With the rise of emerging economy EE as main engine of global growth, the intensified competition in the wind energy industry and internationalization to EE, enterprises need to rethink and innovate their business models in order to succeed. The overall purpose of this article is to increase our understanding of the drivers of business model innovation (BMI) in EE, particularly in the wind energy industry. Qualitative, multi-case design is applied, where three cases within the wind energy industry in Africa are studied - Siemens (Germany), Suzlon (India) and Goldwind (China). The results show that there is a difference between “Developed-country Multinational Enterprises” (DMNEs), such as Siemens, and “Emerging-country Multinational Enterprises”, such as Suzlon and Goldwind, in the way they approach BMI in EE. To gain a competitive advantage in EE requires capabilities to deal with the specific EE-related drivers of change: 1) fast growth and high demand combined with high uncertainty; 2) lower level of market-oriented socioeconomic development; 3) stronger governmental influence on the market; and 4) the need for simple, cheap and easy to maintain technologies. Therefore, it is important that managers position their enterprises in the EE first as local players and only then as multinationals. Our study indicates that future research should focus on the main elements and the drivers of change that would shape BMI by adding new variables, specifically related to EE.

Energy consumption, pollutions and sustainable approaches to energy is one of the most important issues today. The transformation of energy from old to renewable has been in focus for many years and wind power energy production is one important source of energy that is renewable. With the rise of emerging economy (EEs) as main engine of global growth, the intensified competition in the wind energy industry and internationalization to EEs, enterprises need to rethink and innovate their business models in order to succeed in innovative technologies and commercializing their innovative technologies to customers. The overall purpose of this article is to explore the drivers of business model innovation (BMI) in emerging-country multinational enterprises (EMNEs) in the context of an EE markets particularly Chinese wind energy industry and with special focus on inclusive business activities in Africa. For this purpose a single case study of Goldwind (China), one of the most important actors in the wind power industry, was applied. The results of this research show that to gain a competitive advantage in EEs requires capabilities to deal with the specific EEs related drivers of change: 1) fast growth and high demand combined with high uncertainty; 2) lower level of market-oriented socioeconomic development; 3) stronger governmental influence on the market; and 4) the need for simple, cheap and easy to maintain technologies. Therefore, it is important that managers position their enterprises in the EEs first as local players and only then as multinationals. Our research identifies a symbiotic business model in which industry and political actors on national, province and city level collaborate intensively for mutual benefits and for commercializing wind power technology. Our study indicates that future research should focus on the main elements and the drivers of change that would shape BMI by adding new variables, specifically related to EE.

Over the last few years major attempts have been made to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to improve their environmental performance. How to handle environmental questions has become a strategic issue as well as important from a competitive perspective. Small enterprises are an important sector of a nation's economy and in spite of their dominance most small enterprises have little knowledge and interest in environmental issues and have difficulties when it comes to integrate environmental work within their activities. The propose with this paper is to study the driving forces and barriers during the implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS) in small enterprises and how a network approach can be used to bridge the gap between the Managing Director (MD) and the Environmental Manager (EM) in order to facilitate the implementation process. The data for the study was collected through fourteen deep interviews with the MD and the EM in seven small enterprises engaged in a network.

Nowadays, a growing number of companies are aware of their responsibility to green their products, services and processes. Industrial companies have changed their attitude and developed more innovative and proactive environmental strategies due to market opportunities and in order to gain competitive advantage over competitors. In spite of their large numbers, most SMEs have little knowledge or interest in environmental questions and generally have difficulties when it comes to integrating environmental aspects into their activities. One way for SMEs to shift from a reactive to a proactive environmental behaviour is to adopt environmental innovations. Environmental innovations consist of new or modified processes, techniques, practices, systems and products to avoid or reduce environmental harms. In this study, I focused on a particular type of innovation: organisational environmental innovations, such as EMS in accordance with ISO 14001.

One objective of this thesis was to understand and describe how SMEs can use an existing network as a basis for initiating environmental work. Another objective was to develop a model that can be used as a guideline for the adoption of an ISO 14001 EMS by SMEs collaborating in a network.

This thesis is structured in three sections. The first section presents the relevant frames of reference. The second section comprises an empirical study based on three papers that are appended to this thesis, which describes how a network approach can be used to support the adoption of EMS by SMEs. The third section is based on the first two sections and presents a model for adopting an EMS based on ISO 14001 for SMEs working in a network.

In spite of their large numbers, most SMEs have little knowledge of or interest in environmental questions and generally have difficulties when it comes to integrating environmental aspects into their activities. One way for SMEs to shift from a reactive to a proactive environmental behavior is to adopt environmental innovations. Environmental innovations consist of new or modified processes, techniques, practices, systems and products to avoid or reduce environmental harms. In this study, I focus on a particular type of innovation: organizational environmental innovations, such as an EMS in accordance with ISO 14001.

One objective of this study was to understand and describe how SMEs can use a network as a basis for initiating environmental work. Another objective was to develop a model that can be used as a guideline for the adoption of an ISO 14001 EMS by SMEs collaborating in a network.

