Affärsmodellinnovation innebär att en affärsmodell uppdateras och utvecklas för att vara relevant och samspelt med konkurrensen. Det finns flertal forskare som listar olika koncept som organisationer behöver ha med i sina ffärsmodellinnovation för att den ska bli framgångsrik. Men hur blir det när ett bolag försöker sig på affärsmodellinnovation och skapar ett digitalt verktyg för samverkan i en digital omogen bransch som byggbranschen?  Syftet med denna studie är därmed att utforska utmaningar kring affärsmodellsinnovation som fokuserar på utveckling av digitala verktyg för byggbranschen och metoden som används är litteraturstudie samt semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien resulterar i slutsatsen att det inte räcker med koncepten som forskarna har kommit fram till vad gäller affärsmodellinnovation utan att ett bolag som ska skapar ett digitala verktyg behöver även skapa sig en insikt om hela affärsmodellinnovationensekosystem för att nå fram till sina kunder och partners i en digitalt omogen bransch.

Business model innovation has in recent year become more important for firms looking to gain competitive advantage on dynamic markets. Additionally, incorporating data into a firm’s business model has been shown to lead to improved performance. This development has led to interest in the connection between data utilisation and business model innovation. This thesis provides an in-depth case study of a Swedish space firm active within the satellite industry. The firm operates within an increasingly dynamic market, and ongoing disruptions in the form of new market entrants and rapid technological advancements has led to a search for new business opportunities. As a result, novel ways of utilising the increased amounts of data from space are of significant importance. While the firm is still realising profits utilising their incumbent business model, the firm must simultaneously explore new business opportunities to avoid extinction. The findings show that novel data utilisation, in the form of data processing, leads to business model innovation. Furthermore, the degree of business model transformation is dependent on how many of the business model's underlying elements are affected by data utilisation. Furthermore, the study concludes that a lack of trial-and-error learning impedes radical innovation efforts and hinders the development of ambidextrous capabilities within the firm. Lastly, the study finds a novel connection between the introduction of large-scale projects and improved ambidextrous capabilities. / Innovation av affärsmodeller har under senare år blivit alltmer viktigt för företag som vill uppnå ökad konkurrenskraft på dynamiska marknader. Vidare har det visat sig att företag som använder data för att förändra sin affärsmodell når bättre resultat än sina konkurrenter. Detta har lett till ett intresse för kopplingen mellan datautnyttjande och innovation av affärsmodeller. Detta examensarbete består av en fallstudie av ett svenskt rymdföretag, som har del av sin verksamhet inom satellitbranschen. Företaget verkar på en alltmer dynamisk marknad, och pågående störningar i form av nya marknadsaktörer och tekniska framsteg har lett till att företaget nu måste söka efter nya affärsmöjligheter. Som ett resultat av detta blir nya sätt att använda de ökade mängderna data från rymden av stor betydelse. Fastän företaget fortfarande framgångsrikt nyttjar sin befintliga affärsmodell, måste företaget samtidigt undersöka nya affärsmöjligheter för att undvika att hamna efter marknadsutvecklingen. Studiens resultat visar att nya sätt att använda data, i form av databehandling, leder till innovation av företagets affärsmodell. Dessutom beror graden av innovation på hur många av affärsmodellens underliggande byggstenar som påverkas av införandet av data. Studien drar vidare slutsatsen att en brist på lärande genom ’trial-and-error’ inom företaget hindrar radikala innovationsinsatser och leder till begränsade förutsättningar för att hantera organisatorisk ambidexteritet. Slutligen finner studien att storskaliga innovationsprojekt kan förbättra förutsättningarna för organisatorisk ambidexteritet.

