L'objectif de notre thèse est d'étudier le Business Model (BM) des PE/TPE ouest africaines à travers une approche conventionnaliste et institutionnaliste. Le BM et la convention constituent nos choix conceptuels et théoriques de départ, tandis que l'approche institutionnaliste s'est invitée via les thèmes émergents lors de l'étude. Nous avons qualifié notre conceptualisation conventionnaliste du BM de «modèle 3C» de la triple convention: convention de la valeur, convention de financement et convention d'exploitation. L'hypothèse centrale suggère que ces trois conventions lient la source de financement à la PE/TPE et que l'étude du rôle de la source de financement permettrait de comprendre le BM de la PE/TPE. L'opérationnalisation de la grille d'analyse du modèle 3C, à travers une méthodologie de recherche mixte et abductive a abouti à des résultats sur trois volets : 1) la compréhension des conventions du BM des PE/TPE nécessite un retour aux conditions préalables à celles-Ci; 2) il existe une pluralité de conventions de BM en fonction des PE/TPE, le dirigeant de la PE/TPE et des sources de financement; 3) les conventions de BM ne sont pas qu'une fonction de la source de financement et de la PE/TPE; les cadres institutionnels jouent un rôle important. Un retour sur les concepts clefs de notre recherche à la lumière de nos résultats a permis d'ouvrir des nouvelles perspectives d'étude. / The aim of our work is to study the Business Model (BM) of small and micro business (SMB) in West Africa. Our research is based on a conventionalist and institutionalist approach of the concept of BM. BM and the convention are our conceptual and theoretical initial choice, while the institutionalist approach has been introduced through the emerging topics during our research. We called our conventionalist conceptualization of BM "modèle 3C" of tree convention: value convention, financing convention and operating convention. The central hypothesis of our study suggests that these three conventions link the funding source to theSMB. So the role of funding source is relevant to study the SMB BM. The operationalization of the analytical framework of the 3C model, through a mixed methodology and abductive research has produced results in three areas: 1) understanding of the conventions of SMB BM requires a return to the preconditions; 2) there is a plurality of conventions of BM based of SMB, according to the leader of the SMB and funding sources; 3) BM conventions are not only a function of the source of funding and SMB; institutional context play an important role. A critical view of the key concepts of our research based on our findings has opened new avenues of study.

Cette recherche explique comment il est possible d’utiliser le concept de crowdsourcing dans le but de générer un modèle d’affaire innovant. Le terrain d’étude retenu est composé de données primaires et de données secondaires. Les données primaires sont issues d’un grand distributeur franco-iranien installé en Iran. Des données secondaires et permettant des comparaisons proviennent de 5 autres grands distributeurs dans le monde. Notre analyse permet alors de définir les apports du crowdsourcing pour chaque type de distributeurs. / This research explains the applications of crowdsourcing phenomena by generating an innovative business model canvas for a French-Iranian hypermarket retailer in Iran after analyzing the business models of five hypermarket companies worldwide (one Americans, one Japanese and three French hypermarkets). The following research question has been considered for this research: How retail companies can use crowdsourcing to be more innovative in order to enhance their competitive advantage?

The business environment is constantly being challenged with growing complexity and rapid changes, usually unforeseeable, as it could be observed during the last decades. One topic growing intensively in importance is environmentally sustainable business practices, which are often driven by societal expectations and new regulations; and which, under the enormous pressure of external stakeholders, cannot be avoided by companies anymore. Circular Economy, a relatively new concept, is becoming more popular, offering businesses not only a competitive advantage, but also the possibility to operate profitably, while still contributing to a sustainable development. This thesis provides insights on how MNCs with linear business models can take advantage of dynamic capabilities in order to incorporate circular business strategies. Current literature lacks research about the connection of how dynamic capabilities can support companies with the implementation of Circular Economy principles. Startups often implement sustainable strategies from inception, but: how can traditional MNCs of complex character successfully innovate their business models and strategies, without major disruption and losing their profitability? We argue that not only these young and born circular companies will lead the markets in the future, but also existing MNCs can successfully develop and stay competitive. This study wants also to highlight what resources and capabilities both types of companies state as key for successful circular business strategies, and how they are handled and embedded in the organizational structure by managers. A qualitative case study approach provided the detailed necessary information (from different industries and degree of circularity) to address the question. The findings widen the research of business model innovation towards circular business strategies and show a clear picture of which dynamic capabilities are of importance and how they can be successfully incorporated. We conclude by indicating that the concepts of learning, knowledge, relationships, leadership and management style were perceived as the most decisive within the organizations; with remaining external barriers as challenging.