This thesis is an attempt to improve the understanding of the process of adoption and diffusion of environmental innovations. The thesis is based on two research projects. One project deals with the diffusion of environmental innovations and why they are less successful on the market than other innovations. The other project is about the adoption of environmental innovations by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and how to facilitate the adoption process.There are at least two good reasons why we should support the adoption and diffusion of eco- innovations. One argument from an environmental point of view is that successfully managing the environment is the greatest challenge facing us in the future and the global scenarios for the next decades are not encouraging. Another argument, from an economic point of view, for the need of eco-innovations is that the eco-industry is one of the most growing industries in the world and is likely to be worth around $600 billion worldwide by 2010.However, there are some indications that environmental innovations have a difficult time in gaining success in the marketplace and in spreading among potential customers, possibly more difficulty than some other kinds of innovations have.The overall objective of this thesis is to generate knowledge regarding the adoption and diffusion of environmental innovations. One purpose is to add to our understanding of environmental innovations and to their similarities and differences to “other” innovations. Another purpose is to understand and describe how networks can be used to facilitate the adoption of environmental innovations. The main research questions that I try to answer are:1) How can environmental innovations be classified? 2) Are environmental innovations less successful on the market than other innovations? 3) What are the main reasons for the differences in market success between environmental innovations and other innovations? 4) How could networks be used as a development method to facilitate the adoption of environmental innovations by SMEs?Several different methodological approaches have been used to develop a broader picture of different types of innovations and their development, adoption and diffusion. Two different approaches were used during the first project, dealing with the diffusion and market success of environmental innovations. The first one is mainly based on using questionnaires. The other approach is qualitative and based on case studies. Through a series of case studies of innovators and innovations we tried to achieve a better picture of the actual phenomena.The second project is about the adoption of an organizational environmental innovation by SMEs using a network. Since the goal of this project has been not only to observe the phenomena of the implementation of environmental innovation by SMEs using a network, but also to contribute to the development process, an action-oriented research approach was used in this project.Three main conclusions can be drawn on the basis of this thesis. Firstly, the new innovation classification system developed in this thesis improves the possibilities for distinguishing between innovations that are similar but not identical. A very large proportion of the analyzed eco-innovations are often classified as product redesign innovations. With the help of the new classification system it is possible to discern different types among those classified as product re-Vdesign innovations. Some are rather simple and accordingly classified as product care innovations, while others are classified as minor or major product improvements or even functional innovations. Secondly, our empirical studies results show that the environmental innovations are less successful on the market than “other” innovations. The empirical studies also show that there are mainly three factors which are especially important to consider in the improvement of environmental innovations’ marketing success. These three are: “Realism while evaluating one’s own innovation”, “Access to capital” and “Utilization of network”.Thirdly, to adopt an environmental innovation is not an easy task for small organizations, such as SMEs. But to be a part of and use a network is a possible way to facilitate the adoption process.

This study is an attempt to improve the understanding of eco-innovations and to generate knowledge that can be used to stimulate their diffusion and adoption. The main objective of this study is to develop a new classification system for eco-innovations. The methodological approach chosen is a case study of 150 winning entries to the Swedish Environmental Innovation Competition. The entries that reached the finals were investigated and classified according to the new classification system into six different types: (1) product care, (2) minor product improvements, (3) major product improvements, (4) functional innovation, (5) system innovation, and (6) scientific breakthrough. The results show that more than 75% of the eco-innovations are classified as 'product care', 'minor product improvements' and 'major product improvements'; but in order to achieve a breakthrough in the area of sustainability, much more work is needed to achieve 'system innovation' and 'scientific breakthrough'.

The study, which compares the success factors for eco-innovations with those factors for other innovations, is intended to improve our understanding of how ecoinnovations achieve market success. A case study design is used. Six eco-innovations cases and six other innovations cases are compared. Data were obtained mainly from interviews with the eco-innovators and the other innovators, written materials about the innovations, and secondary data from an earlier quantitative study. The study shows that there are both similarities and differences in the success factors for the two types of innovations. One similarity is that a network with diverse competences supports successful innovators. However, for eco-innovators the network is used more for solving technological problems. Other innovators use the network to a greater extent for assistance with financing and marketing. In addition, eco-innovators have greater difficulty than other innovators in attracting venture capital for development. The results indicate that an interesting approach for future research would be to take a life-cycle perspective that identifies the factors that influence the further growth and development of eco-innovative firms. The identification of the success factors for eco-innovations’ development may improve their chances of success. Furthermore, the results can help policymakers improve the support system for commercialization of eco-innovations. As a comparative study of success factors for eco-innovations and other innovations, the study presents a new way to identify such factors for eco-innovators.

Despite the importance of working with environmental issues, many SMEs have little knowledge of, or even interest in, these issues. When they engage with such issues, they generally have difficulty fully integrating them into their business activities. This case study takes an action research approach in describing how nine SMEs co-operated with a university team in a learning network to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) with the aim of achieving ISO 14001 certification. The theoretical contribution of the article is its construction of a framework for understanding the outcomes in a learning network in which a university team works with SMEs. The practical contribution is that SMEs may use this empirically-supported learning network to overcome many EMS implementation barriers (e.g., lack of resources, isolation, and low self-confidence).

