۱- Introduction

۲- Literature review

۳- Methodology

۴- Results

۵- Discussion and conclusions

References

Abstract

Sustainable business model innovation is about creating superior customer and firm value by addressing societal and environmental needs through the way business is done. Business models require intentional design if they are to deliver aspired sustainability impacts. Scant research has been done on ‘ecologies’ of different business models in order to understand and improve these and create positive impact on the environment, society, economy and other key stakeholders. Hence, in this paper a novel framework is presented to enable a systemic form of sustainable business model experimentation. The framework is based on the recognition of three key issues which have not yet been sufficiently incorporated in the literature on sustainable business models: construct clarity, boundary setting and uncertainty about outcomes. These concepts are discussed first. Building on earlier work, the resulting framework incorporates potential side-effects and boundary setting based on the concept of an ‘ecology of business models’. Second, an approach is proposed that could stimulate more profound forms of sustainable business model innovation: The Ecology of Business Models Experimentation map. Third, the approach is illustrated through two cases. The approach could help minimise symbiotic dependency on less sustainable business models; help destroy unsustainable business models by outcompeting them; and maximise contributions to favourable institutional infrastructures for more sustainable business models. This paper contributes to research on sustainable business model innovation, design and experimentation by providing a potential approach for ‘business model ecology redesign’.

Introduction

Sustainable business models are currently a major focus in academic literature, and also among business practitioners and policy makers dealing with the ecological and social impact production and consumption systems. Yet there is uncertainty about the outcome of business model innovations for sustainability (Mont, 2002; Tukker, 2004, 2015; Lüdeke-Freund and Dembek, 2017). Sustainable business model innovation is about creating superior customer and firm value through addressing societal and environmental needs (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). To this end, a company should actively seek to create positive societal and environmental value and optimise value for itself as well as for a wider network of stakeholders, including Society and Environment as stakeholders, thus optimising value for the ‘system’ (Stubbs and Cocklin, 2008). However, creating ‘shared value’ across stakeholders is difficult to realise in practice (Porter and Kramer, 2011). Tools such as the Triple Layer Business Model Canvas (Joyce and Paquin, 2016), Flourishing business canvas (Upward and Jones, 2016) and Value Mapping Tool (Bocken et al., 2013) have been developed to support a systemic view on sustainable business modelling. We argue for a more inclusive perspective when experimenting with sustainable business models (Weissbrod and Bocken, 2017). This follows from considering three key issues: construct clarity, boundary setting and uncertainty about outcomes.