological, logistical, or incentives perspective, our literature review reveals that an increasing body of research takes a business model perspective. This is a promising development, since the future use and growth of biomass as a sustainable resource depends on the successful development of biomass business models that are sustainable in every aspect – social, environmental, and financial.Conclusions drawn from the literature review indicate that the business model researched has mainly focused on three of the building blocks: value proposition, value creation and delivery, and value capture. The building block, value intention, merits more extensive study. This is especially relevant when developing sustainable business models that can meet many of the societal/environmental challenges as defined by the United Nations in its Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Towards a dynamic value network perspective of sustainable business models: the example of RECUP

Sustainability research has increasingly emphasized the importance of value networks in the design and development of sustainable business models (SBM). This is because SBMs must incorporate economic, environmental and social goals to achieve their desired impacts, hence designing such models requires firms to develop an understanding of value creation from the perspective of all key stakeholders in their networks in order to co-create economic, social and ecological value. To advance our understanding of how value network activities shape SBM development, we conducted a longitudinal case study of RECUP, a born sustainable startup with a circular economy business model that has developed and worked with a broad value network to achieve a major reduction in waste from linear consumption. We identify three sets of value network activities that supported the continuous development of the firm’s value proposition and contributed to mutual value creation among stakeholders from business, politics and society: B2B-partnering, political agenda-setting and mobilizing end-consumers. Our contributions to research on SBM innovation and design include demonstrating how value network activities initially emerge through experimentation and consolidate over time through iterative learning processes. Such learning and adaption through dynamic value network activities is especially important, we argue, when value-creating factors are not sufficiently known in advance by startups and/or their stakeholders.

The effect of Covid-19 on digital banking explored under business model approach

PurposeThis study aims to understand the impacts of Covid-19 on the progression of digitalization of banks in an emerging market. For this purpose, business model canvas (BMC) is used as a theoretical framework to explore these effects on each business elements of Turkish Banks’ business strategies.Design/methodology/approachData are collected through structured interviews with the top managers of seven diversified banks. Interview questions are designed based on BMC.FindingsThe results show that the onset of the Covid-19 is a shock that has made digitalization a strategic issue that necessitates an urgent change in many business elements of banks such as customer relationships, communication channels, resource allocation, partnerships and financing. Further, it has stimulated redefining value proposition and collaboration/interaction among all financial institutions through digital platforms.Practical implicationsBMC can be used to explain decision-making and business processes of banks for exploring the effect of recent and/or unexpected developments in the business environment of an emerging economy. The results provide insights and recommendations to managers of financial institutions into the impacts of Covid-19 on banks’ operational and strategic processes. That allows financial institutions, including Fintechs, to use this information for taking precautions and proactive actions against shocks.Originality/valueThis study is an initial attempt to explore the impacts of the Covid-19 on banks in an emerging economy by using BMC. With that, this study contributes to the literature by explaining the effect of progression of digitalization in banking from a strategic business model perspective using a qualitative research method.

Innovative Business Models for the Future Smart City

This paper examines how to outline and adopt innovative business models for the Smart Cities of the future. Smart Cities are intelligent and efficient communities and ecosystems employing digital technologies to respond a growing waste of resources, unsustainable environmental impact, and inefficiency in traditional processes. Considering the greatest benefits of Smart Cities on economies, societies, and environment, many countries have now introduced national Smart City projects in order to transform life, improve business operations and market competitiveness. However, despite growing interests towards Smart Cities, it remains still difficult to adopt this paradigm due to digital transformation, interaction strategies, social and cultural problems. Therefore, this paper aims to break down the barriers to these problems and support the literature and management to understand how to implement profitable business models for Smart Cities of the future. Specifically, we identify four main areas characterizing Smart Cities (i.e., Smart Mobility, Smart Living, Smart Energy, and Smart Public Ecosystems) where digital technologies have shown greater progress with large savings. For each area, multiple case studies have been discussed and Business Model Canvases have been developed for generalizing effective methodological approaches toward efficient implementation of Smart City paradigm. Results are threefold. As for digital transformation problems, we show how digital technologies (e.g., Cloud, IoT, Big Data and AI) are applied profitably through innovative business models; as for interaction strategies problems we indicate how to organize innovative ecosystems involving public and private actors to promote Smart Cities; as for social and cultural problems we delineate change management and communication practices useful to instill in all stakeholders a culture towards the Smart City. With these findings the paper aims at enriching scientific knowledge about the Smart City Paradigm by means of a business model perspective and to offer public administrations insightful guidelines for the transition toward Smart Cities.

