Managing business model innovation for sustainability transitions: Towards a theory-based typology
2024 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]
Business model innovation for sustainability (BMIfS) is a key driver for industry transformations in addressing grand challenges. While previous corporate sustainability literature has acknowledged that companies require different management approaches to innovate their business model for larger system changes, a more structured and nuanced understanding of such management has not often been applied. By developing a theory-based typology, this thesis explores how management and social theories can be used to advance BMIfS research. The typology accumulates and organizes existing knowledge of the important but fragmented BMIfS management research to capture the key dimensions and differentiate among various management approaches. From a management perspective, the thesis identifies three BMIfS management dimensions: values, knowledge, and agency. The thesis consists of four appended empirical papers that illustrate various facets of the BMIfS management typology. The empirical data from those papers is based on case studies of the Swedish wood construction industry, which has attracted international attention due to the development of innovative and sustainable building technologies and practices. This thesis makes three main contributions. First, it contributes to a growing discussion in the management researcher and practitioner communities on advancing the managerial perspectives of BMIfS. Second, it presents a theory-based typology of different BMIfS management approaches and their theoretical roots. Third, it illustrates various facets of these management approaches with empirical examples from the four appended papers.
Abstract [en]
The aim of this thesis is to contribute towards a deeper understanding of managing Business model innovation for sustainability (BMIfS) by exploring different managerial approaches with the potential to drive sustainability transitions on an industry-wide scale. Through a development of a theory-based typology, this thesis accumulates and organizes existing knowledge of the important but fragmented BMIfS management research. The thesis also consists of four appended empirical papers that are used to illustrate various facets of the proposed BMIfS management typology. The empirical data from those papers is based on case studies of the Swedish wood construction industry. This thesis makes three main contributions to the BMIfS research. First, it contributes to a growing discussion in the researcher and practitioner communities on advancing the managerial perspectives of BMIfS. Second, it presents a theory-based typology of different BMIfS management approaches and their theoretical roots. Third, it illustrates various facets of these management approaches with empirical examples from the four appended papers.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Karlstad: Karlstads universitet, 2024. , p. 111
Series
Karlstad University Studies, ISSN 1403-8099 ; 2024:38
Keywords [en]
business model innovation for sustainability, sustainability transitions, theory-based typology, grand challenges, wood construction industry
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-102072DOI: 10.59217/rbtu1986ISBN: 978-91-7867-510-4 (print)ISBN: 978-91-7867-511-1 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-102072DiVA, id: diva2:1908102
Public defence
2024-12-12, 11D227, Universitetsgatan 2, 651 88 Karlstad, Sweden, Karlstad, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
2024-11-212024-10-242024-11-21Bibliographically approved
List of papers