This paper aims to increase our understanding of sustainable business model innovation in the agri-food sector in terms of its theoretical and practical approaches for sustainability and their degree of complexity and maturity. The paper is based on a systematic literature review of 570 journal articles on business models and business model innovation published between 1990 and 2014. Of these articles, only 21 have business model innovation as their main focus. The review shows that research interest in the agri-food sector has increased in these years. The paper proposes a conceptual framework for sustainable business model innovation in the agri-food sector that can be used to meet the challenges encountered in taking a sustainability perspective. © 2017 by the authors

The research on business model innovation in certain business energy sectors is limited. This paper, which reviews the business model literature in the biomass energy sector, identifies trends as well as challenges and complications in the use of biomass. We used seven data bases to search for relevant international, peer-reviewed research on business models and biomass. In our initial database search, we identified 287 relevant articles published in the years 1990 to 2020. After elimination of duplicate articles, we had a collection of 170 articles. We used Zotero software to refine our search. After application of our criteria, 146 articles remained. Further analysis reduced our review to 95 articles that had a theoretical focus on business models and biomass. Our review presents various data for the articles including author affiliation by country, article publication date, article title, journal of publication, journal impact factor, country of empirical data, unit of analysis. research methodology, and topics addressed. Additionally, our review reveals trends (e.g., research/practice challenges and implications) in the study of business models and the biomass energy sector as reflected in the reviewed articles. To our knowledge, this is the first literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles on business models and the biomass industry. By limiting our final review to the 95 theoretical articles we identified, we provide researchers and practitioners with sources of recent discussions and analyses on the trends, challenges, and implications related to the use of biomass in energy production.

The  global  challenges  of  today  are  many,  and  one  of  the  most  concerning  aspects  relates  to food production for an increasing global population. The sustainability of doing ‘more of the same  thing’  is  being  increasingly  called  into  question.  Several  sustainable  business  model frameworks  have  been  presented  in  recent  years  to  address  these  challenges,  but  our knowledge is limited about the change processes of the agricultural sector. This paper aims to increase  our  understanding  of  how  sustainable  business  models  have  developed  in  the agricultural  sector  in  Sweden.  It  maps  eight  archetypes  of  sustainable  business  models, clustered  in  three  groups,  with  a  focus  on  the  technological,  social,  and  organisational innovation    components    at    agri-food    companies.    The    study    takes    a    quantitative, methodological approach, conducting a telephone survey with owners and managers of 1143 agri-food  companies  in  Sweden,  and  using  analysis  of  variance  (ANOVA)  for  the  analysis. The paper provides empirical evidence on the various options for sustainable business models that  Swedish  agri-food  companies  use.  No  major  differences  were  found  with  respect  to technical or social innovation components in the three regions: East, south, and north Sweden. However,  significant  differences  were  found   between  the  regions   with  respect  to  the organisational  innovation  component.  The  organisational  innovation  component  is  based  on two  sustainable  business  model  archetypes,  namely, repurpose  for  society/environment  and develop  scale  up  solutions.  North  Sweden  had  a  higher  degree  of  organisational  innovation than  both  south  and  east  Sweden.  The  reason  for  this  could  be  the  larger  environmental, economic, and organizational challenges in north Sweden compared to the rest of the country, which  makes  the  need  for  innovation  stronger.  The  paper  also  suggests  new  areas  for researchers  and  practical  avenues  for  stakeholders in  the  agricultural  sector  (and  other industries)  to  translate  social  and  environmental  value  creation  into  economic  profit  and competitive  advantage.  To  our  knowledge,  this  is  the  first  study  to  use  sustainable  business model archetypes in an empirical setting in the agricultural sector. © 2021 The Authors

Ideal science should conform to certain criteria or goals, among them the goals of universalism and commonality. Realization of these goals may be limited, however, through the dividing up of researchers in terms of geographical borders. In this study the general hypothesis is tested that there is a segmentation of the society of management researchers into a North American (US) and a European (E) segment, a segmentation which is furthered by differences in incentive schemes and in paradigms. Four leading management journals from North America and from Europe, respectively, and the 242 articles they contained published in 1993 were selected to represent the different geographical segments. The results provide: support for the existence of two such segments; support for differences in incentive schemes influencing the articles; support for their being paradigm differences between the two segments; and support for a paradigm effect being stronger in US-journals than in E-journals, US-authors are more willing, however, to conform to the E-paradigm than vice versa. We argue for methodological pragmatism in order to reduce the presumed counter-productive effects of paradigmatic rigidity.