Can Corporate Sustainability Drive Economic Value Added? Evidence from Larger European Firms

This study analyses the association between firms’ sustainability and economic performance in Europe, considering the channels of margin and turnover. The sample is composed of firms listed in the STOXX Europe 600 Index from 2012 to 2020. The sustainability performance is captured by the combined and individual ESG scores from Refinitiv, and dynamically tested with proxies of economic performance, including economic value added, return on firms’ assets and its components, margin and turnover. The methodological approach comprises different panel data specifications and tackles the potentially unobserved, time-invariant heterogeneity, endogeneity concerns, and reverse causality biases. Our findings point to a strong positive association between firms’ sustainability and economic performance in Europe, although the individual ESG forces are not at play with the same intensity. The environmental pillar is the one that is systematically associated with better economic performance across all estimations. The influence of sustainability performance on economic performance is also channeled by both profit margin and turnover. We find that a 1% improvement in the ESG score yields an increase in the economic value added of 0.08%, EVA over revenues. In general, our findings point to a shift from the conventional business model perspective to the incorporation of a core sustainability proposition and agenda that brings advantages and drives economic performance.

Business models for digital sustainability: Framework, microfoundations of value capture, and empirical evidence from 130 smart city services

The emerging research stream on digital sustainability examines how digital technologies enable the creation of environmental and social value. The need to finance the creation of such value calls for a business model perspective that combines value creation and value capture. To extend the digital sustainability literature in this regard, we adopt a microfoundations perspective and argue that the configuration of value creation influences the decision of users to pay for a value proposition or not, which in turn affects organizational value capture. Applying a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis to 130 smart city initiatives in Switzerland, we develop a three-dimensional framework of business models for digital sustainability. The framework comprises 12 theoretically possible business model types, representing distinct business model configurations. We contribute to the digital sustainability and the microfoundations literatures by analyzing, explaining, and classifying the diversity of digitally enabled business models in the context of smart cities.

Incorporating ESG Risk in Companies’ Business Models: State of Research and Energy Sector Case Studies

The article aims to systematize the state of knowledge of and research on the inclusion of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) risk in companies’ business models, with a special stress on energy sector companies. Many publications address incorporating ESG, but only some deal with it from the perspective of business models. This paper fills that gap. The methods of incorporating ESG risk into a sustainable business model, identified on the basis of the literature review, were verified based on the examples of three companies from the energy industry. A two-stage review of publications from the WoS and Scopus databases was carried out, considering a more comprehensive (sustainability) and a narrower (ESG risk) range of keywords, and the period from 2000 to 2022. The result showed that SMEs and large enterprises consider ESG risk in their risk management systems (ERMs), while small enterprises and start-ups do not. In Europe, Asia, and Australia, it is common to include ESG risk in an ERM, while it is rare in Latin America. In developing countries, companies in the service sector are more likely to include ESG risk in ERMs than those in the manufacturing sector. These findings may be useful for policymakers who wish to provide support and financial incentives for companies transforming their business models toward sustainability.

A typology of business models for energy communities: Current and emerging design options

In the European energy transition, energy communities have gained an increasing amount of attention. To support widespread diffusion, academic and practice-oriented studies have called for a business model perspective on energy communities. This study presents a morphological analysis of 90 energy communities and pioneering companies that apply business model design options that can be adopted in energy communities. The sample was selected based on implementation examples focusing on community solutions, a multivector energy approach, or a combination of both. Based on this analysis, we have identified 25 emerging business model design options for energy communities. The presented typology allows users to configure tailor-made business models for energy communities, hence supporting community facilitators in the development process. The presented frequency analysis of the design options shows the potential for the further development of energy communities. The typology contributes to the literature on energy communities by offering one of the first studies to adopt a business model perspective. Through a morphological approach, the typology can be used as a tool for developers of energy communities, offering a robust set of business model design options.

