Renting, as one of the most common and long-existed collaborative consumption methods, recently gained attention in the fashion industry as a perfect candidate to minimize overconsumption in the fashion industry. However, the business perspective of clothing rental gained less focus in academic literature. This research aims to present, analyze and discuss the key components of clothing rental business models and the influence of digital platforms on clothing rental to gain a deeper understanding of the rental business in fashion. Qualitative research was conducted based on the case studies of five clothing rental companies. The analysis of the collected data was based on the 360° business model framework and the literature. The study results showed the key components of fashion rental business models in value creation, value proposition, value delivery, value capture, value communication, and the influence of digital platforms on the rental business. Findings show the potential to extend towards a mainstream mode of consumption that provides entrepreneurial initiative.

Логистика играет ведущую роль в мировой экономике. В настоящее время в логистике происходит цифровая революция, скорость которой постепенно возрастает. Именно цифровизация является тем фактором, который в логистике открывает новые возможности, включая: ускорение, изменение, перестройку бизнес-моделей, оказание расширенного спектра услуг. Однако скорость изменения такова, что логистика не успевает перестроиться и влечет за собой нарушение цепи поставок. Перебои в логистике приводят к нарушению непрерывности цепи поставок. Цель исследования – внедрение инноваций в бизнес-модель транспортной компании для решения актуальных логистических проблем. / Logistics plays a leading role in the global economy. Currently, the digital revolution is taking great place in logistics, the speed of which is gradually increasing. Digitalization is the factor that opens up new opportunities in logistics, including: acceleration, change, restructuring of business models, and the provision of an expanded range of services. However, the speed of change is such that logistics does not have time to adjust and leads to disruption of the supply chain. Disruptions in logistics lead to disruption of the continuity of the supply chain. The purpose of the research is to introduce innovations in the business model of a transport company to solve relevant logistics problems.

The technical use to create value and ease the work for companies have through the last years taken major steps. The use of information technology (IT) has revolutionized opportunities and forced companies to change their offerings in order not to lose their competitiveness in the market. Today, an established company no longer solely consists of a product that represents its business idea, but primarily how to create value together with the market's customers to meet their needs. The digital solution has thus become a popular way for companies to not only streamline the market but also their own business model. Through major changes in society, companies are forced to follow the development, which has brought about a customer focus. IT- companies use a huge business model with groups within the company with cutting-edge expertise to provide solutions to meet the customer's needs. Companies thus start from a basic offer of standardized services, but through co-creation with customers, the company's business model is further developed. The study therefore intends to understand how companies' business models are affected by digitization and how companies can make strategic and operational adaptations in order to meet the challenges of the future. This will be carried out with the support of interviews of the IT-companies` managers as well as the responsible group managers focused on digital tools and their business models. The results produced for the study show tendencies that the companies' business models contain certain more prominent elements in order to maintain a strong whole. These components need to somehow permeate the company's groups consisting of various cutting-edge competencies. Companies have also had different opinions regarding sustainability thinking and how they work around this in different ways. As the business market today consists of great competitiveness, the trust companies build with their customers is essential. A lost customer can create strong contacts with other companies throughout their entire customer lifetime and thus become difficult to win over at a later stage. Digitization will thus have a strong influence on the companies' business models for a continued strong strategy.

