Positive energy districts (PEDs) address the energy issues of unsustainable urban development by producing more renewable energy than they consume. However, the transformation of PEDs face challenges that require the application of new technologies. This article focuses on the role of digital twins and generative AI to explore how these technologies can support the development of PEDs in line with circular economic principles. Based on a case study of an EU Horizon R&D project, this article develops a framework for implementing generative AI-assisted digital twins for PEDs and provides decision support for their integration into 9R circular economic strategies.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the critical test case for the twin transition, the interplay of the digital and the green transformation, as it can reduce but also increase negative environmental effects. By synthesising recent advances, this paper develops an integrative firm-level understanding of AI's role in the twin transition. First, we propose a typology of effects through which AI shapes environmental outcomes: efficiency and footprint effects, prebound and rebound effects, and unlocking and path-escalating effects. Second, we show that these effects are not properties of AI itself but emerge from how firms choose to manage interactions between effects strategically. To nuance the interplay of effects and strategic choices, we develop and illustrate three AI adoption configurations: sustainability-amplifying, productivity-stabilising, and harm-amplifying AI adoption. Our paper offers new research avenues on AI and environmental sustainability as well as actionable guidance for managers and policymakers seeking to steer AI deployment towards sustainable effects.

Global sustainability transitions and the rise of emerging technologies present both threats and opportunities for tourism organisations to navigate. Yet no framework currently exists that provides guidance on how to identify the value of emerging technologies for specific tourism offerings, and how to design, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of technology integration. This topic is explored through a case study of the integration of social virtual reality (VR) and digital twin technologies to develop an alternative to face-to-face conference offering in response to demands to reduce conference air travel and the associated CO2 emissions. The study, which takes a participatory action approach, comprises three ground-breaking social VR conferences, evolving from a small research pilot (GRONEN2020) to a non-academic conference (Circular Fashion Summit, Paris Fashion Week 2020) to a hybrid social VR, Zoom, and in-person session (SIGGRAPH Frontiers 2020). These events evidence the first known application of the integration of a building digital twin within a social VR platform for conferences. Integrating project findings and relevant literature, we propose the Technology-Enabled Sustainable Tourism Offering Framework, a dynamic framework that builds on Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory to guide the implementation of emerging technologies for tourism offerings, and contribute timely theoretical insights.

This paper sets out to explore how blockchain-based technologies, particularly non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are influencing future business models. Drawing on the relevant literature and a multiple case study of blockchain ventures, we demonstrate how the technology leads to new polyadic mechanisms of value creation and value capture. A clarification of NFTs and related concepts, together with their use values and exchange value determinants, led us to argue that the polyadic mechanisms differ from those in dyadic and triadic business models. Overall, we identify a total of 39 NFT technology affordances that fall into four types: utility, social, financial, and legal affordances. In addition, the NFT business ecosystem is mapped in terms of sources of generativity, mixed-side network effects, and the convergence of complementors within the ecosystem. Finally, this study explores three distinct mechanisms of stakeholder collaboration using NFTs: token distribution and fundraising, polyadic value creation and capture, and smart contract-enabled facilitation of stakeholder interactions. Based on the insights, we discuss the impact of NFTs and blockchain technology on society (illustrated by two cases of NFT ticketing and decentralized apps), and the implications for theory, practice, and policy.