Missing Attention to Power Dynamics in Collaborative Multi-Actor Business Models for Sustainability

Advances within the Sustainability Business Models (SBMs) literature from the perspective of boundary-spanning business models have received limited attention. Further, discourse within the SBMs literature exploring collaborative practices adopts the perspective that collaborative forums are always a ‘force for good’. This paper reviews important theories and relevant literature and calls into question the dearth of research examining business models for sustainability and focuses on the role that power, and power relations, play in the shaping and steering of value creation. In advancing research on sustainable operations, we assess the implications of ignoring uneven power, and draw attention to the affects and consequences of this omission in the study of SBMs. By embracing an alternative, deliberative democracy perspective, we challenge the sub-literature on collaborative multi-actor business models. In taking an inquisitive and critical stance on omnipresent power dynamics, we shine a light on the consequences of uneven power across multi-actor structures by augmenting research with practical insights from selected vignettes. Our proposed concept of a democratic business model for sustainability offers a new strand of theoretical development and a fresh perspective on the sustainability and business models literature.

Prediction and Big Data Impact Analysis of Telecom Churn by Backpropagation Neural Network Algorithm from the Perspective of Business Model.

This study aims to transform the existing telecom operators from traditional Internet operators to digital-driven services, and improve the overall competitiveness of telecom enterprises. Data mining is applied to telecom user classification to process the existing telecom user data through data integration, cleaning, standardization, and transformation. Although the existing algorithms ensure the accuracy of the algorithm on the telecom user analysis platform under big data, they do not solve the limitations of single machine computing and cannot effectively improve the training efficiency of the model. To solve this problem, this article establishes a telecom customer churn prediction model with the help of backpropagation neural network (BPNN) algorithm, and deploys the MapReduce programming framework on Hadoop platform. Using the data of a telecom company, this article analyzes the loss of telecom customers in the big data environment. The research shows that the accuracy of telecom customer churn prediction model in BPNN is 82.12%. After deploying large data sets, the learning and training time of the model is greatly shortened. When the number of nodes is 8, the acceleration ratio of the model remains at 60 seconds. Under big data, the telecom user analysis platform not only ensures the accuracy of the algorithm, but also solves the limitations of single machine computing and effectively improves the training efficiency of the model. Compared with that of the existing research, the accuracy of the model is improved by 25.36%, and the running time is shortened by about twice. This business model based on BPNN algorithm has obvious advantages in processing more data sets, and has great reference value for the digital-driven business model transformation of the telecommunications industry.

Core Factors That Make Afterpay’s Success

The outbreak of Covid-19 has contributed significantly to the growth of e-commerce and the boom in the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market. This was accompanied by increased purchasing power and financial flexibility for consumers through "zero interest" installment plans. In 2022, Afterpay, as a leading BNPL company, was acquired by Square, another large digital payment company, at A$39 billion. This is the most high-profile M&A deal in the global fintech sector to date. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis to explain how Afterpay has achieved success since there are only six years after its launch in Australia. From the business model perspective, Afterpay's business model of not making money from its customers combined with the first-mover advantage of its rapid expansion is one of the keys to Afterpay's success. Meanwhile, after analyzing the company’s capabilities, the result indicates that Afterpay is backed by its strong technological capabilities, which effectively reduces its credit risk and allows it to keep up with its rapid international expansion. That analysis can provide references for fintech companies’ business models or technical support systems.

Top management team internal social capital, market dynamics and business model design: a dynamic managerial capability perspective

PurposeDrawing on the dynamic managerial capability perspective and the dynamic capability perspective of business model (BM) literature, this paper aims to investigate how top management team internal social capital (TISC) promotes BM design and how such effects are moderated by market dynamics (i.e. demand uncertainty and competitive intensity).Design/methodology/approachThe proposed hypotheses were tested by a questionnaire-based survey. The empirical study was conducted on a sample of 210 firms in China. The model was tested via hierarchical regression analysis.FindingsTISC has a positive effect on BM efficiency but an inverted U-shaped effect on BM novelty. The effects of TISC on BM efficiency and novelty are contingent on demand uncertainty and competitive intensity in different ways. Specifically, this study finds that demand uncertainty strengthens the inverted U-shaped effect of TISC on BM novelty. This study also finds that competitive intensity strengthens the positive effect of TISC on BM efficiency but weakens the inverted U-shaped effect of TISC on BM novelty.Originality/valueThe conclusion contributes to the dynamic capability perspective of BM literature in two ways. First, it offers a dynamic managerial capability perspective for understanding the antecedents of BM design. It highlights TISC, a root of dynamic managerial capability, as an important internal antecedent of BM design. Second, it provides a more nuanced understanding of the role of TISC in BM design. The findings show the distinct effects of TISC on BM efficiency and novelty. This study also discusses the contingency role market dynamics play in the TISC–BM design relationship.