La thèse porte sur l’étude de la formation de convergences et de tensions dans les choix stratégiques opérés par les partenaires public et privé engagés dans la valorisation des activités collaboratives de R&D. Il s’agit d’en caractériser les déterminants et d’identifier également les moyens permettant de les dépasser. L'originalité de l'approche consiste à mobiliser l'outil conceptuel du business model pour en évaluer la portée en tant qu'artefact cognitif d'analyse de cette situation de gestion et en tant qu'instrument de management stratégique de celles-ci. Le travail s'appuie sur deux études de cas longitudinales élaborées dans le cadre de deux recherche-interventions dans les pôles de compétitivité dédiés à la conception dans l'industrie automobile (Movéo) et des systèmes embarqués (Systematic). Les résultats sont présents à trois niveaux: au niveau du contexte, l'importance des mécanismes d'appropriation à partir des capacités d'absorption des organisations; au niveau du processus, le rôle des trajectoires et du leadership des acteurs et au niveau du contenu, les limites spécifiques liées aux incertitudes du mode projet. / The main objective of the thesis consists into the study of convergences and tensions in the interplay between value co-creation and strategic planning in public private R&D partnerships. Two in-depth longitudinal case studies are used to investigate the usefulness of the business model as a cognitive artifact enhancing the partners to collaborate on designing, articulating and implementing collective strategic choices of R&D outcomes. Data were gathered on two collaborative partnerships among two French Clusters (pôles de compétitivité) Movéo and Systematic. Methodology design employed a triangulation strategy based on both qualitative and quantitative methods (interviews and survey-based, structured methods of scenarios screening, participatory and qualitative methods of information gathering – project’s journals and meeting analysis). Based on internal validity, we have pointed out some issues in the management of inter-organizational relationships and networks regarding the process of how value can be created in strategic project management practices in public private R&D partnerships with these innovative clusters.

The same digital forces that are changing the Communications, Information, Media and Entertainment industries in general are radically changing newspaper companies in particular by changing their value chain. Newspapers are seeing their dominance erode when Internet and digitization are fundamentally changing and disrupting their traditional business models.  There is a clear collectively decline in news consumption, and with that the news organizations’ roles in society are changing. Moreover, the reduced consumption of news puts pressure on the newspaper’s economy with shrinking revenues and increasing costs. The transformation of the newspaper into a purely digital business has been in progress under the past decade and it is rapidly accelerating.   The subscribers of the printed morning newspaper have historically been characterized by a high degree of loyalty and engagement as well as a low price sensitivity. They constitute an attractive group for the newspaper to keep as digital subscribers in a possible future situation where the printed newspaper no longer can be provided.  Thus, the purpose of this study is to find out to what extent the studied newspaper company can rely on the existing print subscribers to stay as digital subscribers and count them as a stable resource, that is as a part of the future digital subscription revenues.