Purpose This paper advances the understanding of business model innovation by proposing a taxonomy of business model patterns and introducing a strategic mapping framework grounded in this taxonomy. We applied this taxonomy to the electricity sector, which is a critical driver of social and global economic development, capturing its unique characteristics, value chain structures and innovation dynamics. Design/methodology/approach We took a three-step approach to developing the business model taxonomy, including pattern creation by conducting a literature review, pattern validation using a two-round Delphi card-sorting method and industry specification by allocating each pattern into a specific activity in the industry value chain and by applying the findings to the Three Horizons Framework to map the generated and validated patterns across the horizons. Findings We identified and allocated 57 business model patterns into 10 meaningful groups. These findings were applied to the electricity industry, reflecting its ongoing transformation driven by renewable energy adoption, market liberalization, and digitalization. The patterns were categorized into the three innovation horizons. For Horizon 1, patterns such as “Power Plant Optimization” (in upstream segment) focus on optimizing existing business operations. Horizon 2 highlights patterns such as “Market Performance Enhancement” in upstream, “Storage Aggregator” in midstream, and “Small-Scale Energy Storage” in downstream value chain segments that scale new business opportunities. Horizon 3 includes transformative patterns such as “Cooperative Utility” (in downstream segment), which pave the way for future industry disruption. Originality/value The taxonomy of business model patterns for the electricity industry developed in this study serves as a book of reference for scholars and managers interested in business modeling ideas and methods. In addition, we show how the identified business model patterns can be integrated with the Three Horizons Framework enabling energy companies to align their short-, medium- and long-term strategic objectives, making this approach uniquely suited to dynamic and rapidly evolving industries like electricity.

The digital transformation of industrial-age sectors changes product architectures and industry architectures, influencing how value is created and captured in emerging digital business ecosystems. In the industrial era, products were designed around modular architectures and complementary assets, and bottlenecks determined who profits from innovation. In the digital era, products emerge on a layered modular architecture, and profiting from innovation is shifting to those who own control points. Despite the centrality of the interplay between the product architecture and industry architecture for value creation and value capture in the digital age, the effects on competitiveness and industry dynamics remain unclear. To fill this void, we draw on the concept of control points, a novel lens to reflect bargaining positions on a layered modular architecture in digital business ecosystems. Based on a case study of 19 companies, industry associations, and consulting firms in the digital business ecosystem of smart farming, we identify strategic control points, technical control points, generic control points, and institutional boundaries as instrumental in determining value creation and value capture positions. We find that actors (i.e., incumbents, diversifying entrants, and new entrants) in emerging digital business ecosystems follow a seesaw pattern in setting control points and acquiring bargaining positions, and propose a framework that allows to analyze the dynamics within digital business ecosystems. Our study offers managerial implications for firms seeking to optimize their ecosystem strategy and policy makers to support the effective development of the institutional context.

Business models for sustainability (BMfS) enable organizations to create social and environmental value for a wide variety of stakeholders. As BMfS are new for well-established industries, their implementation requires deep organizational change to overcome path dependencies of existing business models. In this article, we present a framework which outlines the organizational change process involved in BMfS development. The framework shows that organizations can experiment with novel configurations of value, resources, and transactions, and follow discursive and cognitive pathways to enable BMfS legitimization and implementation. Although the value, resources, and transactions levers can be used either separately or in concert, discursive and cognitive pathways are most powerful when pursued together. We use our framework to highlight the contributions of the articles in the special issue and to propose new directions for BMfS research. We argue that future research should investigate the impacts of BMfS on the sustainability challenges they seek to address.

This paper sets out to explore how Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are influencing future business applications with unique value creation and capture mechanisms. Based on a review of the literature and a multiple case study of Portuguese NFT ventures, we demonstrate how NFTs enable a new business model type, which we coin the Polyadic Business Model. A clarification of NFTs and related concepts, together with their unique use-values and exchange value determinants led us to argue that the Polyadic Business Model differs from dyadic and triadic business models. The involved stakeholders and relationship levels are analyzed to provide a better understanding of how value is created and captured. We find four types of use cases, three constituents of the ecosystem, and three important mechanisms. Based on the insights we discuss the implications for theory, policy, and practice.

