Sustainable business models and innovation strategies to realize them: A review of 87 empirical cases

The importance of developing sustainable business models has recently received increased interest in society and among scholars. While firms attempt to innovate their business models towards sustainability or create new businesses to address sustainability issues, it becomes clear that there is no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to sustainable business models. Consequently, firms often struggle to identify, develop, and implement sustainable business models that suit them. This paper aims to address this problem by drawing on the wealth of recently published empirical studies and reviewing 87 cases where firms have performed business model innovation to achieve sustainable business models. Four main sustainable business models are identified that have been achieved through different business model innovation strategies. The review contributes to managers by offering a portfolio of strategies to achieve sustainable business models and to research by clarifying the relation between the business model innovation and sustainable business model concepts

The role of public energy advising in sustainability transitions– empirical evidence from Sweden

Public energy advising is a policy measure used to provide customized energy information and advice to energy end-users. It aims at encouraging and promoting decisions leading to reduced environmental impact from energy use. While the independent function of public energy advising is unique and important, in Sweden, the role of energy advisors is changing. With new and more complex client demands as well as increasing competition from other forms of advising, there is a need to examine the shift that public energy advising is facing. The aim is to provide an overview of the activities performed by public energy advisors in Sweden and to explore the roles that they play in the transition to a sustainable energy system. Based on a qualitative analysis of 129 activity reports from Swedish municipal energy advisors, this paper shows that public energy advisors do not only play a role on an actor-level, but also on a system-level, by undertaking activities connecting the target groups to other actors in society and translating national policy to the local level. These system-level roles represent an important potential for policies aimed at accelerating the energy transition, and thus they should be encouraged and maximized

Match or mismatch between gazelle companies’ challenges and the support provided by intermediary actors–an empirical example of the construction industry

High-growth firms–also called gazelles–have the potential to create jobs and to drive regional development. Yet, there remains a lack of understanding about how to best support these companies in their growth process. Hence, the types of support offered to these firms are often misdirected and fail to provide relevant support to appropriate types of businesses. This paper focuses on one support policy aimed at support gazelles to cope with their growth challenges, namely intermediary actors, who provide matchmaking, advise and networking activities directed to gazelles. More specifically, this paper aims at identifying what challenges are encountered by gazelles and whether the support provided by intermediary actors is matching the need of support. The empirical focus of the paper is on gazelles within the construction industry and situated in the Swedish municipality Norrk\uf6ping. Findings indicate that challenges relate to recruitment, interactions with the public sector, lack of support and entrepreneurial personalities/skills. These challenges overwhelm the everyday work of entrepreneurs, who struggle to find solutions, despite the support of intermediaries. Implications for high-growth companies, intermediary actors and policymakers are discussed with the aim of finding a better match between high-growth challenges and intermediary support

Solar business models from a firm perspective – an empirical study of the Swedish market

A worldwide transition towards sustainable energy systems requires the diffusion of renewable electricity technologies. To achieve this, recent research has put emphasis on the role of business models as catalysts for sustainability transitions, particularly in the case of solar photovoltaics. Authors have identified a variety of solar business models that can be characterized based on roles, activities, and applications. In contrast, on the market, solar firms use business models to communicate their offer to clients, focusing on customers’ needs, how they organize their resources and activities to meet these needs and, in return, create value for themselves. The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between the way the energy policy literature describes solar business models, and the way solar firms use them to communicate with their clients. The business models of 241 solar firms in Sweden were mapped and analyzed using a framework developed by Richardson (2008) as well as the roles, activities, and applications highlighted in solar business model literature. This led us to identify six types of solar business models. We found that there are some gaps and overlaps between theoretical and empirical solar business models which, in turn, have implications for theory and policy

Municipalities as intermediaries for the design and local implementation of climate visions

The transition to a sustainable society requires the development of visions paving the way for socio-technical changes. In recent years, the literature on sustainable transitions and urban planning has highlighted the intermediation role of municipalities to implement international and national goals and visions at a local level. Yet, empirical research studying municipalities from the lens of the intermediation theory are sparse. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of what strategies municipalities use when intermediating between and within different scales of governance (i.e. local, national and international), and what factors influence the choice of strategies. Through semi-structured interviews and document studies, three Swedish municipalities are studied. Results show that these municipalities translate the visions through local experiments, task delegation and coalitions. Additionally, the analysis indicates that the local circumstances, rather than the relations between the local level and the higher levels of governance or the guidance of national policies, influence the choice of intermediation strategy. Particularly, whether the management approach is centralized or decentralized, result- or process-oriented, participative or exclusive, is determinant. Results also indicate that municipalities perform both top-down and bottom-up intermediation, i.e. closing the loop from the local to the national and/or international levels

Municipalities as intermediaries for the design and local implementation of climate visions