The Sharing Economy is an innovative social, economic and technological paradigm which is shaping worldwide production and consumption patterns of many industries. Its strength relies on factors of competitiveness such as the use of idle capacity, temporary access to resources without transfer of ownership, the flexibility and adaptability of its models, and the participation of a growing number of players allowed by peer-to-peer digital platforms. From the management perspective, the conditions for lasting competitiveness lies on sustainability, the paradigm integrating the supply, demand, and technological dimensions in a holistic, or ecosystem, perspective. Tourism is among the industries making extensive use of sharing digital platforms and experiencing changes that foster the sustainability debate. The PhD Thesis aims to investigate the relationships between competitiveness and sustainability in the tourism and hospitality accommodation industry in the Sharing Economy Era. Its investigation is multifaced and is addressed through three studies adopting a post-modernist perspective that builds on qualitative approaches and strategies for data collection and analysis. The Part I of the Thesis explores the Sharing Economy concept’s evolution and the sustainability issues through an in-depth review of the literature. Results reveal the leading economic-technological evolution of the paradigm over the social one, and its dual links with sustainability in relation to the extensive use of peer-to-peer digital platforms. Therefore, the evolution of the Sharing Economy activities have shown that today competitiveness is built on the interactions of an ever-increasing number of actors and factors, both off-line and on-line, within a complex ecosystem for the creation of – shared – value. The tourism industry strongly challenges this relationship between extended competition and sustainability. The Part II evaluates the competitiveness model and its evolution during the Sharing eTourism Era in the tourism and hospitality accommodation sector introducing an ecosystem perspective for the creation and distribution of shared value. Specifically, it investigates how the non-traditional and informal tourist services have affected the structure of the industry and have altered the competition among the actors, through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Results show that competitiveness is given by the balance among the complex interactions of internal and external ecosystem’s actors and factors. On a micro level this imply that businesses must adopts an ecosystem vision compensating for negative externalities which translate into the adoption of Business Models promoting sustainability for the creation of sustainable shared value. Therefore, the Part III investigates through the use of an illustrative case study how peer-to-peer digital platforms in the tourist accommodation service can boost profitability while strengthening economic, social and environmental sustainability by applying the innovative Business Model for Sustainability. The research sheds light on the complex Sharing Economy literature and lays the theoretical foundations for the implementation of managerial strategies aimed at promoting extended sustainable competition-cooperation.

Purpose - The aim of the study is to further bridge the gap regarding adoption of Circular Business Models (CBM) more specifically in this case, the barriers to the adoption of Green Steel CBMs, and how Business Models (BM) can be configured for the adoption of Green Steel CBMs. Method - The research questions in the study were answered through a thematic analysis based on a three-phase data collection consisting of two informal meetings with industry specialists and 25 semi-structured interviews, followed by eleven additional interviews from a Green Steel conference to validate the findings of the semi-structured interviews. Findings - The analysis of the interviews resulted in eight identified barriers towards Green Steel CBM adoption, and eight enabling factors for the configuration of BM components specified for Green Steel CBM adoption. Furthermore, the findings present a framework showcasing how to utilize the enabling factors to overcome the barriers for the facilitation of CBMs in the steel industry.  Theoretical contribution – The study contributes to existing literature by providing a steel industry perspective on the barriers for the adoption of CBMs and presenting a framework for the configuration of BMs to overcome the barriers. The study further contributes with managerial insights to the literature towards the Green Steel transition, in contrast to the existing technical perspectives that previously has been conducted. Practical contribution - The study offers practical guidance for decision-makers in the steel industry and other industries undergoing similar transitions. The framework work as guidance for the configuration and adoption of Green Steel CBMs, highlighting the role of collaborations between stakeholders to enable new revenue streams and economic opportunities. Limitation and future research – The study was conducted with a restricted number of interviews and geographical reach, making the generalizability of the study limited. Future research could broaden the scope to include perspectives from additional regions, industry segments and stakeholders. / Syfte - Syftet med studien är att överbrygga kunskapsgapet gällande adopteringen av cirkulära affärsmodeller, mer specifikt i detta fall, barriärer för adopteringen av cirkulära affärsmodeller för Grönt Stål och hur affärsmodeller kan konfigureras för adopteringen av affärsmodeller för Grönt Stål. Metod - Forskningsfrågorna i studien besvarades genom en tematisk analys baserad på en datainsamling i tre faser bestående av två informella möten med branschspecialister och 25 semistrukturerade intervjuer, följt av elva intervjuer från en konferens om Grönt Stål för att validera resultaten av de semistrukturerade intervjuerna. Resultat - Analysen av intervjuerna resulterade i åtta identifierade barriärer för adopteringen av cirkulära affärsmodeller för Grönt Stål, samt åtta möjliggörande faktorer för konfigurationen av affärsmodells komponenter som specificerats för adopteringen av cirkulära affärsmodeller för Grönt Stål. Ytterligare presenteras resultaten i ett ramverk som visar hur man kan använda de möjliggörande faktorerna för att övervinna barriärerna och främja cirkulära affärsmodeller i stålindustrin. Teoretiskt bidrag – Studien bidrar till befintlig litteratur genom att tillhandahålla ett stålindustriperspektiv på barriärerna för adopteringen av cirkulära affärsmodeller och presentera ett ramverk för konfigurationen av affärsmodeller för att övervinna barriärerna.  Praktiskt bidrag - Studien ger praktisk vägledning för beslutsfattare inom stålindustrin och andra industrier som genomgår liknande omställningar. Ramverket fungerar som vägledning för konfigurationen och adopteringen av cirkulära affärsmodeller för Grönt Stål, och belyser rollen av samarbeten mellan intressenter för att möjliggöra nya affärsmöjligheter.  Avgränsningar och framtida studier – Studien genomfördes med ett begränsat antal intervjuer och geografisk räckvidd, vilket gjorde studiens generaliserbarhet begränsad. Framtida forskning skulle kunna bredda omfattningen till att inkludera perspektiv från ytterligare regioner, branschsegment och intressenter.