Denna rapport är en del av utvärderingen av landsbygdsprogrammet 2007–2013. Fyra grupper med forskare från universitet och högskolor har gjort slututvärderingen. Den publiceras i fyra delrapporter varav detta är en. Frågor som handlar om hela programmet besvaras huvudsakligen i delrapport IV. Frågor om enskilda åtgärder besvaras i de tre andra delrapporterna. En översikt av vilka frågor som besvaras i vilken rapport finns på följande sidor.

Slututvärderingen görs för att besvara EU-gemensamma och specifika svenska utvärderingsfrågor om vilka effekter programmet har haft, i vilken utsträckning det har bidragit till att uppfylla målen och hur effektivt detta har gjorts.

Utvärderingssekretariatet vid Jordbruksverket ansvarar för att de svenska EU-programmen där Jordbruksverket är förvaltande myndighet blir utvärderade. Det innebär att utvärderingssekretariatet beställer och genomför utvärderingar av landsbygdsprogrammet, havs- och fiskeriprogrammet samt programmet för lokalt ledd utveckling inom regionalfonden och socialfonden. Programmen utvärderas dels var för sig men också tillsammans. Utvärderingarna görs i relation till målen i programmen och de övergripande EU 2020-målen.

De flesta utvärderingarna genomförs av externa aktörer. Vi tar hjälp av forskare för att kvalitetsgranska rapporterna innan de publiceras. I slutet av rapporterna finns ett utlåtande från granskarna. Rapporterna publiceras i en särskild rapportserie och rapportförfattarna är ansvariga för slutsatserna. Slutsatserna utgör inte Jordbruksverkets officiella ståndpunkt.

/Utvärderingssekretariatet vid Jordbruksverket

Purpose: The purpose of this empirical paper is to illustrate two leadership development programs in Swedish agriculture. Further, it is to compare the two programs related to outcomes in terms of barriers and challenges in the development process and suggest possible ways to continue the leadership development for business model innovation in the agricultural sector.

Design/methodology/approach: The data collection includes 54 interviews and a survey sent to 109 entrepreneursin Sweden. The interviews were collected with (i) entrepreneurs who participated in the Project ‘Ledarpraktikan’ (‘Leader practice’) (LP) 2013 and (ii) entrepreneurs who participated in the project ‘Lean Agriculture’ (LA) 2012. The survey was sent in the spring 2017 to 109 entrepreneurs (37 from ´LP´, 35 from ´LA´ and 37 not having participated in any of the programs called control group ´CG´). The overall response rate in the survey is 68% (51% from ´LP´, 80% from ´LA´ and 73% from ‘CG’. Content analysis and descriptive analysis have been used in the study.

Findings: From the qualitative studies, we can see that entrepreneurs having participated in ‘LP’ perceive that they have acquired deeper knowledge and understanding regarding selfleadership than entrepreneurs participating in ´LA´. The latter entrepreneurs also have described their need for more knowledge in self-leadership. The entrepreneurs participating in ´LA´ have, through analysis of the day-to-day work, acquired a more developed systematic working environment. The comparison between the three groups in the survey show that there are several similarities between the groups, for example they don´t see institutional rules to be barriers in their firm development process. We have found differences in barriers for business development in terms of (i) growth willingness, (ii) lack of employees, (iii) lack of support and (iv) lack of spare time.

Practical implications: There is a need for further leadership development knowledge in Swedish agriculture, both for entrepreneurs in the development of their business models and for agricultural advisors regarding their new role as coaches instead of traditional advisers.

Policy implications: It is important that organizations supporting financial solutions for the agricultural businesses also support leadership development programmes in the industry.

Originality/value: The originality with the paper is that there has been two large analyses regarding two leadership development programs in Swedish agriculture, which is unique in this industry.

The purpose of this article is to deepen our understanding of what we know about business model innovation in the agri-food sector, both from a theoretical as well as a practical perspective. The methodological approach used in the paper is built on interviews, focus groups and observations of agricultural entrepreneurs and agricultural advisors in the agriculture sector and a review of over 500 peer-reviewed research papers for the period 1990-2014. The findings of the study indicate that entrepreneurs within the agri-food sector ought to shift focus from only a producer perspective to also include an entrepreneurial perspective, e.g. to focus on business model innovation. Based on this knowledge the authors present implications for research and practice. The research field is young and broad, but developing, and in need of stronger theoretical foundations. This article is based on a combination of a systematic literature review of a new emerging field as well as empirical in-depth interviews, focus groups and observations. © 2016, IGI Global.

Purpose

Because the business model is a fairly new concept, research is lacking on business model innovation in certain industry sectors. One such sector is the agri-food sector. Using a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles published from 1990 to 2014, this paper examines the where, when, and how of the use of business models and business model innovation in the agri-food sector.