Background: As Earth’s resources are continuously being used at an overcapacity, circular economy (CE) has received a growing interest from scholars, practitioners and legislators. The phenomenon has been described as a solution to the linear take-make-dispose strategy integrated into society and used by organisations. However, despite the possibilities within the CE, organisations require more knowledge as to how the transition towards CE occurs, on account of the changes that also need to transpire in the organisational business model (BM). Hence, this study focuses on how practices facilitate innovation and thus, the implementation of CE within organisations. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the transition that an organisation endures when innovating the BM in line with CE. Accordingly, the study takes the perspective of managers as change agents as they represent the organisation when strategizing and implementing practices. By investigating the link between managers and business model innovation (BMI) to achieve CE adoption, this study aims to provide a deeper insight into CE and the transition organisations go through. Method: Our method has been founded on a qualitative study with an explorative nature. Additionally, we have used a multiple case-study approach of two companies where the primary data was collected through 13 semi-structured interviews. Moreover, the data has been analysed by using comparative analysis to identify patterns between the two companies. Conclusion: The results of the study show how internal and external factors influence the transition journey of companies when innovating the BM, and implementing circular practices in line with a circular business model (CBM). Moreover, the findings exhibit how managers interact with these factors to select and alter processes to establish suitable practices from the vision and the level of flexibility achieved in the organisation

This study has been carried out at Geodesign Latitud 57 AB and its purpose is to present possibilities of how the company’s business model can be adapted in order to deliver additional customer value. The study presents the importance of adapting businesses according to customer needs and not having presumptions of what customers’ value in a company’s value offering. In order to conduct the study properly, the two concepts of business models and customer value were investigated thoroughly, as well as methods of how customer value can be measured and how a company’s business model can be adapted according to customers’ value preferences. Geodesign Latitud 57 AB is a Swedish company which develops and sells temporary flood barrier systems. The market for the company’s products has only just started to develop and the company’s primary customers are currently Swedish and international administrative authorities, communes and larger electrical power companies. Geodesign have been active on the market for over 20 years but it is not until recently that flood fighting has received increased attention. The difficulties of getting their products sold has created a need for the company to further understand what customers value when they purchase temporary flood barrier systems and how the company’s business model can be adapted to better suit customer needs. This study has both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. The authors of the study have taken into account previously conducted studies regarding the identification of customer value preferences and adaptation of business models. Geodesign’s business model was mapped by interviewing the company’s employees. The customers’ value preferences were identified by using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP), supported by qualitative questions in order to fully understand what customers value in a temporary barrier system offering. The study presents a model for business model adaptation according to customer value preferences, Step by step, the model specifies how to understand what customers value in a company’s offering, how to map the company’s current business model, how to analyse how the current business model is suitable for delivering the customers’ needs, and finally how to generate ideas of how the company can adapt its current business model in order to create additional customer value. The model for business model adaptation is generalizable and useful for other companies that wish to create additional customer value. The study resulted in a number of ways in which Geodesign can adapt their current business model in order to create additional customer value. The authors of the study suggest four ways in which Geodesign can adapt its current business model: Improve the usability of the temporary barrier systems Offer training and education on site in the customers’ geographical areas and make use of the company’s key resources. Emphasize valuable information in marketing channels. Introduce routines for continuous evaluation after the temporary barrier systems have been used during floods. By adapting the company’s business model in these ways, the company will improve relations to their customers and users, receive continuous input regarding what the customers and users value, and create additional value through their value offerings. / Föreliggande studie har genomförts på företaget Geodesign Latitud 57 AB och syftar till att presentera förslag på hur företagets affärsmodell kan anpassas för att leverera ytterligare kundvärde. Studien belyser vikten av att anpassa företagets verksamhet efter kundernas behov och att inte ha förutfattade meningar om vad kunderna anser vara värdefullt i företagets erbjudande. För att kunna genomföra studien undersöktes begreppen affärsmodell och kundvärde, hur kundvärde kan mätas samt hur en affärsmodell kan anpassas efter kunders värdepreferenser. Geodesign Latitud 57 AB är ett svenskt företag som arbetar med att utveckla och sälja temporära barriärsystem mot översvämningar. Marknaden för temporära barriärsystem är relativt ung och kunderna utgörs framförallt av stater, myndigheter och större elbolag såväl nationellt som internationellt. Företaget har varit verksamma i över 20 år men det är först på senare tid som översvämningar och höga vattenstånd har fått en mer betydande plats på deras kunders och potentiella kunders agenda. Svårigheterna i att få deras produkter sålda har gjort att företaget ser ett värde i att undersöka vad kunderna efterfrågar i ett erbjudande kring mobila barriärsystem och hur deras affärsmodell kan anpassas för att bättre möta kundernas behov. Studien är såväl kvantitativ som kvalitativ och genomförandet av studien har stöttats av tidigare vetenskapliga undersökningar som handlat om att kvantifiera kundvärde och anpassa företags affärsmodeller. Företagets affärsmodell kartlades genom intervjuer med företagets anställda. Kundernas värdepreferenser identifierades genom en Analytisk Hierarkiprocess (AHP) som stöttades av kvalitativa intervjufrågor för att på djupet undersöka vad kunderna ser som värdefullt i ett erbjudande med temporära barriärsystem. I studien presenteras en arbetsmodell som stegvis beskriver hur ett företags affärsmodell kan förändras utifrån marknadens kunders värdepreferenser. Arbetsmodellen är noga specificerad och beskriver tillvägagångssättet för att identifiera vad kunderna värderar i erbjudandet, kartlägga företagets nuvarande affärsmodell, analysera hur väl dagens affärsmodell uppfyller vad kunderna värderar och slutligen generera idéer för hur företaget kan anpassa sin nuvarande affärsmodell för att skapa ytterligare kundvärde. Arbetsmodellen är generaliserbar och användbar i andra branscher och för företag som vill skapa ytterligare kundvärde. Studiens resultat visar att det finns möjliga anpassningar som Geodesign kan genomföra i sin affärsmodell för att skapa ytterligare kundvärde. Studiens författare föreslår fyra sätt som Geodesign kan anpassa sin nuvarande affärsmodell på: Förbättra användarvänligheten hos barriärsystemen Erbjud träningstillfällen i kundens geografiska område och utnyttja nyckelresurser Framhäv rätt information i marknadsföringskanaler Inför rutiner för uppföljning av användningen av barriärsystemen Genom att anpassa företagets affärsmodell på dessa sätt kommer företaget att få förbättrade kundrelationer, kontinuerlig input om vad kunderna på marknaden värderar och ett ökat kundvärde i företagets värdeerbjudande.