Background: Regulations and Governments prompt companies to reassess their practices and align with sustainability standards. It emphasizes a transition towards circular business practices, which requires large amounts of capital to commit to the adoption of circularity fully. The transportation sector is a prime example of an industry undergoing a significant circular transformation due to its environmental impact. Circular servitization has complemented the circular transformation by offering products as services instead of selling them outright. This has had severe financial statement implications since the operations differ from linear practices and requires large investments. Financial institutions still assume techniques, modulation, and evaluation processes adapted for linear purposes, which creates obstacles to capturing the value circular business models generate. Subsequently, financial institutions are hesitant to fund circular business models due to the perception of increased risk. Hence, financial inertia occurs and hinders the development of circular businesses.  Purpose: This research adopts the perspective of financial institutions and examines the barriers and enablers that impact companies' transitions to circular business models, leading to or mitigating financial inertia.  Method: The study is qualitative and adopted an abductive approach to contrast theory and findings with the interpretive research paradigm. The primary data was collected from eleven different respondents from a Swedish financial institution. Sampling was done non-randomly with a purposive sample and a convenience input to gather data from respondents who were part of the financial institution and knowledgeable in the circular transition.  Findings: The aim of the study was to answer two research questions regarding barriers causing, and enablers mitigating financial inertia. The findings provided three soft and six hard barriers relating to financial techniques, modeling, and evaluation methods, along with internal competence about circularity, stakeholder involvement, and regulations. Additionally, the study found three soft and six hard enablers which could be interpreted as underlying drivers for mitigating financial inertia.

This study aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 on consumer buying behavior and shifts in retail business models within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in response to the challenges introduced by the pandemic. The study had several objectives, including examining the global impact of the pandemic on retail consumers, analyzing variations in the effect on luxury and essential products, investigating the strategies employed by physical store retailers to address the consequences of COVID-19, and providing recommendations for retailers to operate sustainably in the future. To achieve these objectives, the study utilized a mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative research. Data was collected from 180 consumer respondents via a quantitative survey questionnaire and from eight retailers through one-on-one interviews. Reliability analysis was conducted using Cronbach's Alpha. Subsequently, the data was evaluated through frequency and cross-tabulation methods, while interview transcripts served to corroborate and contrast the quantitative findings. The study revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered consumer shopping patterns. There was a heightened demand for groceries, essentials, health and hygiene products, while non-essentials and luxury items experienced reduced demand. Consumers showed a preference for online retail platforms over traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Based on these findings, Saudi Arabian retailers are advised to exploit a hybrid model, blending online and physical stores in the post-COVID period, and to establish multiple online sales touchpoints. Luxury retailers, in particular, are encouraged to diversify their portfolio range to include value-for-money options, leverage social media marketing to promote their offerings and improve consumer perceptions around online purchasing, specifically in delivery and return policies.