Design/methodology/approach

A web-based search was conducted to identify peer-reviewed journal articles that contained a combination of “business model” or “business model innovation” with agriculture-related and food-related terms (e.g., “agri-food sector”). After winnowing out irrelevant and duplicate articles, 505 articles were chosen for analysis.

Findings

Using categories, the paper analyses various data about the selected articles. The categories include research settings, units of analysis, methodologies, and theories. Based on this analysis, the paper finds that these agri-food sector articles are primarily qualitative, empirical studies that focus on one or a few companies (i.e., case studies). The paper also finds that theory is not yet well developed in the research on the agri-food sector.

Originality/value

Systematic literature reviews of various concepts, theories, and models are common in many fields (e.g., information/software technology, healthcare, and organizational management). However, no such review is available for the agri-food sector, in particular in its use of business models and business model innovation. This paper addresses that gap with its review of relevant articles published in more than 300 journals in recent years. Based on this review, the paper draws conclusions about business model innovation in the agri-food sector and offers suggestions for future research. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

This chapter focuses on the development of sustainable business models for innovation in the Swedish agri-sector. This is important for several reasons. Many of society’s challenges are linked to social, environmental and economic aspects of agriculture, and numerous agri-companies have been reduced to subcontractors with little influence, and are struggling with low profitability.

Previous research regarding agri-companies has mainly focused on production and cost-efficiency aspects. Research regarding sustainable innovation and sustainable business models in the agri-sector is limited to date. To fill in this gap, the aim of this chapter is to illustrate and analyse how Swedish agri-companies develop sustainable business models. An integrated theoretical framework combining research regarding sustainability-oriented innovation and sustainable business model archetypes has been developed in order to collect and analyse the eight agri-companies in the study.

Swedish agri-companies focus not only on optimization but also on their organizational transformation and systems building when developing sustainable innovation. They have developed diversified business models. A common, important factor is to adopt stewardship roles. Further, the value intention of agri-entrepreneurs is a relevant factor when developing sustainable business models.

Background The focus of the research in the thesis is the development of sustainable business model innovation in Swedish agri-firms. There are needs on global and national levels for sustainable business model innovation in the agri-sector. More food must be produced to feed the growing world population. Simultaneously, agriculture must become more sustainable even when the sector raises production. Hence, the firms in the agri-sector must become more sustainable even if they are raising production. In order to raise production, the agri-firms need to be profitable. Consequently, this generates the practical relevance and problem: How can agri-firms develop sustainable (economically, socially, and environmentally) business model innovation?

Purpose The neglect of theoretical research regarding sustainable business model innovation in the agri-sector is partly dependent on the limited empirical research regarding this phenomenon. Sustainable business model innovation in the agri-sector has not been closely studied, which constitutes an empirical problem. Against this background, the overall purpose of the thesis is to contribute to theorizing regarding the application and use of sustainable business model innovation in agri-firms.

To fulfill the overall purpose, two research questions have been formulated. Since the previous research regarding business models and business model innovation in the agri-sector is scarce, recent, and fragmented, there is a need to systematize research within the field. This leads to the first research question: What is the state-of-art research on sustainable business model innovation in the agri-sector? Further, previous research has neglected empirical studies of sustainable business model innovation in the agri-sector. This research strives to contribute to change and empirical studies of sustainable business model innovation in the agri-sector will be conducted. This leads to the second research question: How do agri-firms apply sustainable business model innovation practices? 

Methodology In order to understand and generate knowledge regarding sustainable business model innovation in agri-firms, different mixed methods assessed as suitable for the focus of the research have been used. The research process started with systematic literature reviews, followed by the conceptual development of a theoretical framework regarding sustainable business model innovation in agri-firms. Following, qualitative semi-structured interviews with agri-entrepreneurs were conducted. A smaller quantitative survey was also carried out. After that, a large quantitative telephone survey of agri-firms was conducted. Finally, eight qualitative cases are conducted based on interviews, financial reports and documentation in different media.

Findings and conclusions The value intention of the agri-entrepreneur has been identified as the starting point for development of sustainable business model innovation. Value intention has been added to the three previous building blocks of a sustainable business model; value proposition, value creation and delivery, and value capture. The building block value intention makes it possible to include the actor, the agri-entrepreneur, in the business model construct. Further, sustainability aspects have been added to all four building blocks of a sustainable business model. 

Stewardship has been identified as a concept which can be used to understand the value intention of agri-entrepreneurs striving for economic, social, and environmental goals. Stewardship can be understood from the interdependency between agriculture and environmental, human and physical resources. The definition of stewardship in this thesis is in contrast with the sustainable business model archetypes framework, where stewardship is one of the eight archetypes. In the thesis, stewardship is a concept of a higher order, a driver of sustainable business model innovation. 