The transition to a sustainable society requires the development of visions paving the way for socio-technical changes. In recent years, the literature on sustainable transitions and urban planning has highlighted the intermediation role of municipalities to implement international and national goals and visions at a local level. Yet, empirical research studying municipalities from the lens of the intermediation theory are sparse. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of what strategies municipalities use when intermediating between and within different scales of governance (i.e. local, national and international), and what factors influence the choice of strategies. Through semi-structured interviews and document studies, three Swedish municipalities are studied. Results show that these municipalities translate the visions through local experiments, task delegation and coalitions. Additionally, the analysis indicates that the local circumstances, rather than the relations between the local level and the higher levels of governance or the guidance of national policies, influence the choice of intermediation strategy. Particularly, whether the management approach is centralized or decentralized, result- or process-oriented, participative or exclusive, is determinant. Results also indicate that municipalities perform both top-down and bottom-up intermediation, i.e. closing the loop from the local to the national and/or international levels

Economic analysis of the early market of centralized photovoltaic parks in Sweden

Sweden is one of the countries that experience growing installation volumes of Solar photovoltaic. Traditionally, in Sweden, most of the solar photovoltaic investments and policy incentives have focused on distributed photovoltaic systems. Yet, despite limited policy incentives and pessimistic forecasts, an increasing number of centralized photovoltaic parks have been commissioned and plans for substantial new capacities are communicated. Hence, the current paper investigates why. Detailed information about the underlying costs of six PV parks commissioned in2019 and 2020 in Sweden were obtained by in-depth interviews with stakeholders and were analysed through levelized cost of electricity calculations. We conclude that the unsubsidised levelized cost of electricity ranged from 27.37 to 49.39 €/MWh, with an average of 40.79 €/MWh. This is lower than what are assessed for photovoltaic parks in some recent Swedish electricity system scenario studies. The main reason for the discrepancy is identified to be the assumed interest rates in the system scenario studies and the actual cost of capital experienced in the market. Comparing the levelized cost of electricity values with the market value of solar photovoltaic electricity on the spot market show that four of the six studied parks would be profitable under a merchant business model with the last years spot prices. If the downward price trend continues, Sweden may face an unexpected expansion of photovoltaic parks

Intermediation services and adopter expectations and demands during the implementation of renewable electricity innovation – Match or mismatch?

To limit the irreversible consequences of global warming, it is crucial that new actors adopt renewable electricity technologies. This type of innovation is, however, complex to implement, which is the reason adopters often contract with intermediaries for support services, e.g., project developers or installers. Previous studies have underlined that it is difficult for intermediaries to provide services that fully satisfy different types of adopters. Contributing to the previous research on customer satisfaction of services and innovation intermediaries, this article identifies adopters’ expectations when adopting photovoltaic technology and analyzes whether such expectations match with the services provided by intermediaries. A cross-case analysis of photovoltaic projects was performed. Results underline that motives and driving forces for adopting the technology influences how adopters select intermediaries as well as what they expect from the services provided by intermediaries. The study finally contributes with some recommendations for intermediary organizations that want to improve and adapt their services to match their clients’ expectations and demands

A typology of intermediary organizations and their impact on sustainability transition policies

Sustainability transitions encompass changes in existing socio-technological systems. In this context, scholars have emphasized the roles that intermediaries can play for sustainability transition. However, in the literature, the organizations or actors considered to act as intermediaries are very diverse and the concept of intermediary is used interchangeably between contexts. There is a risk that policy makers face difficulties understanding differences among intermediaries and consequently use some intermediaries for unfitting purposes. In this article, we propose to identify the similarities and differences among intermediaries, which are relevant for policy design for sustainability transitions. We base our comparison on three main characteristics: intermediaries\u27 source of funding, their scope of action and the target recipients of their services. Our analysis indicates that these differences have an impact on intermediaries\u27 short-term or long-term orientation, actor-level or system-level focus, and demand-side or supply-side target. We end the article by discussing the implications for policy design

Identifying gaps and overlaps of intermediary support during the adoption of renewable energy technology in Sweden - A conceptual framework

This paper provides new understanding on how intermediary actors support the adoption of renewable electricity technology. While intermediaries complement each other in different phases of the process, there are also gaps and overlaps in the support that they provide. Results indicate that there is a great need of improving the communication among intermediaries and of a higher level of coordination among the tasks performed. Fostering the widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies is one of the most important drivers to limit the irreversible consequences of global warming that the world is facing today. However, the process of adopting such innovations is often complex and challenging. Previous studies have recognized the crucial role of intermediaries in facilitating the adoption process. Yet, little is known about how different intermediaries support the various adoption process phases, which intermediary type does what, and whether there are support gaps or overlaps among them. The authors of this paper contribute to previous research on innovation adoption and innovation intermediaries based upon research on the adoption context of renewable energy technologies in Sweden. They gathered secondary data and semi-structured interviews with nineteen intermediaries who support the adoption process of renewable energy technologies. The finding of this paper has implications on policy design, with regard, to how intermediaries can better perform in a technology diffusion context and to how intermediaries can be coordinated to provide better services during the different phases of the adoption process