While IT-enabled innovations continue to disrupt long-lasting industries, emerging concepts and theories seek to explain implications of digitalisation on its value, competition and organisation. Over the past two decades, the notions of digital capability and business model reconfiguration as antecedents of organisational performance have become increasingly influential in the Information Systems literature. Appreciation of the role of strategic agility, external resources and interorganisational collaborations on IT-enabled value propositions has shaped the core logic and fundamental assumptions of the two aforementioned concepts. Nevertheless, the relationship between digital capability and business model reconfiguration remains underinvested and largely elusive. In order to reconcile such fragmented literature, the aim of this study is to investigate the coevolutionary dynamics of digital capability and business model reconfigurations. Digital capability reflects on the organisational ability to identify IT-enabled opportunities and deploy IS/IT to mobilise resources and structures in order to exploit those opportunities. Business model reconfiguration encapsulates management agenda to elevate value propositions for customers, partners and other stakeholders in order to create and capture value. It entails altering organisational resources and processes to enable such value propositions. Empirical data that is used in this thesis is gathered from an insurance company and contains information about the internal and external contexts, decisions, actions and performance between 2008 and 2016. There are four major phases during this time period. As identified, during each, the company revised its strategic intentions, invested in new IS/IT and human resources and reconfigured its business model. Results of this study illustrate that organisational digital capability drives strategic intentions for co-exploration and co-exploitation of value with partners. Such emerging strategies shape the configuration of the firm’s business model, which in turn leads to investments for generating the required IS competencies. This process increases the organisational digital capability, which affects the future cycles. Development of each IS competency is a result of co- exploration strategies. It is likely that such IS competencies are leveraged for co-exploitation in the future phases. In addition, Business-to-Business (B2B) IS competencies are instrumental in operationalising business models: however, as the number of partners grow and configuration of business models change, dyadic connections are likely to be replaced by standard ones.          Strategies of co-exploration and co-exploitation could lead to innovative, adoptive or evolutionary business model reconfigurations. However, for incumbent organisations, business model innovation seems to follow several business model adaptations and evolutions. That is, a great deal of organisational learning and tinkering with business models, strategic intentions and technological backbone is needed to innovate business models. The final contribution of this research is the analytical model devised for exploring the essence of strategic decision making in dynamic environments. Based on the Appreciative Systems Model, the model illustrates how the perception of the constant flux of events and ideas leads to strategic intentions based on value and reality judgments, which in turn triggers action to operationalise those understandings. Both formulating the intentions and executing them will change future events, perceived ideas and emerging intentions based on evolving values and standards.