The notion of International New Ventures, or INVs, emerged in academia in the early-to-mid 1990s and generally refers to entrepreneurial firms that tend to internationalize very early in their life-cycle, and whose expansion into foreign markets occurs much more quickly than predicted by earlier theories of the incremental internationalization process. Previous literature proposes effective networking with market partners and, more recently, internationally viable business model among key distinguishing features of INVs that allow for such early and rapid entry into international markets. Nevertheless, little is yet known regarding how these younger firms develop over time and how they could sustain international growth. With the purpose of filling this gap, this doctoral dissertation scrutinizes business models and business model innovation of INVs beyond their early internationalization, with a particular emphasis on INVs’ external relationships configurations.   The dissertation consists of four self-contained essays that represent a methodological mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches and incorporate longitudinal case studies, surveys and register-based data encompassing nine years of Swedish INVs’ development. The findings highlight the importance of the business model as an initial market entry tool, and of business model innovation as a potential growth vehicle over time. Findings also display that INVs work with a broader range of external partners compared to other firms for innovative purposes, and that INVs have different business model innovation patterns compared to other types of internationalized firms. Moreover, INVs focus more heavily on value capture innovations in their business models as they mature and seek to obtain a more centralized position in their industry ecosystem by re-configuring the parameters of existing external relationships or developing new ones.   Overall, this dissertation contributes to the international entrepreneurship and business model literature by explicating how maturing INVs need to operate under different business model configurations as compared to emerging INVs, as the original business model might lack scalability after a certain point in time. Furthermore, the dissertation suggests how INVs can pursue a dynamic business model approach and utilize dynamic capabilities to design business models that put the focal firm more in control of the surrounding ecosystem, and reduce constraints that can limit the value capturing potential and thus the growth and development of INVs.