The agri-food industry is an important economic and social engine in many countries, not only because of its economic importance, but also because of its vital significance. For years, it has been possible to consider that this sector evolution has conducted to the development of centralized and global distribution networks. These global distribution networks, in a market of low value-for-weight products, are more efficient the more centralized their logistics be. This new paradigm has a collateral effect which is the difficult survival of the small producer-sellers with the problems that this entails for citizens as society members. This thesis is part of a project conducted by the Universitat Politècnica de València professors named as HOF3M (Heterarchical Open Food 3-sustainable Market). The project aims to facilitate the development of a triple bottom-line food product market, generating the technological and business bases to reduce entry barriers, so that anyone, anywhere in the world can become an agent that approaches any producer to any consumer. The aim of this thesis is to "provide a methodology for identifying and analysing business models through case studies, with the objective of creating a triple bottom-line, replicable and non-scalable business model bank in the agri-food industry". The application of this methodology provides a tool that facilitates the replicability of business models in the agri-food business context. In addition, it allows to identify those triply sustainable and non-scalable models that can be implemented by consumers, producers and intermediaries. The research work is carried out from literature reviews to understand the business models scope, triple bottom-line business and the context of the agri-food economy, as well as the application of the case study research methodology, for which the proposal is validated. This thesis gives three fundamental contributions: a methodology to identify and analyse a business model through study cases, a triple bottom-line assessment model within the agri-food economy framework, and three food retailing business model analysis. / El sector agroalimentario supone un importante motor económico y social en muchos países, no solo por su relevancia económica, sino también por su significado vital. Desde hace años se puede considerar que la evolución del sector ha derivado en el desarrollo de redes de distribución centralizadas y globales. Estas redes de distribución globales, en un mercado de productos de bajo ratio valor/peso, son más eficientes cuanto más centralizada esté su logística. Este nuevo paradigma tiene como efecto colateral la difícil pervivencia del pequeño productor-vendedor con los problemas que esto supone para el ciudadano en cuanto a miembro de la sociedad. Esta tesis se enmarca en un proyecto de profesores de la Universitat Politècnica de València denominado HOF3M (Heterarchical Open Food 3-sustainable Market). El proyecto tiene el objetivo de facilitar el desarrollo de un mercado triplemente sostenible de productos alimentarios, generando las bases tecnológicas y de negocio que reduzcan las barreras de entrada para que, cualquiera, en cualquier lugar del planeta pueda convertirse en un agente que acerque cualquier productor a cualquier consumidor. El objetivo de esta tesis se concreta en "proporcionar una metodología para la identificación y el análisis de modelos de negocio, a través del estudio de casos prácticos en empresas, con el objeto de confeccionar un banco de modelos de negocio triplemente sostenibles, replicables y no escalables en el sector agroalimentario". La aplicación de esta metodología proporciona una herramienta que facilita la replicabilidad de modelos de negocio en el tejido empresarial agroalimentario. Además, permite identificar aquellos modelos triplemente sostenibles y no escalables, que pueden ser implementados por consumidores, productores e intermediarios. El trabajo de investigación se realiza desde las revisiones de literatura para el entendimiento del ámbito de los modelos de negocio, de la triple sostenibilidad empresarial y del contexto de la economía agroalimentaria, además de la aplicación de la metodología de investigación a tres casos de estudio, con los cuales se valida la propuesta. De esta tesis se extraen tres aportaciones fundamentales: una metodología para identificar y analizar un modelo de negocio a través de casos de estudio, un modelo de evaluación de la triple sostenibilidad en el marco de la economía agroalimentaria, y tres análisis de modelos de negocio de venta al por menor de alimentos. / El sector agroalimentari suposa un important motor econòmic i social en molts països, no només per la seva rellevància econòmica, sinó també pel seu significat vital. Des de fa anys es pot considerar que l'evolució del sector ha derivat en el desenrotllament de xarxes de distribució centralitzades i globals. Estes xarxes de distribució globals, en un mercat de productes de baix ràtio valor/pes, són mes eficients quant mes centralitzada estiga la seua logística. Este nou paradigma té com a efecte col·lateral la difícil pervivència del xicotet productor-venedor amb els problemes que açò suposa per al ciutadà quant a membre de la societat. Esta tesi s'emmarca en un projecte de professors de la Universitat Politècnica de València denominat HOF3M (Heterarchical Open Food 3-sustainable Market). El projecte té l'objectiu de facilitar el desenrotllament d'un mercat triplement sostenible de productes alimentaris, generant les bases tecnològiques i de negoci que reduïsquen les barreres d'entrada perquè, qualsevol, en qualsevol lloc del planeta puga convertir-se en un agent que acoste qualsevol productor a qualsevol consumidor. L'objectiu d'esta tesi es concreta en "proporcionar una metodologia per a la identificació i l'anàlisi de models de negoci, a través de l'estudi de casos pràctics en empreses, amb l'objecte de confeccionar un banc de models de negoci triplement sostenibles, replicables i no escalables en el sector agroalimentari". L'aplicació d'esta metodologia proporciona una ferramenta que facilita la replicabilidad de models de negoci en el teixit empresarial agroalimentari. A més, permet identificar aquells models triplement sostenibles i no escalables, que poden ser implementats per consumidors, productor i intermediaris. El treball d'investigació es realitza des de les revisions de literatura per a l'enteniment de l'àmbit dels models de negoci, de la triple sostenibilitat empresarial i del context de l'economia agroalimentària, a més de l'aplicació de la metodologia d'investigació a tres casos d'estudi, amb els quals es valida la proposta. D'esta tesi s'extrauen tres aportacions fonamentals: una metodologia per a identificar i analitzar un model de negoci a través de casos d'estudi, un model d'avaluació de la triple sostenibilitat en el marc de l'economia agroalimentària, i tres anàlisis de models de negoci de venda al detall d'aliments. / Galeano Revert, AM. (2017). PROPUESTA DE METODOLOGIA PARA LA IDENTIFICACION Y EL ANALISIS DE MODELOS DE NEGOCIO TRIPLEMENTE SOSTENIBLES EN EL SECTOR AGROALIMENTARIO [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/88395 / TESIS