Business Strategy and the EnvironmentVolume 31, Issue 2 p. 599-602 EDITORIAL Sustainability in the digital age: Intended and unintended consequences of digital technologies for sustainable development René Bohnsack, Corresponding Author René Bohnsack r.bohnsack@ucp.pt Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, Lisbon, Portugal Correspondence Réne Bohnsack, Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, Lisbon, Portugal. Email: r.bohnsack@ucp.ptSearch for more papers by this authorChristina M. Bidmon, Christina M. Bidmon Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The NetherlandsSearch for more papers by this authorJonatan Pinkse, Jonatan Pinkse jonatan.pinkse@manchester.ac.uk Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UKSearch for more papers by this author René Bohnsack, Corresponding Author René Bohnsack r.bohnsack@ucp.pt Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, Lisbon, Portugal Correspondence Réne Bohnsack, Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, Lisbon, Portugal. Email: r.bohnsack@ucp.ptSearch for more papers by this authorChristina M. Bidmon, Christina M. Bidmon Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The NetherlandsSearch for more papers by this authorJonatan Pinkse, Jonatan Pinkse jonatan.pinkse@manchester.ac.uk Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 23 December 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2938Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume31, Issue2Special Issue: Sustainability in the Digital Age - Intended and Unintended Consequences of Digital Technologies for Sustainable DevelopmentFebruary 2022Pages 599-602 RelatedInformation

With the emergence of digital technologies, companies move from vertically integrated value chains towards digital business ecosystems. In such ecosystems, companies leave their original bargaining position, where they are aware of who creates how much value and how much control they have in negotiating value capture. In digital business ecosystems, however, the control over value creation is dispersed among multiple actors, across different industries and encompassing different layers (e.g. physical devices, networks, services and content). As a consequence, tension between value creation and value capture increases, as value creation occurs by means of cooperation and value capture is determined by a bargaining relationship. Prevailing theories and concepts such as Porter’s five forces or the resource-based view provide an insufficient explanation of how companies manage to achieve a competitive advantage in a digital business ecosystem. This paper sheds light on the less explored concept of control points reflecting the dynamic bargaining situation in emerging digital business ecosystem. Therefore, we conduct a multiple-case study with 15 companies, industry associations and consultancies in the digital agricultural ecosystem. We identify nine different control point categories emerging on the way from the traditional linear value chain towards digital business ecosystems. Subsequently, we derive six exemplary strategies based upon various control point constellations and thus actor’s superior power in e.g. having digital or physical customer access or being able to provide the necessary infrastructure to connect various actors in the ecosystem.

Proliferating digitalization affects the evolution of business models across contexts and challenges firms' established innovation trajectories. Prior work on organizational path dependence suggests that firms experience decreasing option spaces over time and ultimately arrive at lock-in situations that prevent them from reacting to changing environmental conditions. Contemporary business practice, however, challenges these assumptions, as firms-even industrial-age incumbents-appear to be able to escape lock-ins and restore choices. One potential explanation for this could be the flexible nature of digital technologies that are increasingly integrated into business models during digitalization. To explore how and why this process affects organizational path dependence, we conducted a longitudinal multiple case study on connected car business models. We derive four business model archetypes adopted by different companies in the automotive industry and by new entrants, and we describe their evolution over time. We find that the growing integration of digital technologies into business models increases the number of possible pathways and can help to break path-dependent behavior. Based on our findings, we challenge and extend established knowledge on organizational path dependence with regard to key tenets, such as initial conditions and lock-ins, and provide a nuanced perspective on path dependence's resourceand cognition-based foundations.

This conceptual paper argues that for sustainable product innovation to make a contribution to addressing sustainability issues, we need to understand not only why consumers adopt sustainable products but also what makes them use these in sustainable way. To explain how specific product features can change the ways in which consumers engage with sustainable products in the adoption and usage phase, we draw on affordance theory. Affordances refer to the potential for agentic action of users in relation to a technological object. We develop a conceptual framework that explains how sustainable product innovation can lead to the design of sustainability affordances that stimulate adoption and sustainable usage. The framework shows how three forms of agency — material, firm, and user agency — interact and together influence a product's sustainability affordances that drive adoption and a change in consumer behavior. The framework explains how trade-offs between a product's environmental features and consumer expectations regarding desired functionalities and user experience can be overcome.