Being one of the fastest growing industries, tourism has a trend to offer more innovative products and services. New opportunities and challenges have come for entrepreneurs and SMEs. Heritage tourism is one type of experience-based tourism where people can get historical or cultural experience. The potential of heritage tourism has attracted many entrepreneurs. It has been recognised activities are motivated by attitude within an entrepreneurial setting, however how the destination brand identity impacts the relationship from a supplier’s perspective is not clear. This thesis investigates the influence of destination brand on the entrepreneurs in a heritage tourism. A qualitative research design was constructed and the research strategy of a case study of the Swedish World Heritage site of Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland (Hälsingegårdar) was chosen. There are only seven farmhouses to represent the UNESCO site and also 34 non-listed farmhouses open to the public. After examining both groups, it could be concluded that the destination brand of a World Heritage Site will motivate the entrepreneurs to look for opportunities, which will strengthen their attitudes. However, the relationship between attitude and activity is weak due to the effect of other external factors.

Humanity confronts an existential threat without historic precedent. Environmental pressures have reached such intensity and pace of change that the earth system may be irreversibly tipped into a new and unpredictable state. The emerging global reality is, in turn, redefining overall conditions for business success. Addressing these challenges both demands and brings great opportunities for innovation. An important and sometimes neglected aspect of innovation is the design or redesign of business models, which has been identified as a greater source of lasting competitive advantage than new products and services per se. The business model has also been suggested as a new unit of analysis when discussing sustainability. However, this is still a relatively underexplored area. The aim of this work was therefore to develop an approach to business model design that supports strategic sustainable development, i.e., supports organizations to contribute to society’s transition towards sustainability in a way that strengthens the organization.       To be able to design a business model that supports strategic sustainable development, it is necessary to know what sustainability is and how to develop sustainability-promoting, economically viable strategies. Therefore, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, which includes, e.g., an operational definition of sustainability and strategic guidelines for how to approach it, was used as an overarching framework. Specific research methods and techniques included, e.g., literature reviews, questionnaires, interviews, work with focus groups, participatory action research with partner organizations, creative problem solving techniques, modeling, and simulation.   The literature reviews revealed potential sustainability benefits of developing business models in conjunction with product-service systems (PSS). However, a knowledge gap exists regarding how to effectively connect these fields. Arguably, PSS strategies can best contribute to sustainability when business models support their implementation and when both the business models and the PSS strategies are guided by an understanding of strategic sustainable development. Therefore, an integrated approach to Business Model Design for Strategic Sustainable Development was co-developed and tested in PSS innovation work with partners, e.g., companies within the energy and lighting sectors. The tests indicated that the new approach helped to clarify strengths and weaknesses of current business models from a strategic sustainability perspective; to transform an organization’s vision and strategy into a sustainability-framed vision and a sustainability-promoting strategy; and to communicate the new vision and strategy to the value network as a basis for engaging important stakeholders in the change. For example, the approach supported one of the partner companies in its transformation towards providing sustainable PSS solutions in the form of light as a service. Examples of business benefits of the new approach include improved scalability and risk avoidance, which provide a foundation for better investment strategies. Benefits also include improved differentiability and a broadened view on, and a more solid foundation for, collaboration with stakeholders that are increasingly important to sustainable business success.

