Valuing Value in Innovation Ecosystems: How Cross-Sector Actors Overcome Tensions in Collaborative Sustainable Business Model Development

Abstract

This article aims to uncover the processes of developing sustainable business models in innovation ecosystems. Innovation ecosystems with sustainability goals often consist of cross-sector partners and need to manage three tensions: the tension of value creation versus value capture, the tension of mutual value versus individual value, and the tension of gaining value versus losing value. The fact that these tensions affect all actors differently makes the process of developing a sustainable business model challenging. Based on a study of four sustainably innovative cross-sector collaborations, we propose that innovation ecosystems that develop a sustainable business model engage in a process of valuing value in which they search for a result that satisfies all actors. We find two different patterns of valuing value: collective orchestration and continuous search. We describe these patterns and the conditions that give rise to them. The identification of the two patterns opens up a research agenda that can shed further light on the conditions that need to be in place in order for an innovation ecosystem to develop effective sustainable business models. For practice, our findings show how cross-sector actors in innovation ecosystems may collaborate when developing a business model around emerging sustainability-oriented innovations.

Toward Collaborative Cross-Sector Business Models for Sustainability

“…The multiple paradoxes and tensions demonstrate the necessity of collaborative forms of organizing, but only if coupled with rethinking the logic for sustainability transitions between actors, processes, and results to achieve at-speed sustainable solutions. Oskam, Bossink, and de Man's (2021) article "Valuing Value in Innovation Ecosystems: How Cross-Sector Actors Overcome Tensions in Collaborative Sustainable Business Model Development" studies innovation ecosystems consisting of cross-sector partners pursuing sustainability goals. The authors identify three tensions that can occur as these partners engage in joint business model development: value creation versus value capture, mutual value versus individual value, and gaining value versus losing value.…”

“…To situate each article within the triple focus of the special issue (Figure 1), we read each article to determine and assess the position of each article’s main contributions (Figure 2). The main contributions of Oskam et al’s (2021) and Dentoni et al’s (2021) articles focused on the sustainability and business model innovation nexus. Rey-Garcia et al’s (2021) and DiVito et al’s (2021) main contributions rested on the business model innovation and cross-sector collaboration nexus.…”

Exploring Mission-Oriented Innovation Ecosystems for Sustainability: Towards a Literature-Based Typology

“…Besides various co-creation formats, for example in living lab environments [78,99,102], the literature highlights the important role of capacity building [102,103] and the opportunities of open government platforms for increasing government-citizen interaction [99,102]. Compared to other types of ecosystems, their aspiration to pursue different goals simultaneously, hereby adding complexity, and their heterogeneous stakeholder setting, might make sustainable transformation ecosystems especially prone to tensions, which may arise with regard to competing priorities, value creation vs. value capture mechanisms, or potential hi-jacking through interest groups [99,104].…”

Towards a Taxonomy for Design Options of Social Networking Technologies in Sustainable Business Models

“…In this context, our research also reveals a need for further investigation on data protection in the case of value co-creation that is based on social networking technologies, especially social media. Another field of application for our taxonomy could be to overcome tensions in the collaborative development of sustainable business models [98], because it helps to design communication structures between different stakeholders in such a way that common goals can be achieved.…”