The booming Chinese construction market has created both economic growth and environmental problems. Some 65 000 buildings in Europe have been constructed in accordance with the voluntary construction standard called Passive House that aims for energy efficiency. In China, however, by 2015, only twenty such projects were planned and only two Passive House projects were completed. In this paper we identify and describe the barriers to the diffusion and adoption of Passive House construction in China. We review the relevant literature (Chinese and Western) and conduct two case studies of Passive House construction in China. Two broad groups of barriers the bounded rationality of construction developers/managers and the high transaction costs of green innovation are found to be most responsible for the slow diffusion and adoption of the Passive House concept in China. Unless these barriers are overcome, prospects for the advance of green technology in the Chinese construction market are unfavourable. © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Gamesa, a Spanish company, is an original equipment manufacturer of wind energy turbines. Established in 1976, the company now faces greater global competition and an increased need to put greater focus on operations and maintenance solutions. Thus, Gamesa has to engage in business model innovation process. The case depicts how Gamesa joins a research project that uses a learning network approach in the initiation phase of business model innovation that leads to insights applicable to Gamesa's important Swedish customer – the utility company, Varberg Energi. The focus of the case is the early phase of business model innovation rather than the outcome (i.e. the new business model). Specifically, the case describes a workshop within the learning network where participants have the opportunity to better understand ...

With the rise of emerging economy (EEs) as main engine of global growth, the intensified competition in the wind energy industry and internationalization to EEs, enterprises need to rethink and innovate their business models in order to succeed. The overall purpose of this article is to explore the drivers of business model innovation (BMI) in emerging-country multinational enterprises (EMNEs) in the context of an EE market, particularly in the wind energy industry and with special focus on inclusive business activities. For this purpose a single case study of Goldwind (China), one of the most important actors in the wind power industry, was applied. The results of this research show that to gain a competitive advantage in EEs requires capabilities to deal with the specific EEs related drivers of change: 1) fast growth and high demand combined with high uncertainty; 2) lower level of market-oriented socioeconomic development; 3) stronger governmental influence on the market; and 4) the need for simple, cheap and easy to maintain technologies. Therefore, it is important that managers position their enterprises in the EEs first as local players and only then as multinationals. Our study indicates that future research should focus on the main elements and the drivers of change that would shape BMI by adding new variables, specifically related to EE.

As the mantra "innovate your business model or die" increases in popularity among practitioners and academics, so does the need for novel and feasible business models. In this article, we describe an ideation experience workshop, conducted in an undergraduate business course, in which students, guided by their lecturers and two industry representatives, developed business models in the early phases of a company's new blood alcohol level testing device. The students based their business models on the nine building blocks of a Business Model Canvas tool. The workshop confirmed that the three learning objectives were achieved as students acquired knowledge, created problem solutions, and presented results. The success of the workshop is attributable to the opportunity it gives students to work with an actual company, to experiment with business model innovation, and to learn from evaluators' feedback. © 2015 Decision Sciences Institute.

Established firms find it difficult to innovate their business models. However, research suggests different approaches to overcome this. One of those is learning network. Research has also shown that learning networks can be used as an arena to coproduce knowledge between academia and industry. In this article, the authors provide an understanding of how learning networks can be used to improve the quality of knowledge coproduction on business model innovation and suggest a framework that can be used to facilitate knowledge coproduction related to business model innovation in the context of maintenance services for wind energy industry. The article suggests that learning networks are an appropriate approach not only to address practical problems but also to develop theoretical understanding of how organizational inertia related to business model innovation could be overcome and what are the benefits for the involved participants.

As companies and other organizations increasingly recognize society’s demand for greater social and environmental sustainability, university and college business schools have responded with new pedagogic approaches. Business schools have begun to offer courses in business models and business model innovation that focus not only on profit-normative goals but also on social and environmental goals. This paper describes an Experiential Workshop for university undergraduates in which the Service-Learning pedagogic approach is taken and Flourishing Business Canvas is applied as a tool for collaborative visual business modelling. In the Workshop, the students work with business model innovation for a biogas production cooperative of farmer-members in southern Sweden. The students take the role of problem-owners and problem-solvers as they co-create new business models ideas for the cooperative. The paper presents the students’ achievement of three Learning Objectives as they engage in meaningful, “real-world” simulations with a high degree of autonomy that allows them to combine their theoretical knowledge with practice. Implications for educators who wish to test the Experiential Workshop in their classrooms are proposed. The paper concludes with the suggestion that Education for Flourishing is a useful expansion of Education for Sustainable Development. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

GodEl is a Swedish electricity retailer owned by a non-profit foundation that provides 100 percent renewable and environmentally certified electricity to its customers. Established in 2005 GodEl, has no private profit motive and it donates its revenues to non-governmental organizations. This case shows the role of social enterprises and business model innovation over time, driven by sustainability issues. The case further illustrates practices that lead to changes in the dominant business model of an industry while providing background on the Scandinavian electricity retail market.

Product Development (PD) in Small and medium-sized Firms (SMEs) is a long-neglected research area, and little cumulative work has been conducted previously. The purpose of this paper is to provide a first overview of the area of PD in SMEs. In doing so, we draw upon a sample of 149 peer-reviewed research papers selected from an initial sample of 5694 papers. The review provides tentative answers to issues such as the analytical and methodological approaches of the papers, which topics or areas of research have been focused on by previous scholars, and what kinds of topics that are well covered.