Con la nueva tendencia que se ha intensificado más en este tiempo de pandemia, la agricultura urbana como pasatiempo o autoabastecimiento va a seguir en crecimiento, por lo que se ha encontrado un nicho de mercado muy interesante para el desarrollo de este emprendimiento. El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como finalidad determinar la viabilidad y el mercado de un emprendimiento enfocado a la agricultura urbana específicamente brindar una plataforma web que sirve como un medio de conexión entre las personas que necesiten una fuente información verídica y soluciones de sus problemáticas en la agricultura urbana. Y para las personas que se encuentren interesadas en comenzar a plantar un medio de obtención de información y un acompañamiento para tener un huerto exitoso. Para poder sustentar este proyecto se realizaron diversos experimentos que mediante las respuestas precisas de los participantes nos permitió la mejora en todo el proceso de creación. Con el propósito de poder mantener un crecimiento constante en el negocio se estructuró diversas estrategias y acciones que nos permiten perfeccionar el modelo del negocio. Finalmente, se realizó una proyección financiera para poder estimar los gastos e ingresos de los años futuros y poder garantizar una rentabilidad. En definitiva, con este trabajo se pretende iniciar este emprendimiento con lo que podría ser una de las primeras comunidades agrícolas urbanas en el país. / With the new trend that has intensified more in this time of pandemic, urban agriculture as a hobby or self-sufficiency will continue to grow, so it has found a very interesting niche market for the development of this venture. The present research work aims to determine the viability and the market of a venture focused on urban agriculture, specifically to provide a web platform that serves as a means of connection between people who need a source of accurate information and solutions to their problems in urban agriculture. And for people who are interested in starting to plant a means of obtaining information and support to have a successful garden. In order to support this project, various experiments were carried out which, through the precise responses of the participants, allowed us to improve the whole process of creation. In order to be able to maintain a constant growth in the business, various strategies and actions were structured that allow us to perfect the business model. Finally, a financial projection was made to be able to estimate the expenses and income for future years and to be able to guarantee profitability. In short, this work aims to start this venture with what could be one of the first urban farming communities in the country. / Trabajo de investigación