Abstract     BACKGROUND:  As being acknowledged relatively recently there is a scarcity of empirical studies regarding the phenomenon of high-growth companies. What effect high-growth has on sustainable business model innovation and the firm’s sustainable value network has not been researched widely yet if at all, and this study aims to provide an insight to these matter with reviewed literature and the case study.   RESEARCH QUESTION: How is high-growth related to sustainable business model innovation?   PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to describe, if high-growth affects the need for sustainable business model innovation and in addition how sustainable business model innovation affects to value network in Product-service systems. By bringing these aspects closer together in this dispersed research field of studies related to sustainable business model innovation and broaden the academic field and develop understanding among these concepts and their interrelations, and to provide some theoretical framework for the future research, and to provide some insights on the matters and maybe offer some general guidelines for managers who are working with these matters as part of their job.

Adapting a circular system through business model experimentation can generate profit and sustainable growth for fashion firms. Business model experimentation explores novel opportunities to be at the forefront of transforming existing markets. Remanufacturing is one circular strategy that entails the process of recovering both raw material and value from end-of-life products for the production of new items. Remanufacturing in the context of business model experimentation is a promising solution in the fashion and textile industry to drive the transition into a circular economy. Through case study research the phenomenon of remanufacturing business model experimentation within the fashion and textile industry is investigated. The case phenomenon is investigated by means of the Re:workwear project, in which the brand Cheap Monday uses discarded workwear for a remanufactured collection next to its common collection. The focus of the study is on remanufacturing business model experimentation alongside the brand’s business-as-usual and decisive factors of this phenomenon. The processes and -steps within experimentation were analysed through semi-structured interviews with various involved parties of the supply chain. A framework combining the Business Model Canvas and the stepwise approach of business model experimentation by Bocken et al. (2017) is developed and applied throughout the research. It is found that (1) motivation and scope, (2) input material, (3) flexibility, (4) stakeholder collaboration and (5) system development are decisive factors for remanufacturing business model experimentation. Further research is necessary to investigate the phenomenon in other settings and within a variety of other firms in the industry in order to test the findings and validate the generalisability.

The aim of this research is two-folded. On the one hand, it attempts to assist employers of Catalan micro-retailers in designing, implementing and developing their Social Media strategy as a complementary channel of communication. On the other hand, it attempts to contribute to the research community with a better understanding on both which building block of the micro-retailer¿s Business Model is more influenced by the customer level of interaction by means of the Social Media and how a transformation can be observed in the micro-retailers¿ Business Models as a result of the Social Media implementation. The research question to be answered in this paper is how the transformation of the activity system of the micro-retailers¿ Business Model would allow the emergence of a Participatory Business Model by means of Social Media. To carry out this research the Participatory Action Research methodology was used, whose contribution has two results: the one is more practitioner oriented and the other is more academic. The incipient results of the research showed a scarce transformation of Catalan microretailer¿s business model as a consequence of the implementation of social media. However, it is significant enough to be considered as more than just a simple adoption of an alternative channel of communication. One of the main contributions is related to how customer influences the activity system of the micro-retailer¿s business model beyond four levels of customer interaction (communication, interaction, participation and collaboration) by means of social media. On the one hand, the activity system of a business model is referred to the eight building blocks of Osterwalder, Pigneur and Tucci (2005) research that includes customer segment, customer relationship, distribution channel, capabilities, partner, value configuration, value proposition, profit and cost. On the other hand, the four defined levels of customer interaction are based on the literature of group collaboration systems. The results showed that not all the building blocks forming the business model are influenced by consumer interaction. The only building blocks influenced by an initial communication level in the current social media strategy implementation stage of our sample (five micro-retailers) are the following: customer segment, customer relationship, distribution channel, value proposition and cost. This incipient stage of transformation can be justified by a lack of effort made due to the small size of the business and a lack of team working inside the companies, easily adapting to changes. It can also be justified by the fact it was carried out by the micro-retailers only during a short period of time (14 month). Another contribution of the paper shows that Social Media transformation drives a BM innovation according to the following mediator elements: (1) the dynamic capabilities, (2) the ability of learning, (3) the dedicated effort, (4) the implementation time and (5) the level of customer participation.