This thesis explores the challenges and opportunities of cultural entrepreneurship, exploring current conceptualisations of cultural entrepreneurs and to find new perspectives and recommendations for cultural entrepreneurs of the future. Cultural entrepreneurship is a contested, yet essential aspect of the growth of artists and arts organisations globally. Though there are similarities, this research demonstrates that cultural entrepreneurs from different backgrounds, industries and of varied sizes need different things and have different barriers so cannot be understood in the same way. Digital technologies and local networks do offer new possibilities for innovation however these are limited in scope and require further investigation and investment. Despite psychological, political and financial barriers to entrepreneurship in the creative industries, finding a balance between artistic, social, economic and institutional innovation for the various actors throughout the arts offers key insights to how artists and arts organisations can be more entrepreneurial. Through a grounded theory approach, this research connects previously disparate fields of cultural policy, social entrepreneurship and business model innovation to derive new perspectives of how cultural entrepreneurs can survive and thrive in the dynamically shifting world. Themes that emerged through the data analysis connect in new ways to Cohendet et al.’s (2012) ‘Anatomy of a Creative City’, outlining the underground, middleground and upperground actors; Albinsson’s (2017) theories of the quadruple bottom line in the creative industries; and a value ecosystem’s approach with a focus on value creation (Allee, 2002; Curtis, 2017). From this combination of literature and data collected, a novel approach to understanding cultural entrepreneurs emerges, creating a model to understand more holistically how value is created and captured for the artist or arts organisation. This model has a range of practical approaches intended to provide tangible pathways into combining the concepts of the quadruple bottom line, value ecosystems and different conceptualisations of cultural entrepreneurs, offering a novel contribution to all of these fields in addition to, and most significantly the topic of cultural entrepreneurship.

Services constitute three quarters of all economic activities worldwide. The growing importance of the service industry cannot be neglected and it is obvious that services can offer colossal opportunities on the way of creating and capturing economic value. The way to prosperity  for companies and economies is in their ability to rethink the existing business with the purpose to innovate. Service innovation is believed to be a source of companies’ competitiveness. Leveraging innovation of services is not an  easy task and requires a new thinking which implies the shift towards service business logic. In order to innovate services effectively, there is a need to develop new business models. A business model is a significant assistant which can help to create viable services by taking into consideration appropriate customer needs and organizational resources. However, the majority of approaches to innovation occurred from product-oriented business models. The growing tendency of services requires changing traditional approaches and developing new service-based business models. The main aim of this thesis is to study the process of transformation (innovation) of a product-oriented business model towards a service-centered one which implies stronger customer focus and to identify the main components that constitute the business model framework in the service context. The empirical data was collected from a single case study of ISS Sweden and analyzed according to the developed framework from literature findings regarding business model innovation in the service context. The most important findings reveal the fact that the business model perspective should be taken into account as more holistic approach which integrates all processes and components within the company. However, some of the components were found missing and it was not supported by the literature findings. During the transformation process the major changes were identified while looking at each component in detail and the most important components of a service business model framework were identified, specifically customer, value proposition and value delivery which comprise the  following key factors: ●   Customer is a co-creator, co-producer and a key partner ●  Employees are the main source of successful value delivery ●  Service innovation is a necessity

The circular economy has become one of the most crucial business plans for organizations. There is rapid progress in using digital technologies, especially two-sided digital platforms as enablers for various businesses and start-ups to grow rapidly. However, these digital platforms are facing significant obstacles and barriers in advertising their products, growing sales, and improving profitability. There is not enough scientific research and scholarly work that has been undertaken or focused on the strategies to promote the circular economy from the aspect of information systems. The purpose of this research aims to explore the major possible contributing techniques that can be implemented to enhance the utilization of digital platforms as enablers for the circular economy. In this study, qualitative exploratory research has been considered as an adequate and suitable scheme for generating a contextual understanding of the phenomenon. 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were among individuals and within several organizations that are associated with the circular economy. According to the data collected from the survey, the most visible elements that affected the decision of the participants while using the digital platform are price, quality, sustainability, and location. Based on the findings, this study makes critical recommendations to tackle the problems that hinder the development of the circular economy among individuals, companies, and organizations. The recommended themes for circular economy strategies are to increase customer satisfaction, focus on opportunities, improve trustworthiness (online reviews), set up reliable return policies, and increase stakeholder engagement