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors which can contribute to the explanation of why eco-innovations have a poorer market development than other innovations. We based our study on 285 innovations that moved on to the finals in three Swedish innovation contests: the Environmental Technology Competition (ETC), the Venture Cup (VC) and the Innovation Cup (IC). We analysed four groups of factors related respectively to (1) the innovator, (2) the innovation, (3) the development process and (4) certain aspects of the surroundings with importance to development. One conclusion is that there are many factors in which eco-innovations differ from other innovations. The eco-group is older, mainly male, with lower technical or other education; they are more innovative and their network has a stronger connection to family. Eco-innovations are less geared towards industrial customers and currently have no major competition, according to the innovators. The development process for these innovations is different from that of other innovations; the time that has been invested in the process is much shorter and the access to risk capital and contacts with business angels are rare. The eco-innovators view the general surroundings more positively than others.

Rapporten är skriven som en slutrapportering av projektet ”Är eko-innovationer mindre framgångsrika än andra innovationer?”. I rapporten diskuteras olika sätt att se på hur man kan bedöma innovationers utveckling och marknadsframgång. Den generella frågan som ställs i undersökningen är om de innovationer som är miljöinriktade har en sämre marknadsutveckling än andra innovationer. Där en sådan skillnad finns försöker man identifiera de faktorer som kan bidra till att förklara varför. Området är av extra intresse idag då kapitalet nu på allvar börjar hitta till miljöinnovationerna. I USA har området CleanTech under 2006 snabbt klättrat upp till tredje största investeringsområde för riskkapital. I Sverige är det än så länge trögare för riskkapitalet och miljöinnovatörerna att mötas och denna rapport ger en ögonblicksbild av förklaringen varför. De innovationer som studerats har valts ut bland de som gått till final i tävlingarna MiljöInnovation, Venture Cup och Innovation Cup under de år som tävlingarna genomförts.

As competition for their products increases, manufacturers have taken a greater interest in servitization. However, they face a difficult challenge when they try to develop service-oriented business models and design service value propositions that require a change in mind-set and new approaches. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory paper is to develop, apply, and evaluate an approach for service value proposition design that manufacturers can use in their transition from a primarily product-oriented business model to a more service-oriented business model. A qualitative research approach - the research through design approach - is taken in a case study of a Spanish machine tool manufacturer engaged in servitization. The findings of this research derive from a service design project at two of the manufacturer’s divisions. The empirical data consist of 45 artifacts (prototypes, visualizations, and models) from six workshops and six semi-structured interviews with key company managers. The paper analyzes various service design visualization tools in manufacturing, examines the design of service value propositions, and suggests avenues for additional research on the use of a systematic methodology for service value proposition design.

As government officials, policymakers, and the general public increasingly express their concern about global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, scientists search for alternative sources of vehicle fuel and electric power. One sustainable energy source that shows considerable promise is biogas produced from organic waste. For various reasons, biogas plants in Sweden struggle with profitability. This is especially true for agricultural biogas plants. Suggestions on how to deal with this problem include the use of business model innovation (BMI) to develop agricultural networks and to implement new strategies for arranging, producing, and marketing farm-produced biogas. This qualitative study, influenced by grounded theory, identifies and examines the success factors in an agricultural network in which biogas is produced at four farms in Sweden with distribution by pipeline to a refinery for purification and conversion to vehicle fuel. Fourteen interviews were conducted with various individuals in this network: farmers, a local politician, municipal employees, and external consultants. Of the six success factors identified in the network for farm-produced biogas, the long-term perspective on profitability was found most important. The six factors were used to create a conceptual business model framework for such networks that adds new value propositions while retaining the original value propositions. We propose that long-term government subsidies and other incentives can make farm-produced biogas profitable, not only in social and environmental terms but also in economic terms. Our main conclusion is that BMI can be used to create public-private networks that invest in farm-based biogas production. Such investments can stimulate rural development and provide new business possibilities for SMEs in the agricultural sector. This study also shows that BMI that takes a long-term perspective can result in high-value environmental and social benefits as well as financial profitability.

Farm-based biogas production is a promising renewable energy technology with the potential for creating sustainable economic, environmental, and social value. However, Swedish farmers engaged in this activity struggle to turn a profit because of high-investment costs and severe price competition with fossil fuels. One way to address this situation is to re-organize the activity by innovating the business model (BM) towards sustainability. In this study, a team of researchers took an action research approach that proposed solutions for the financial difficulties at a farm cooperative that intended to develop its farm-based biogas production. Two participatory workshops (including researchers, producers, students, and consultants) were conducted using the sustainable business-modelling tool called the Flourishing Business Canvas (FBC). Based on the 215 ideas developed in the workshops, five sustainable BM prototypes were created. These five prototypes form the basis of an approach for initiating the development of a network-level BM for sustainability that highlights its superiority over a single-firm BM. The network-level BM’s main advantage in the farm-based biogas context is its strong focus on stakeholder collaboration that supports the development of a stakeholder business case for sustainability. Overall, this study highlights the usefulness of the network concept in the practice of sustainable BM development. Collaborative business modelling for developing network-level BMs that address environmental and social problems for and with stakeholders can be an effective way to increase long-term financial profit and promote the growth of a firm, a network, or an industry. © 2018 The Author(s)