The value creation failure of grocery retailers’ last-mile value proposition: A sustainable business model perspective

How a sustainable business model (SBM) is created for last-mile deliveries (LML) has been highlighted for a long time. However, research is limited regarding understanding the value creation process and it is important that both firms and customers are considered when creating a sustainable business model. In this paper, we explore how a SBM for grocery LML can be created and how discrepancy of value created, and value expected, is displayed. Through interviews with retailers and customer focus groups, we analyze how value can lead to horizontal coherence within layers, or vertical coherence between layers (economic, social, and environmental). We find that discrepancy within and between layers mainly derive from low customer acceptance and different views on what is being offered. We also find that environmental concerns do not add to the value creation process. This study contributes to the understanding of the grocery LML value creation process by using SBM as arising from dual perspectives: firm vis-à-vis customer. In addition, our study contributes by explaining and identifying that the discrepancy in the grocery LML's SBM depends on the perceived value proposition of the product bundle and service solution payoff. • We explore SBM creation for grocery LML and identify value creation discrepancies. • Discrepancy in grocery LML SBM is potentially due to low customer acceptance. • Low perceived individual value limits value captured. • Failed value capturing is a result of societal stakeholders view on the offer. • Environmental layer does not add to the value creation process.

Analisis customer engagement terhadap mobile e-sport gamer’s loyalty

The spread of technology and information has now entered all sectors which causes more and more competition. The growing competition caused by the internet can be an opportunity to earn income. One of them is the application in the field of mobile e-sports, because it is viewed from the perspective of business structure, business model, prize money, and competitions that are classified as top level. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of customer engagement on mobile e-sport gamer's loyalty in Indonesia. Collecting data using a questionnaire with the measurement using an interval scale. The data collection technique used was purposive sampling with a total of 345 respondents. The analytical method used in this study was carried out using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) – Partial Least Square (PLS) method with the help of SmartPLS 3.0 software. The results showed that the customer engagement variable had an effect on gamer's loyalty..

Delivering Goods Using a Baby Pram: The Sustainability of Last-Mile Logistics Business Models

This study compares the differences in the attitudes of last-mile delivery companies operating with different business models toward economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The economic perspective focuses on productivity, the environment, and social sustainability, and where the environment and social sustainability are concerned, on carbon neutrality goals and means, and on what societal factors companies consider important, respectively. In this multi-case qualitative study, a literature review was carried out and 11 semi-structured expert interviews were conducted in companies representing three business model categories: crowdshipping companies, last-mile providers, and traditional logistics service providers. Based on this study, crowdshipping and last-mile companies were largely loss making, whereas logistics service providers were profitable. The first two groups invest heavily in growth, which explains the loss. All logistics service providers, half of the last-mile providers, and no crowdshipping companies set a carbon neutrality target. The biggest difference in environmental measures comes from the fact that in the crowdshipping business model deliveries are performed partly in conjunction with other travel, emphasizing job creation in society and freedom of work. In contrast, the last-mile and traditional logistics companies emphasized the responsibilities of the employer. For the scientific community, this study provides new insights into the subject from the perspective of different business models. For management, this research provides insight into the views of other companies that can be utilized in future decision making. For example, if the legislation of crowdshipping becomes clearer, then traditional companies could consider using it in their own operations to overcome labor shortages.

