New Business Models in Agroecology

It is a well-accepted argument that the most important strategy for a new venture is to explore and build a viable business model. How to accomplish this task is explicated by two dominant perspectives. The first line of research emphasizes learning actions such as trial-and-error and experimentation while the other stream believes that the viable business model originates from the entrepreneur’s cognitions. Building on an emerging field of research which explores the relationship between cognition and action and across-case approach, we draw several tentative conclusion. First, initial business model cognitions are composed of business concept hypothesis and business logic hypothesis. The former originates from such mental mechanisms as analogical thinking and/or concept combination which is triggered by experience and perception, while the latter comes from prior experience and new information processing. Second, initial business model cognitions provide a starting point for learning actions. Initial business model cognitions, aiming at guiding actions purposefully and improving action effects, can iterate through an entrepreneurship theorizing process. Third, entrepreneurs can use the combination of internal and/or external, immediate and/or indirect methods to validate initial business model hypothesis. Resource differences may influence the way new ventures validate initial hypothesis（resource-constrained new ventures would prefer low cost methods in the short run）. A combination of such methods contributes to a better performance in searching for a viable business model. Finally, the influence of feedbacks from learning actions on business model adaptation decisions is the outcome of an entrepreneurship theorizing process. Evidence shows that business logic hypothesis is subjected to more pivots than business concept hypothesis since the latter is usually supported by long-term prior experiences. This study adds to the knowledge of the following research streams. First, by inquiry into the interaction between cognitions and actions, we provide the dimension of initial cognitions which acts as the starting point for learning actions. We also add to the learning school that the content being learned during the process. Second, we provide an empirical investigation of business model schema research. We provide empirical support for the view of entrepreneurship theorizing, and specify the source and evolution of initial cognitions. We also find four learning actions which serve as major means to validate initial business model hypothesis and provide a better understanding of their effectiveness. Finally, by investigating the source of the cognition inertia of business concept hypothesis, we provide two possible explanations from the perspectives of prior experience and entrepreneurial theorizing, thus shed light on the cognition mechanism of new venture business model adaptation.

Every organization needs a viable business model. Strikingly, most of current literature is focused on business model design, whereas there is almost no attention for business model validation and implementation and related business model experimentation. The goal of the research as described in this paper is to develop a business model engineering tool for supporting business model management as a continuous design, validation and implementation cycle. The tool is applied to an online investment research startup in roll out and market phase. This paper describes the research as performed in a case study setting by focusing on the design, implementation and evaluation of the business model engineering tool. We also analyze the actual implementation and usage of the business model tool by the online investment research startup by focusing on the most critical actions related to actual business model implementation – i.e. actions with so-called ‘Lollapalooza tendencies’.

Do organic standards have a real taste of sustainability? – A critical essay

Expert systems in education: new opportunities, or threats, to the learning environment?

Successful business model innovation requires managers to come up not only with new, but also with viable business models. To this end, it has been argued that business model consistency plays a vital role, as the internal fit of business model elements can generate reinforcing effects, thereby influencing performance and competitive advantage. Little research has been conducted to measure consistency and confirm these effects, especially within business model innovation. We tackle this issue by developing and testing a measurement of business model consistency, and investigate its relationship with business model innovation and its performance. We find evidence supporting the positive effect of consistency on innovation performance. We contribute to extant research by developing a concept and measurement for business model consistency based on contingency theory and empirically verifying it. Our findings underline that managers should pay close attention to the consistency of their business model designs during business model innovation.

The current state of the agri-food systems calls for more attention to sustainability. This article explores how diverse business models can contribute to sustainability in food systems, and develops a new business model typology in this domain in which the wider business ecosystem is taken into account. A systematic literature review is done and 37 articles are analyzed according to the business model types, their various sustainability dimensions and roles within the food system. Nine different business model types for sustainable food systems are identified: circular business models, place-based social food networks, new logistics or online food distribution business models, disruptive, sufficiency, inclusive, and family business models, the focal company, and regional food hubs. Collaborative approaches, clear sustainability visions, companies' values and continuous innovation are important factors for agri-food business models striving for sustainability. More in-depth single-country but also cross-country comparative and cross-disciplinary research is needed for understanding business models and their transitions toward sustainable outcomes within diverse and complex food systems.