In recent years in Sweden, interest has grown concerning the possibilities of biogas production from organic waste. This interest reflects a general concern over environmental sustainability in society. However, given the lack of financial backing and the competition of other energy producers, few Swedish biogas plants have been profitable. This is particularly the situation with farm-based biogas producers. One response to this problem in the farm-based biogas industry is to engage in business model innovation that can lead to new ways of organizing business structures and activities. This qualitative study, which takes an action research approach, explores the early phases (initiation and ideation) of the business model innovation process for sustainability at a biogas-producing farm cooperative in southern Sweden. The main activities and the actors who are central to the execution of these activities are identified in six sub-phases. The paper describes two Flourishing Business Canvas workshops in which the participants were the researchers, members of the farm cooperative, external consultants, and university students. This study contributes theoretically to the literature with its detailed examination of the early phases of the business model innovation process for sustainability. It also contributes to practice with its conceptual model that demonstrates how biogas producers and farm managers can innovate and transform their current business models towards sustainability in order to improve competitiveness and long-term profitability. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper presents results from an investigation of maintenance and service market of Swedish wind power industry. Although the average number of disruptions per wind turbine only increased slightly from 2007 to 2009 in Sweden, the average downtime, the average electricity production loss and accordingly economic loss to the wind power operators increased 3 times during the same period. Equipped with strong production power, technology skills and expertize, Chinese wind turbine manufacturers have opportunity to enter the Swedish wind power maintenance and service market, and bring benefit to Swedish wind power industry and to themselves‟ internationalization process and sustainable development. 

Organizations, such as social enterprises, engage in business model innovation when they wish to create, deliver, and capture value for their various stakeholders in ways that effect positive environmental and social change. Despite the increasing research attention paid to social enterprises, the literature on business model innovation in this context is still scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore business model innovation driven by sustainability issues at a social enterprise operating in the Scandinavian electricity retail market. A single case study research approach is taken, and data are collected from sixteen individual interviews and two focus groups with executives, managers, and directors. The study contributes to business model innovation as an organizational change process as well as an outcome of this process. The findings show that business model innovation over time at social enterprises reflects a shift in focus from novelty, via lock-in of customers, to efficiency in internal management routines. Additionally, the study concludes that social enterprises with innovative business models driven by sustainability issues can introduce novel practices that lead to changes in the dominant business model of their industry. The study also suggests how social entrepreneurs might innovate their business models as they focus on environmental and social sustainability. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Since the end of 1990s the growth of new energy and renewable energy production has been strong and increasing. Wind power energy has become one important source of energy almost all over the world. Europe, USA and Asia has become the leading markets in the development of wind energy. The total volume of global wind energy production has increased from 13,600 MW in 1999 to 318,137 MW in 2013. Since 2006 the wind energy industry is showing very rapid growth as well as dynamics among major industry actors. Some companies has left the industry due to heavy competion, some has used the growth as an opportunity to expand and the inceasing demand and the growth in the wind energy sector has opened opportunities for new actors to enter the industry. China has very fast become the largest country in the world in terms of installed wind energy capacity (28,7% share of total installed capacity and 45,4 % share of installed capacity in 2013). China is followed by Germany, UK and India. USA is now on the 6th place regarding the share of new installed capacity in 2013 with 3,1%. Sweden is on the 9th global place, shared with Romania, with 2.0 % installed capacity in 2013.The study focuses on the industry dynamics among major wind turbine producers during the period of 2006 and 2013. The study explores how the seven top wind energy companies, with the greatest market share of wind turbine manufacturing, used business model innovation to create competitive advantage, how they act to sustain competitive, and how they act business wise globaly in the wind energy industry. Our analysis identifies three major industry clusters based on their mix of business model components. We have labeled those three as “Born in Wind – Stay In Wind”, “Born In Wind – Expand In Others” and “Born In Others – Expand In Wind” due to the patterns of actors from their origin, growth and expansion strategies to diffusion in different markets. The majority of manufacturers have their origin outside wind energy industry, and they create success through new combinations of resources and new value creation for customers. Only one global actors is born in the wind energy and is still remaning in the wind energy industry. All actors have over the years reshaped their business model components, value propositions and value creation to customers in order to sustain competitive on the market. There are new comers in the wind turbine industry that in short of time has achieved high growth and high market shares. Our analysis shows that the business model innovation can be seen as one important perspective to understand the dynamics of wind power industry. Based on our analysis and findings we suggest that companies in the future even more should focus on the design and innovation of their business models, and that those should have the focus on the value creation for customers from a customer perspective and make differentiation from their competitors in the global wind power industry. Copyright © 2015 by Halmstad University & Shanghai Dianji University.

The construction sector is often accused of being inefficient, conservative and noninnovative, although some commentators have suggested that the construction sector is not backward, it is merely different to other industries. One of these differences is the uniqueness of construction projects, which are determined by the characteristics of the site, interaction of project participants (also partly site specific) and the relationship between contractors and building product producers (which changes from one project to another). These factors are known to colour construction innovation. Previous research into the Swedish construction sector has identified a significant gap between the building product producers who are 'product focused' and the contractors who are 'project focused', with concerns expressed about effectiveness of communication between two. The findings of previous research imply, both implicitly and explicitly, that this gap may be hindering innovation within the construction sector. This appears to have implications for those concerned with construction, the building users and society as a whole. In this paper the authors provide an extensive review of the literature and research findings from which a number of unique insights are offered. The reasons for the gap between producers and contractors are discussed and a number of innovative measures are proposed that may help to bridge the gap, and hence improve innovation systems. The paper concludes with some practical findings for producers and contractors as well as some thoughts on where future research should be targeted.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of outsourcing NPD, and specifically of factors affecting the outsourcing decisions, by exploring the practices of the most innovative firms.