Stewardship theory is a relevant theory when studying sustainable business model innovation in agri-firms. The manager of an agri-firm is often the owner of the firm, which means that a formal contractual relationship is not at hand. However, the manager/owner has commitments towards family, value chain actors, farm and land. This is especially valid when the agri-firm is conducting sustainable business model innovation, which contains considerations regarding society as well as environment, which can be regarded as the principals.

A dichotomization in farmer-producer and farmer-entrepreneur has been conducted. The dichotomization has implications in several dimensions. The dimensions which are elaborated upon are; main focus, value chain position, profit strategy, economics focus, size, logic, environmental and animal welfare laws and regulations, sustainability, innovation, and digitalization.

Implications Based on the conclusions of the research presented in this thesis, the farmers ought to regard themselves as entrepreneurs and ascend along the value chain.  A practical implication for agri-entrepreneurs is to involve sustainability aspects in all four building blocks more explicitly (i) value intention, (ii) value proposition, (iii) value creation and delivery and (iv) value capture. A practical implication for advisory organisations is that they should not focus on entrepreneur’s knowledge, what the entrepreneur should know. Instead, the focus should be mindsets, strategies for thought patterns and strategies for behaviours, what the entrepreneur should be able to do. For future research, the inclusion of value intention of the owner-manager and the importance of stewardship in further theory building regarding sustainable business models could generate important insights into potential trade-offs and barriers based on social, environmental, and economic aspects. This is important not only for research, but for practice in all sectors of industry due to the current and future societal challenges.

Companies in the agri-food sector are under increasing pressure to adopt sustainable business models that consider not only economic but also both social and environmental aspects. This paper examines how Swedish food producers use sustainable business models to innovate their businesses. The empirical data comes from a telephone survey with 204 companies and from case studies of 4 companies. A conceptual framework regarding sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) and a eight sustainable business model archetypes are used to map and analyse the sustainability innovation practices and the sustainable business models. The results show a surprisingly sustainable business focus taken by many companies, which is not only on optimization, but also on organizational transformation and on systems building. The results show the companies vary as far as which archetypes they match. The most common archetype matches are ‘Maximise material and energy efficiency’ and ‘Adopt a stewardship role’. Only 10% measure success solely in financial terms, while 80% measure success in financial terms as well as social and environmental terms. Another conclusion is that companies in the agri-food sector have unique characteristics and the value intention of the entrepreneurs is an important building block in sustainable business model innovation. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

The importance of business model innovation (BMI) is widely recognized. BMI is especially important in the agri-food industry that faces enormous challenges as the demand for food increases worldwide. Much of the BMI research focuses on the technology and biomedical industries. Far less attention has been paid to the agri-food industry. This article is a systematic literature review of the BMI research in the agri-food industry. The article’s aim is to identify and categorize various barriers to BMI as described in the literature (in English) published in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2014. The findings show a fairly even distribution among external and internal BMI barriers. Because the main barrier is the mind-set that is resistant to change, it is recommended the researchers and practitioners should focus more on the cognitive barriers to BMI in the agri-food industry.

Purpose: The paper compares two government-sponsored education programs for agricultural entrepreneurs: a Leadership program and a Lean program. Methodology: The paper takes both a qualitative and a quantitative approach in its collection and analysis of data from 54 semi- structured interviews and from a survey with 109 participants. Findings: The main challenges to business and personal development are time pressure and the need for better communications. The Leadership program participants emphasize the effect of internal barriers such asfixed mind-sets. The Lean program participants emphasize the effect of external barriers such asfinancing. Both groups emphasize personal and business growth more than the control group. Practical Implications: Entrepreneur education programs can help participants, program developers, and advisory organizations identify and manage business challenges and barriers. Theoretical Implications: The paper contributes to the literature about educations for entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector with its examination of agricultural entrepreneurs’reflections on barriers and challenges in business development and their linkage to overcoming barriers focused on a resource-based perspective with different types of resources. Originality/Value: The paper encourages examination of development challenges and barriers from the perspective of participators in entrepreneur education programs. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This conceptual paper focuses on the need for knowledge in leadership, organization and innovative thinking that exist in primary production throughout the value chain from the farm to the final consumer. There are also needs in terms of improving and developing the entire value chain from the farm to the final consumer. Self-leadership and lean innovation is in this paper proposed to enhance the possibilities for business model innovation in the food production. The aims of the paper are two folded; Firstly, the aim is to present a framework containing self-leadership and lean innovation and how these theoretical approaches can facilitate and shape business model innovation in the agricultural sector. Secondly, the aim is to show a way of working with this problem area in order to meet these needs in the agricultural sector. A framework for business model innovation is presented as well as an interactive research design addressing the problem area in terms of action research in which learning networks is an important concept. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research challenges.