Purpose: In the magazine publishing industry, viable online business models are still rare to absent. To prepare for the ‘digital future’ and safeguard their long-term survival, many publishers are currently in the process of transforming their online business model. Against this backdrop, this study aims to develop a deeper understanding of (1) how the different building blocks of an online business model are transformed over time and (2) how sources of value creation unfold during this transformation process. Methodology: To answer our research question, we conducted a longitudinal case study with a leading German business magazine publisher (called BIZ). Data was triangulated from multiple sources including interviews, internal documents, and direct observations. Findings: Based on our case study, we nd that BIZ used the transformation process to differentiate its online business model from its traditional print business model along several dimensions, and that BIZ’s online business model changed from an efficiency- to a complementarity- to a novelty-based model during this process. Research implications: Our findings suggest that different business model transformation phases relate to different value sources, questioning the appropriateness of value source-based approaches for classifying business models. Practical implications: The results of our case study highlight the need for online-offline business model differentiation and point to the important distinction between service and product differentiation. Originality: Our study contributes to the business model literature by applying a dynamic and holistic perspective on the link between online business model changes and unfolding value sources.

Knock on wood: Business models for urban wood could overcome financing and governance challenges faced by nature-based solutions

Despite the predicted success of mobile payment, the market remains immature in most countries. Major concerns are the relationship between push and pull technologies, and the role of platforms, service innovation, power and control in ecosystems. As the first step in their mixed-method research approach, using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a research approach and the STOF business model as a research framework, the authors aim to identify design issues for m-payment services from mobile network operators' perspectives. Furthermore, the authors compare insights from semi-structured interviews with experts in the field to the empirical findings, to assess how the actual business model of Chinese m-payment services can be improved based on design issues derived from the business model. The results show that components such as building customer trust on payment services, innovative payment experience, and extend market to new segments, guarantee security and privacy issues, user profile management, and hardware problems involving existing infrastructure, customer/merchant relationship, platform interoperability, and cost saving on fraud detection need to be improved to enhance the potential of m-payment, supported by a viable and sustainable business model. There is also a role for policy and regulation to be played.

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss hybrid organizations whose business models blur the boundary between for-profit and nonprofit worlds. With the aim of understanding how hybrid organizations have developed commercially viable business models to create positive social and environmental change, the authors contend that hybrids are altering long-held business norms and conceptions of the role of the corporation in society. Building on an analysis of the most updated literature on hybrid organizations and with the use of case study approach, the purpose of this paper is to derive managerial lessons that traditional businesses may apply to innovate their business models.Design/methodology/approachThis paper has a practical focus to help organizations to develop successful business strategies and design innovative business models. It applies emerging thinking on hybrid business models to provide new insights and ideas on the use of business models as tools for innovating and delivering value. To comply with this, first, the authors discuss the distinctive characteristics of hybrids and the hybrid business model through a concise but comprehensive review of all the literature on hybrid organization, which is still very recent. Second, we relied on a short case study that introduces information technology and digital innovation as the premises of the emergence of a new hybrid business model that adds additional elements to traditional business managers on how to learn from hybrid organizations’ avenues to innovate their business models.FindingsIn this paper, the authors aimed to shed light on the management of any organization or initiative that aims to embrace multiple and competing yet potentially synergistic goals, as is increasingly the case in modern corporations. Spotting hidden complementarities of antagonistic assets can be arduous, time-consuming, costly and risky, but businesses driven by innovation may want to keep a close eye on the expanding hybrid sector as a source of future entrepreneurial opportunities. To this regard, hybrid social ventures have the potential to shed light on ways to innovate traditional business models. The essence of studying hybrids is that firms may learn how to innovate their business models in ways that go beyond current conceptualizations, making their mission profitable, rather than making profit their only mission! The research design (literature analysis and case study) allowed the authors to disentangle different innovative business models that hybrids suggest highlight strengths and weaknesses of such business models, understand strategies and capabilities associated with hybrids and transpose all these lessons learned to traditional business managers who constantly struggle for innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe main implication is that hybrid organizations may serve as incubators for new practices that can gain scale and impact by infusion into existing corporations. The authors can assist to a process of “hybridization” of incumbent firms, pushing the boundaries of corporate sustainability efforts toward strategies in which profit and social purpose share more equal footing.Practical implicationsFirms interested in benefiting from antagonistic assets that can have a dramatic impact on their business model innovation may want to consider some lessons: firms can attempt to build antagonistic assets into their mission, asking themselves what activities they can undertake with the potential to create (or erode) social, environmental and economic value and how these activities might be mediated by the context/environment in which they operate; they can partner with hybrids to benefit from them and absorb competencies from them, so to increase their likelihood to generate value-creating activities and to impact on wider range of stakeholders, including funders, partners, beneficiaries and communities; they can mimic hybrids on how to innovate their business model through the use of the “deliberate resource misfit” dynamic capability, mitigating negative impacts and trade-offs and maximizing positive value spillovers, both for the firms themselves and for the community.Social implicationsSharing know-how with hybrids opens up to ways to innovate business models, and hybrids are much more open to sharing lessons and encouraging others to copy their approaches in a genuine open innovation approach.Originality/valueThe main lesson businesses can take away from studying hybrids is that antagonistic assets – and not only profitable complementary ones, as the resource-based view would suggest – do not have to be a burden on profits. Hybrids ground their strategy first and foremost on their beneficiaries, thus dealing with a bundle of antagonistic assets. The primary objective of hybrids is thus to find imaginative ways of generating profits from their given resources rather than acquiring the resources that generate the highest profit. Profit is the ultimate goal of traditional businesses’ mission, but by making profit their only mission, firms risk missing out on the hidden opportunities latent in antagonistic assets. Learning from hybrids about how to align profits and societal impact may be a driver of long-term competitive advantage.