Design/methodology/approach – An internet based survey sent in winter 2008 to 494 medium-sized firms in four industries. The response rate was 77.3%. Sample was split into the best firms and the rest, and a best practice analysis was performed with correlation analysis.

Findings – The best firms focus on knowledge issues to a higher extent, while cost and geographical proximity are more important for the rest firms. The best firms prioritize knowledge integration and development of knowledge about the outsourcing process higher.

Research limitations/implications - The sample is taken from medium-sized Swedish manufacturing firms. Future samples need to be expanded to further generalize the conclusions. Results show that further research combining resource and cost perspectives are needed.

Practical implications – Managers are recommended to not only find access to needed knowledge, but also give time to integration on a personal level, as this protect knowledge and lower costs in the long run.

Originality/value – Studies of outsourcing NPD are few and, to our knowledge, no quantitative studies on the topic have been made.

Quantitative analysis of the evolution of innovations at national systems level is not alwayspossible due to the lack of reliable, comprehensive and adequate data sets. Therefore, managerialpractice among organizations as well as policy decision making are often myopic anduninformed about actual dynamics.In the Swedish case, there are promising data sets, even if the adequacy of existing variabledefinitions needs to be explored and debated. Official data collected by the central statisticsauthority SCB (Statistics Sweden) includes several potentially relevant variables on all privateand public organizations in Sweden and their employees. These data are compiled into timeseries for a number of years which allows for longitudinal analysis. Data can also be mergedwith other data sets on the environmental goods and services sector and energy consumption dataand therefore allow for a detailed “demographic” or “population ecology” analysis ofenvironmentally oriented or friendly innovation since at least 2003. Halmstad University hasrecently gained full access to these data.In this paper, these databases are described in some detail. Problems of definitions andmeasurement are particularly discussed, and some initial descriptive statistics are presented.Further, the paper advocates the use of models inspired by population ecology and demographyin analyzing existing data. In particular it is suggested that interactive diffusion models mayenhance the understanding of the evolution of green innovations and their dynamics. It is alsosuggested that multi-level regression analysis is applicable in estimating the power of factors thatbring progress to the “greening” of the Swedish innovation system.Together, such models are potentially useful in forecasting the development of innovationsystems. The models can also be used in generating, testing by simulating and thus evaluatingapproaches to management of innovation and innovation policy implementation. A dynamicunderstanding of the “greening” of the innovation system is a critical asset in the development oftools to be used for continuous improvements in both policy making and the management ofinnovation in organizations.

Servitization requires development of new value proposition as a system of product-service system aimed at solving customer specific needs and problems (Baines et al., 2009). Business model innovation (BMI) is a way to servitize, and it represents a complex, collective, cyclical social process emphasizing active experimentation with changing business model components (Hoveskog et al., forthcoming). To enable such experimentation, in early phases of BMI for servitization one needs to (i) identify customer value of target customers (Teece, 2010) and (ii) design corresponding value propositions (Frankenberger et al., 2013). However, both research on BMI in general (Keränen & Jalkala, 2013) and with focus on servitization (Baines et al., 2009) have not paid sufficient attention to applicability and availability of different practical tools, which are relevant for early phases of BMI process. In this regard, the emerging approach of service design has been proposed as a potential methodology offering a tool kit with practical tools to support manufacturers’ BMI for servitization (Sangiorgi et al., 2012; Iriarte et al., 2014). Service design offers a practical toolkit that has its roots in a new thinking about value (Vargo & Lusch, 2004; 2008), which allows capturing reliable data about customer needs (Moritz, 2005), creating, visualizing and sharing complex product-service systems (Morelli, 2006; Segelström, 2013), and prototyping future situations of services (Blomkvist, 2014). However, the potential contributions of service design tools for manufacturing servitization in general and business model innovation in particular aren’t sufficiently investigated. Thus, the purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore the applicability of service design tools in early phases of BMI for servitization. This will allow us to propose a targeted service design-based tool kit for early phases of BMI providing guidance to managers in “how” to practically approach designing product-service value proposition during servitization transformation.

In business model innovation (BMI) for servitization, it is essential for manufacturer to identify a set of specific (non)monetary and (in)tangible value attributes (Prior, 2013), that specify the valuable features of product, service, parts of delivery process and even business relationship. Such understanding of customer value serves as the basis for further design of the new product-service system and how it can be created and delivered (Frankenberger et al., 2013). However, developing understanding about customer value becomes one of the main challenges for manufacturers trying to servitize (Martinez et al., 2010; Mathieu, 2001) due to several reasons. Firstly, manufacturers and their customers perceive what is valuable differently (Lindgreen et al., 2012). Secondly, intangible nature of servitized value propositions makes it difficult for manufacturers to change their traditionally product-focused transactional models into the ones providing long-term relationship-based product-service offerings (Vladimirova et al., 2011). Finally, there is lack of tools and procedure guidance on how manufacturers can approach customer value identification in B2B context in practice, especially its intangible part (Keränen & Jalkala, 2013) that goes beyond straightforward financial value.