In this article we provide a systematic review of the extensive yet diverse and fragmented literature on digital transformation (DT), with the goal of clarifying boundary conditions to investigate the phenomenon from the perspective of organizational change. On the basis of 279 articles, we provide a multi-dimensional framework synthesizing what is known about DT and discern two important thematical patterns: DT is moving firms to malleable organizational designs that enable continuous adaptation, and this move is embedded in and driven by digital business ecosystems. From these two patterns, we derive four perspectives on the phenomenon of DT: technology impact, compartmentalized adaptation, systemic shift and holistic co-evolution. Linking our findings and interpretations to existing work, we find that the nature of DT is only partially covered by conventional frameworks on organizational change. On the basis of this analysis, we derive a research agenda and provide managerial implications for strategy and organizational change.

Disruptive innovations often struggle to enter the mainstream market, especially those that benefit society. Innovative business models can help to make inferior technologies attractive and disrupt existing market linkages. As value propositions are an integral part of business models, they can play a key role in this process. This study explores the effect of value proposition design (VPD) on the customer value of sustainable technologies in the case of vehicle-to-grid charging. The result suggests that VPD can influence the trajectory and customer value of a technology and pave the way for disruptive innovation. It suggests to focus on utilitarian or hedonic values in VPD to target the low-end or high-end market respectively; a mixed approach reduces customer value. Hence, the study establishes a link between technology, value proposition, and market disruption. The results have important implications for research and practice as they offer an explanatory framework that can help managers in designing value propositions to accelerate the diffusion of sustainable technologies.

Despite an increasing scholarly effort to integrate institutional theory into strategic management, we still know little about how organizations balance conformity and differentiation when they are pressured to come up with innovation. Drawing on the recently proposed perspective of optimal distinctiveness, we use a comparative case study among German premium car manufacturers to assess how organizations within this group strategically position their electrification strategies in the midst of regulatory and competitive pressures. We identify integrative and compensatory positioning as two strategic levers by which these organizations try to achieve competitive differentiation via their innovation strategies. We also reveal patterns in the relation between these levers and which circumstances predict their use. Our study contributes to the understanding of organizational responses to conflicting demands, the innovation strategies of incumbents, and the role of optimal distinctiveness in this process.

Whereas research acknowledges the potential of business model innovation (BMI) to destabilize an existing regime, the impact of a socio-technical system in transition on BMI remains under-conceptualized. To advance work in this direction, this study expands the concept of a business model design space (BMDS), which describes the opportunities and constraints to design novel ways of creating and capturing value from niche technologies available at a given point in time in a transition. Illustrated with the case of electric vehicles in the Netherlands, we show how BMI are affected by and, in turn, affect this design space. We find that the policy and the science and technology dimensions of the socio-technical system form hard boundaries to the BMDS that niche actors cannot directly overcome via BMI. Yet, BMI can push the softer industry, market, and cultural boundaries of the BMDS by supporting niche expansion via coupling novel technologies to business models that (i) conform to the current regime, or that (ii) attempt to transform the regime. This paper offers an analytical framework that connects firm- and system-level to support the exploration of questions like how much novelty niche actors can introduce into a ST-system at specific points in a transition.

This article ties in directly with recently intensified interest in business models in international business (IB), using the energy transition as empirical context to explore their relevance in firm internationalization. The global energy transition presents a challenge for almost all industries, but some face specific difficulties particularly important from an IB perspective. We study a set of European firms that used to operate in a highly regulated context with (partial) state ownership, until government-directed market liberalization started to allow further competition and internationalization. Existing firms were prompted to adapt their business models to these changes, with new ventures entering the market to reap opportunities with novel energy-related technologies and business models. Linking insights from strategic management to the IB literature, we conceptualize business model-related specific advantages (BMSAs), and explore the role of BMSAs in the internationalization of the firms in our sample. We also uncover barriers to BMSA recombination in (potential) host countries, consider BMSA location-boundedness, and discuss implications for firms’ international expansion by presenting a new framework. Consequences for the energy transition and the actors already involved and (in)directly confronted with it are explicated, while outlining promising areas for further research, building on the insights and limitations of our study.