Bakgrund: Mer än två tredjedelar av befolkningen i Sub-Sahara i Afrika lever idag i energifattigdom, vilket har drabbat de fattigaste på BoP-marknaderna värst. Tidigare forskning har visat att företagande inom energibranschen kan stimulera en ekonomisk tillväxt på BoP-marknaden i Sub-Sahara. Tack vare den afrikanska kontinentens många soltimmar finns idag incitament till företagande inom solenergi inom regionen. Genom försäljning av solenergitjänster kan energifattigdomen i Sub-Sahara bekämpas och BoP-marknaden ta sig ur fattigdomen. För att möjliggöra detta behöver målkonflikter mellan fattiga kunder och företagens finansiella hållbarhet harmoniseras. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att analysera affärsmodeller hos nuvarande solenergiföretag för att därefter konceptualisera förslag på framtida affärsmodeller, som är avsedda att inspirera solenergiföretag till hur de bör utforma sina affärsmodeller för att etablera sig på BoP-marknader i Sub-Sahara på lång sikt. Metod: Metoder som används i undersökningen är kvalitativa metoder utifrån en induktiv ansats, som innefattar data från intervjuer och sekundära källor från tidigare forskning och statistik. Genom ett styrt och strategiskt urval har relevanta intervjupersoner valts ut. Affärsmodellen Business Model Canvas används som ett konceptualiserande verktyg för analysen, diskussionen och slutligen slutsatsen. Slutsats: Studiens fynd visar vikten av kulturell förståelse för BoP-kunder, vilket har visat sig vara en grundläggande aspekt i solenergiföretagens affärsmodeller. Genom kulturell förståelse kan solenergiföretagen utforma affärsmodellerna enligt rätt värdeerbjudande och värdeskapande, vilket skapar långsiktiga affärsmodeller. Detta kan gynna framgångsfaktorer som bland annat ökade marknadsandelar och minska resursbrister. Detta harmoniserar målkonflikter mellan fattiga BoP-kunder med betalningssvårigheter och solenergiföretag som vill uppnå finansiell hållbarhet. / Background: More than two thirds of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa currently live in energy poverty, which has affected the poorest of the poor on the BoP-markets the worst. Previous research show that businesses within the energy sector could stimulate economic growth on the BoP-market in Sub-Saharan. The African continent creates, thanks to its many sun hours, incentives for business within solar energy in the region. Through sales of solar energy services, the energy poverty in Sub-Saharan can be abolished and in turn help the BoP-market out of poverty. To enable this, the conflicts of interests between poor customers and the financial sustainability of the solar energy companies need to be harmonized. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze business models of existing solar energy companies, to conceptualize proposals for future business models, which are intended to inspire solar energy companies in how they should develop their business models to establish themselves on the BoP-markets in Sub-Saharan in the long run. Method: The methods used in this study are qualitative studies from an inductive approach, including interviews and secondary data. Through controlled and strategic selection, the interviewees were selected. The Business model Business Model Canvas is used as a conceptualizing tool for the empirical results and analysis, discussion, and conclusion. Conclusion: The results show the importance of cultural understanding within the BoP-customers, which lays the foundation for the business model. Through cultural understanding, solar energy companies can shape their business models according to value delivery and value creation, which creates long term business models. This can benefit the factors of success, such as increased market share as well as decrease the risk of repayment issues, lack of human capital and personnel. This harmonizes the conflict of goals between poor BoP-customers with payment difficulties and solar energy companies wanting to achieve financial sustainability.

Industrialization and globalization of companies has promoted fast, easy and profitable business solutions. A linear business model (LBM) is seen as the most common way to do business. However, recent studies have enlightened how LBMs are detrimental to the health and biological cycles of the earth and its inhabitants. To prevent this, circular business models (CBM) are being introduced as a feasible while still profitable solution. CBMs are defined by Oghaze & Mostaghel, (2018), as the “…rationale of how an organisation creates, delivers, and captures value with slowing, closing, or narrowing flows of the resource loops”, as they base their business on products and services designed to close or slowing the resource loops, decreasing the overall need of virgin resources.  However, to make these major changes in the current way of designing products and services has to be made, taking into consideration the change in design objectives from a linear to a circular model. Today, there are many circular design methods (DM) developed by academia to aid designers in designing sustainable products and services, however, the uptake of such DMs in the industry is quite low. Such a low level of uptake is often due to a poor fit between the DM and the context it is adopted in, which does not aid its seamless integration in existing processes.  Therefore, this research aims to identify DM characteristics that will aid industries to be adopted or adapted by companies transitioning towards CBMs. To do so, three research questions were developed: i) What are the most critical internal and external drivers in a company that enable the successful adoption of a circular design method?  ii) What are the contextual barriers that companies encounter when adopting or adapting circular design methods? iii) How can the design method adopted or adapted be evaluated to improve their implementation in a company? To answer these research questions, a survey was initially carried out, and subsequent interviews were conducted amongst participants of five different companies from various sectors and expertise. The survey and interviews were grounded in previous research concerning types of CBM and different types of barriers and drivers influencing the adoption of circular DMs.  The result from the survey indicates that the ability to make trade-offs when confronted with sustainability aspects, management commitment to a CBM, good communication and sharing of environmental knowledge, both through different departments and with external actors like suppliers, as well as allocating resources such as time, personnel, funds, and having clear business incentives are needed to promote the use of circular DMs. From the interviews, it was also found that barriers to the effective use of DMs are lack of environmental knowledge throughout the supply chain and wrong identification of actors in the supply chain as well as limited communication with external actors. Furthermore, the research revealed several characteristics of the DMs such as simplicity, flexibility and informativity need to be adapted to leverage and overcome the identified contextual drivers and barriers respectively, for their successful deployment within the companies.

This master´s thesis deals with the analysis of the current status of the manufacturing company from the inner and the outer point of view as well. Firstfully, for the purpose of this analytical part the theoretical basis, where the manufacturing business is operating is defined. Conclusions of the analytical part are used as a foundation for the own proposals.