Service design has already been suggested as a potential enabler to support manufactures in “how” to practically approach servitization transformation (e.g., Sangiorgi et al., 2012; Thurston & Cawood, 2011) due to its human-centred, creative, iterative approach to the creation of new services (Blomkvist, Holmlid, & Segelström 2010). In this paper we study how service design tools can facilitate understanding customer value in BMI for servitization. We use several empirical cases with manufacturers that are in the initial phase of BMI for servitization (Simonchik et al., 2015; Val et al., 2013). In these cases, we study how the use of selected service design visualization tools (Maps, Narratives, Images & Flows) through co-creation workshops helps manufacturers to (i) identify tangible and intangible value attributes (e.g. product quality, service flexibility etc. and (ii) use them further in designing new product-service systems.

Preliminary case analysis shows that service design tools help participants think beyond their products, providing a broader perspective of the complete value proposition throughout the whole customer experience including products, services, processes of delivery and relationships. The understanding of how the customer will potentially interact with the future value proposition lays the groundwork for the design of new product-service systems. The cases also show that service design visualization tools provide the ability to experiment with how to create and deliver specific tangible and intangible value attributes in a quick and easy way through mapping and prototyping. With this paper we hope to contribute to manufacturer’s efforts in increasing their service orientation in BMI for servitization. Results of this study have implications for managers at manufacturer’s side putting effort to overcome among others such challenges of servitization as changing the product-centred perspective of own employees (Löfberg, 2014).

References

Blomkvist, J., Holmlid, S., & Segelström, F. (2010). This Is Service Design Research: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. In This Is Service Design Thinking, Stickdorn M., & Schneider, J. eds. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers, 308-315.

Frankenberger, K., Weiblen, T., Csik, M., & Gassmann, O. (2013). The 4I-framework of business model innovation: an analysis of the process phases and challenges. International Journal of Product Development, 18(3), 249-273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJPD.2013.055012

Keränen, J., & Jalkala, A. (2013). Towards a framework of customer value assessment in B2B markets: An exploratory study. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(8), 1307-1317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.06.010

Lindgreen, A., Hingley, M.K., Grant, D.B., & Morgan, R.E. (2012). Value in business and industrial marketing: Past, present, and future. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(1), 207-214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2011.11.025

Löfberg, N. (2014). Service Orientation in Manufacturing Firms - Understanding Challenges with Service Business Logic. Doctoral Dissertation. Karlstad University Studies. Sweden.

Martinez, V., Bastl, M., Kingston, J., & Evans, S. (2010). Challenges in transforming manufacturing organisations into product-service providers. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 2(4), 449-469.

Mathieu, V. (2001). Service strategies within the manufacturing sector: benefits, costs, and partnership. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 12(5), 451–475. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000006093

Prior, D.D. (2013). Supplier representative activities and customer perceived value in complex industrial solutions. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(8), 1192-1201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.03.015

Sangiorgi, D., Fogg, H., Johnson, S., Maguire, G., Caron A., & Vijakumar, L. (2012). Think Services. Supporting manufacturing companies in their move toward services. In Service Design and Innovation Conference, ServDes2012, (pp. 253-263). Helsinki, Finland.

Simonchik, A., Iriarte, I., Hoveskog, M., Halila F., & Justel, D. (2015). Service Design Tools for Business model innovation in B2B. In British Academy of Management Conference 2015 BAM 2015. Portsmouth, UK.

Thurston, P., & Cawood, G. (2011). The Product Advantage from Service Design. Design Management Review, 22(4), 70-75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1948-7169.2011.00159.x

Val, E., Iriarte, I., Perez de Arenaza A., Alzaga, X., & Arrieta, X. (2013). Human Centered Design in Danobat Group Railways. In 17th International Congress on Project Management and Engineering, (pp. 1502-1510), Logroño, Spain.

Vladimirova, D., Evans, S., Martinez, V., & Kingston, J. (2011). Elements of Change in the Transformation towards Product Service Systems. In J. Hesselbach & C. Herrmann (eds.), Functional Thinking for Value Creation: Proceedings of the 3rd CIRP International Conference on Industrial Product Service Systems, (pp. 21-26). Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19689-8_6

Business model innovation (BMI) represents a complex, collective, cyclical social process emphasizing active experimentation with changing business model components. To enable such experimentation, in early phases of BMI one needs to: (i) identify customer value of target customers, and (ii) design corresponding value propositions. However, research on BMI has not paid sufficient attention to developing specific tools and toolkits relevant for early phases of BMI process in B2B context. The emerging approach of service design offers a range of practical tools, which have the potential to capture reliable data about customer needs, creating, visualizing and sharing complex product-service systems, and prototyping future services accordingly. However, the potential contributions of service design tools for BMI in general and in B2B in particular aren’t sufficiently investigated. Thus, we aim to the purpose of this short paper is to illustrate the practical application of selected service design tools in early phases of BMI in B2B.

In face of escalating health care costs, new technology holds great promise for innovative solutions and new more sustainable health care model. Welfare technology around a person allowing for greater autonomy and control in health issues and access to tailored information and personalized health behavior interventions. While this offers good opportunities for both public health impact, it also emphasizes the need for properly knowledge base and organizational structure to support a person- centred approach in the development of welfare technology in society. 

Halmstad University initiated in 2014 a thematic research and educational initiative that has been named Theme Health Innovation. The initiative includes research, education and interaction with the community, region and industry, which in collaboration can contribute with innovative and sustainable solutions to social challenges in the health field. The starting point for the work is action based on societal and individual needs and development of venues for collaboration between different actors and levels of organization. 

