Product, service, and business model innovation: A discussion

Abstract

Business model innovation is increasingly recognised to be a central part of strategic management that generates the decisive competitive advantages for a growing number of organisations. This is particularly relevant in the areas of corporate sustainability strategy and sustainable entrepreneurship, since technological innovations in isolation yield increasingly incremental economic, social and environmental performance improvements. Despite the surge of research into business model innovation, there is still conceptual ambiguity among academics and practitioners about business model innovation. This lack of clarity not only poses issues for understanding what makes companies successful, but also for understanding how business model innovation relates to product and service development processes. To address these issues, we suggest a discussion that links sustainable business model innovation to the more established fields of product and service innovation. To start this conversation, we conducted a comprehensive literature review using structured keyword database searches and cross-reference snowballing. Based on the literature findings, we conducted two focus groups with industry representatives, resulting in the proposition of a first set of potential differentiation dimensions. The intended contribution is increased conceptual clarity for academic researchers and industrial decision makers. By improving our understanding of how business model innovation relates to product and service innovations, we can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of sustainable business model innovation research and implementation.