In many low- and middle-income countries, sewage sludge generated from wastewater treatment systems has potential environmental and health hazards. To tackle this challenge, there is a need for innovative options given the increasing concerns and policies restricting sewage sludge dumping in landfills and elsewhere, and a growing awareness about the resource value of sludge within a circular economy. In developed countries, water utilities, municipalities and the private sector are increasingly engaged in utilizing and innovating modern resource recovery technologies to capture biosolids, nutrients or energy from sewage sludge and reducing disposal. This study reviews existing approaches and business models for resource recovery and moves the discussion beyond technical feasibility. Case studies were analyzed in support of four main sets of business models depending on the targeted resource: (i) organic fertilizers, (ii) crop nutrients, (iii) energy, and (iv) organic fertilizers and nutrients along with energy. The extraction of organic fertilizers through dewatering, thickening, stabilization or long-term storage drives the first set of models followed by technological advances in phosphorus recovery. The business models on energy similarly start from conventional energy recovery processes (anaerobic digestion) and move toward incineration. The discussion covers recent advances in gasification and pyrolysis. Transforming sewage sludge into biochar, for example, can support soil fertility and carbon sequestration. The final set covers integrative approaches supporting soil fertility and energy needs. The critical step for emerging economies is to develop a wastewater management strategy and link it to a circular economy framework without having a negative impact on environmental and human health. While technologies and business models generally have a favorable policy environment, there is a lack of a regulatory framework that allows the marketing, use and export of recovered (waste-derived) resources for certain applications. For example, there needs to be an increase in industry acceptance of phosphorus recovered from sewage sludge to penetrate agricultural markets despite the currently still cheaper phosphate rock, which is a finite resource.

In a context of growing environmental challenges, circular economy (CE) business models appear necessary for business to contribute positively to the ecological transition. While platform business models have been identified as a new and promising model in CE, we still lack a fine‐grained understanding of the critical capabilities involved in developing and scaling them. To fill this gap, we build on a single case study of Phenix, a French‐based fast‐growing start‐up in the food industry, tackling the issue of food waste. We identify three core managerial capabilities involved in the successful scaling of Phenix's business model. In addition to ecosystem orchestration capabilities , we identify two types of ambidextrous capabilities – forms of ambidexterity operating both at the organizational and at the institutional level. Our analysis highlights the importance of considering these capabilities in a bundle as they collectively contribute to the performance and scaling potential of the business model. We also call for an increased consideration of the role of institutional factors in shaping opportunities to design and scale profitable business models.

The purpose of this paper is to explore new perspectives about difficulties academicians may have communicating with clinicians, obtaining subjects, and gaining compliance for their research. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been defined as an integration of best research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values; however, clinical observation and experience are placed last in the evidence hierarchy with the randomized controlled trial held as the standard for clinical intervention. This paper describes how the hierarchical model of power in the research community obstructs new areas of knowledge, and how clinicians create resistance. Methods Foucault gave new perspectives describing how power circulates through individuals within organizational discourse. Drawing on literature and experience, and using a framework based on postmodern theoretical concepts, this paper examines patterns of discourse, subjectivity, resistance, and power/knowledge within the physical therapy profession. The hierarchical discourse of medical knowledge produces opposition rather than collaboration between researcher, clinician, and patient. Alleviating perceptions of dominance and creating connections produces cohesion within medical communities. Evidence to practice and practice to evidence redefines EBM as a circular integration of best research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values.

Aplicaciones médicas de las redes sociales. Aspectos específicos de la pandemia de la COVID-19

How much does the specialist know about cardiogastroenterology?