The daily news podcast ecosystem from the strategy and business model perspectives

The expansion of the daily news podcast format in the media industry has brought new narrative opportunities and shows the strength of the audio medium. For this reason, a qualitative analysis of the daily news podcast ecosystem has been performed from the strategy and business model perspectives through a comparative study of 14 cases (10 with media parent companies and 4 independent) in the Spanish-speaking segment using semi-structured interviews with the heads of the entities analyzed. The results reveal that daily news podcasts allow media outlets to improve their positioning by forming part of their audience’s routines, and create new revenue streams through sponsorships and brand agreements. Two editorial concepts have been identified: the in-depth analysis of a topic with support from the editorial department, and round-ups similar to radio news bulletins that cover the outlet’s informative key elements. The research also highlights audio initiatives by independent creators in specialized fields who shed light on the format’s potential for news narratives.

From Waste to Luxury Fashion at Elvis & Kresse: A Business Model for Sustainable and Social Innovation in the Circular Economy

Managing landfill waste is essential to sustainable resource utilization. With a focus on the luxury fashion industry, this paper highlights the role that sustainable and social innovations can play in reducing environmental waste and improving social outcomes. Elvis & Kresse is a purpose-driven case study, because it was founded to eradicate a problem that had thus far received little attention, namely the problem of disposing of end-of-life fire-hoses. From a business model and circular economy perspective, this article explains how the company’s rescue–transform–donate model has helped to build a sustainable and socially oriented yet profitable luxury brand. The analysis of the case suggests that for scholars, the typical business model canvas merits some revision beyond the current business focus on the financial bottom line to account for the social and ethical dimensions. For practitioners, this case demonstrates how the circular economy can be compatible with luxury fashion by turning waste into durable, fashionable products.

EV Charging on Ferries and in Terminals—A Business Model Perspective

Ferry operators in Sweden provide transportation for tens of millions of people annually. As electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming more commonplace, ferries and ferry terminals seem like suitable places for providing charging services. However, high costs and low occupancy rates means that it is challenging to design profitable business models for charging services in general. This paper reports on a market review of the charging services that ferry operators in Sweden provide and a case study of suitable business model design elements for operators that intend to offer charging on board or in terminals. While only two of fifteen ferry operators offer EV charging on board, four more operators indicated that they were planning to provide such services in the near future. Nine operators offered charging in or close to ferry terminals. The results also indicate that business model design focuses primarily on safety, leading to higher costs for onboard charging due to hardware and staffing costs. Investments also tend to incorporate costs which are not specific to onboard charging but rather the general safety requirements associated with EVs. Finally, poor profitability makes future development dependent on managerial efforts to reduce costs and improve revenue as well as supportive policies such as investment subsidies.

Scaling Up Business Models Across Foreign Markets

This paper highlights the importance of business models to the international expansion of new ventures. Drawn upon up the activity-system perspective of business model and international entrepreneurship literature, we theorize that business model scalability affects the likelihood of foreign market entries. New ventures need to reconfigure business models to overcome foreign entry barriers. However, only the peripheral activities instead of the core activities of highly scalable business models need to be changed. On the contrary, less scalable business models need to modify core activities and reexamine the inter-complementarity within the activity systems, the strategic fit between activity systems and the environment, and the governance of the boundary-spanning activities with stakeholders. Therefore, new ventures with highly scalable business models are more likely to enter foreign markets. We also explore the boundary conditions and find that information infrastructure of the host country and venture capital support strengthen the relationship between business model scalability and foreign market entry likelihood, while venture age weakens it.

Sustainability and Open Innovation: Main Themes and Research Trajectories

Today, innovation and sustainability in their broadest sense, which includes people (social dimension), the planet (environmental dimension) and profits (economic dimension), are increasingly intertwined. Integrating the sustainability dimension into the innovation of products, services, processes, technologies, business and organizational models requires an effort on the part of the company as it demands a different set of knowledge and skills than those needed to innovate in a traditional way. As a result, companies, in order to integrate the dimension of sustainability in their innovation processes, have felt the need to exploit knowledge, skills and technologies external to the organization itself, promoting what is called the process of open innovation. Since this field of field is only recently being explored, we conducted a literature review through bibliometric analysis on a sample of 93 scientific articles published between 2011 and today, April 2022. To achieve the purpose of this review, both quantitative (co-occurrence analysis) and qualitative analysis have been conducted. Four different research themes have been identified: sustainable open innovation and innovation performance, the role of technological capability for sustainable open innovation, business model perspective and sustainable open innovation and university collaboration. As far as future research is concerned, a mainline has been identified concerning the study of sustainable open innovation in the agri-food industry.