Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ECO_REBUS (Profiting from ECO-innovation: the RolE of BUSiness model)
Reporting period: 2017-05-01 to 2019-04-30
The project aimed to get a closer understanding of the process with which firms adopt and operate voluntary eco-innovation policies by assigning a specific role to the concept of business model, defined as the configuration of customer sensing, customer engagement, value delivery and monetization components that captures causal links between value creation and value capture at the business level (Baden-Fuller; Mangematin, 2013). More specifically, by integrating the literature on eco-innovation and the literature on business model, the researcher addressed two major themes in the context of eco-innovation adoption/diffusion:
First, embracing a cognitive angle, she has explored whether and to what extent the concept of business model affects the way top management team members (as key decision makers within firms) appreciate both the opportunities and the challenges of adopting eco-innovations that are not only new to the firm, but they are also new to the market.
Second, by adopting a processual approach to strategy the researcher has investigated the phases and sub-phases through which eco-innovationn are adopted and operated by firms. In this context, particular attention will be paid to how and why changing the business model can help firms to accommodate the challenges of eco-innovation adoption and, in turn, to improve firm economic performance.
Moreover, the researcher has conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with top management team (TMT) members. Interviews results have clarified how business model components are grounded in the cognitive maps of (TMT members). Preliminary results revealed that the concept of the business model (including its multiple dimensions) affects in some cases the way top management team members appreciate both the opportunities and the challenges of adopting voluntary eco-innovation policies. Moreover, interviews highlighted that some elements characterizing causal beliefs guiding top managers’ evaluation of eco-innovation policies include innovation aspects, project’s features, aspects related to the eco-innovation they are searching, aspects related to the mission and key sustainability values linked to the company.
The researcher has also conducted a case study on multiple business units. Specifically, she collected data from different eco-innovation projects. Main preliminary findings show that in most of the eco-innovative projects studied the business model is changed. Some cases showed that is not always straightforward to establish to what extent the adoption of the eco-innovation (and the business model change) has increased the economic performance of the business unit or of the company linked to the specific project. This aspect is particularly evident in more recent eco-innovation projects, where the impacts on the performance would be clearer in the next years.
The researcher participated in the Academy of Management Conference in Atlanta in August 2017, the most important yearly conference on management in the world. Her ECO_REBUS project was selected by two excellent events organized by the Conference: the ‘Cognition in the Rough’ Workshop and the ‘Content Analysis Professional Development’ Workshop. In both events, she presented the project during interactive roundtable sessions where researchers and professors from different universities in the world provided feedback on it. Moreover, the researcher presented her project to the Business Model Day at Cass Business School in London; and her review paper during the Research Forum at UCL in May 2020.
Numerous communication activities on the project have been carried out through newsletter and press release for example.
The work carried out aiming to identify the role of business models in eco-innovation decisions, and the impact of eco-innovation on performance has also positive impacts at a societal level. For example, findings related to how business models affect eco-innovation adoption decisions, may help companies wishing to adopt green innovations: 1) to clarify which business model’s components can be considered to take these decisions; 2) to increase eco-innovation adoption and, in turn, improve the environmental performance at a private and social level.
This project can contribute towards the policy objectives aiming to spur eco-innovation as a key to the future competitiveness of countries and of the business sector, and can inform policies aiming to support green strategies at the firm level.