Titel: Från avfall till resurs: Hinder och möjligheter för uppskalning av cirkulära affärsmodeller i klädindustrin Bakgrund: Dagens resursutnyttjande är inte hållbart och det ökade fokuset kring cirkulära lösningar uppmanar till både behov och intresse för förändring. Dessa anpassningar handlar bland annat om att övergå från en linjär till en cirkulär affärsmodell för att göra bättre nyttjande våra resurser. Cirkulära affärsmodeller blir allt viktigare, men hur dessa kan skalas upp finns utrymme att vidare studera. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera centrala faktorer som har inverkan påskalbarheten av cirkulära affärsmodeller i klädindustrin. Metod: Studien använder en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi med en fallstudiedesign. Forskningsperspektivet i studien är hermeneutiskt och har kompletterats med en abduktiv ansats för att vidareutveckla det hermeneutiska tillvägagångssättet och skapa förståelse. Empirin i studien baseras på nio semistrukturerade intervjuer med både företag och experter från olika multinationella företag. Slutligen används en tematisk analys som analysmetod. Slutsats: Studien har identifierat sex hinder och sex möjliggörare för att skala upp den cirkulära affärsmodellen i klädindustrin. Dessa faktorer identifierades utifrån en analysmodell som byggde på strukturell, strategisk och operativ nivå där vissa faktorer var mer centrala än andra. De hindrenmed den mest avgörande betydelsen för uppskalning av cirkulära affärsmodellen var; eftersläpande och bristfälliga regelverk, komplexa värdekedjor och resurstillgänglighet. De möjliggörarna med den mest avgörande betydelsen var; proaktiva regelverk, samarbete och partnerskap och resurseffektivisering. / Title: From waste to resource: Barriers and enablers for scaling up circular business models in the clothing industry Background: The current use of resources is not sustainable and the increased focus on circular solutions is prompting both the need and interest in change. These adaptations include moving from a linear to a circular business model in order to make better use of our resources. Circular business models are becoming increasingly important, but there is room to study how these can reach scalability. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify key factors influencing the scalability of circular business models in the fashion industry. Method: The study utilizes a qualitative research strategy with a case study design. The research perspective in the study is hermeneutic and has been complemented with an abductive approach to further develop the hermeneutic approach and create a modified understanding. The empirical data in the study is based on nine semi-structured interviews with both companies and experts from various multinational corporations. A thematic analysis is employed as the analytical method. Conclusion: The study has identified six barriers and six enablers for scaling up the circular business model in the clothing industry. These factors were identified using an analytical model based on structural, strategic and operational levels, with some factors being more central than others. The barriers with the most crucial importance for scaling up the circular business model were; lagging and inadequate regulations, complex value chains and resource availability. The enablers with the most crucial importance were; proactive regulations, collaboration and partnerships, and resource efficiency. Keywords: Circular business model, resource management, clothing industry, scalability.

During the last 15 years, the film industry has undergone severe technological, cultural, and economic transformations initiated through online film distribution. Existing players need to adapt and innovate their business models to stay competitive. However, there is little knowledge about what players actually do in this respect. Since the film industry is of great economic and cultural importance, it is essential for researchers and managers alike to understand the transformations in the business models of film companies. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate which areas of the business models of Nordic film studios have been most affected by changes and how the studios have responded to these transformations. Based on a longitudinal, comparative case study of the companies SF Studios and Nordisk Film, the study reveals that distribution channels, revenue streams, margins, partner network, customer needs, and core offerings have changed the most. The main transformations can be seen in stronger partnerships and an increased focus on in-house production to serve the high demand for content, secure a content flow for distribution, and generate new revenues. / Under de senaste 15 åren har filmindustrin genomgått stora tekniska, kulturella och ekonomiska förändringar som inleddes av den digitala filmdistributionens uppkomst. För att förbli konkurrenskraftiga måste nuvarande aktörer anpassa och förnya sina affärsmodeller. Det finns dock lite kunskap om vad företagen faktiskt gör i detta avseende. Eftersom filmindustrin har ett stort ekonomiskt och kulturellt värde är det avgörande att förstå förändringar i filmbolagens affärsmodeller, både för forskare och ledare. Syftet med denna uppsats är därför att undersöka vilka delar av nordiska filmstudiors affärsmodeller som är mest drabbade av förändringar och hur studiorna har reagerat på detta. Baserat på en longitudinell, jämförande fallstudie av företagen SF Studios och Nordisk Film visar denna studie att distributionskanaler, intäkter, marginaler, partnernätverk, kundbehov och kärnutbud har förändrats mest. De huvudsakliga förändringarna visas i starkare partnerskap och ett ökat fokus på egen produktion, för att uppfylla den höga efterfrågan på innehåll, säkra ett innehållsflöde för distribution samt generera nya intäkter.