Theme Health Innovation aims to develop and affect people's ability to maintain and promote their health and prevent ill health. Health Innovations developed in encounters between different knowledge, skills and experiences, both within the university's research and education in collaboration with industry and the public sector. Health Innovations that are developed should be based on the needs from the people who will use the innovation, thus have an end user perspective. 

At the conference, the Theme Health Innovation will be presented including the organizational structure, research as well as training in higher education that support the welfare technical development.

Describes how the network concept could be used as a development method and to overcome some of the barriers for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to initiate and work with sustainable development questions. The study has been done in close co-operation with managers and employees from small enterprises, where the ISO 14001 work has been initiated and supported through the network, using each other and the network as an arena for joint reflection, support, and as a resource pool. The result from this study indicates that a university-driven learning network makes a difference in the development work of SMEs – as a source for inspiration, in initiating and working with development projects, for reflection, and as a sounding board, and through its effectiveness in acting as a large organisation.

Developing tailored digital interventions for exercise motivation by applying behavioral theory into existing web services in cooperation with the e-health industry could create a mutual base for experience exchange and practical implications. It could also add higher standards to e-health business by providing a scientifically sound and trustworthy foundation for digital solutions. This project aims to design an interactive tool grounded in sport and exercise psychology and combined with the latest expertise from information technology and innovation science, considering e-health industrial requirements and user needs. A main objective is to test the efficacy of using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in designing, constructing and evaluating an exercise intervention. The digital intervention is based on a literature review mapping exercise motivation related to self-determination theory, complemented by qualitative cross-disciplinary interaction design methodologies, such as qualitative analysis of interviews and contextual observation capturing participant goals, behaviour, preferences, attitudes and frustrations. Intervention contents are essentially autonomy supportive structures, goal-setting support and relapse prevention, self-regulation structures, health information and web links. In February 2015 the intervention prototype will be pilot tested in a randomized controlled trial (RCT), involving existing members and clients (N > 10 000) of two health service companies. Outcomes relate to self-determined exercise motivation (The Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale and The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2) and exercise behaviour, measured both by self-report measures (Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire) and step counters. The RCT contains three measure points in order to allow advanced analyses of change and mechanisms based on the SDT-process model and motivational profiles. Latent growth curve and structural equation models will primarily be used to analyse data. This pilot study will create a baseline for elaboration into a second phase, were the digital tool will be further developed and longitudinally tested and evaluated over a nine months period. © 2015 University of Bern, Institut of Sport Science 

Health care costs are increasing twice as fast as wealth, making health promotion and development of cost-effective care increasingly important in order to generate sustainable health care solutions. E-health, applications and interactive tools for exercise promotion flourish; but despite this and an overflow of information regarding health benefits of regular physical activity, exercise adherence has proven to be a significant challenge. This article concerns a project aimed to design an interactive tool based on comprehensive knowledge from the field of psychology combined with expertise from information technology and innovation, based on e-health industrial requirements and user needs. The research group will, together with the expertise and infrastructure of the collaborating companies Health Profile Institute AB and Tappa Service AB, support and progress an existing PhD-project on digital interventions in exercise motivation. This will be done by designing; applying and evaluating a person-centred digital intervention prototype for exercise motivation and adherence enhancement based on Self-Determination Theory.

Purpose:There is a need for scientifically sound and theory based tools and services in e-health. In this project knowledge from the field of psychology will be complemented by expertise in information technology and innovation science in designing a digital intervention based on Self-determination theory (SDT) aiming to facilitate exercise motivation.

Methods:The intervention will be tested by a three wave RCT design in a population of e-health clients (n = 200) in a web based exercise service. Sensors (step counters) and self-reports (Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire) will be used to measure objective and subjective exercise behavior while instruments based on SDT (Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale and Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 ) will measure factors related to motivation.  Advanced mediation variable analyses (MVA) and latent growth curve models (LGCM) will be used to explore motivational processes, changes and profiles in relation to exercise behavior.

Expected Results:Based on the SDT process model, it is hypothesized that a (digital) environment supporting basic psychological need satisfaction will facilitate internalization and enhanced self-determined motivation, which in turn will have a positive effect on exercise behavior.

Conclusions:Clarifying mechanisms and indirect effects provide knowledge of how intervention effects could be interpreted and understood. Combining high level research design like RCT and advanced analyses as MVA provides valuable contributions to the understanding of theoretical mechanisms of motivation that could inform the tailoring of effective interventions promoting healthy exercise behaviours.  In addition, the project might form a prosperous interdisciplinary fusion generating innovative and theory based digital solutions for e-health.

In face of escalating health care costs, new technology holds great promise for innovative solutions and new, more sustainable health care models. Technology centers around the individual, allowing for greater autonomy and control in health issues and access to tailored information and customized health behavior interventions. While this offers good opportunities for both public health impact and improved well-being at individual levels, it also emphasizes the need for properly designed e-health models firmly based on scientific principles and adequate theoretical frameworks. Consequently, this project aims to design an interactive tool utilizing an interdisciplinary approach combining motivational theory with the fields of information technology and business model innovation. In collaboration with two companies from the e-health industry, the purpose is to design, apply and evaluate a person-centered interactive prototype for maintainable and self-determined exercise motivation.