Circular Green and Sustainable Business Model Competence Innovation and Development: Challenges with Privacy and GDPR Related to Businesses and Research

Peter Lindgren — 2024-05-07

Increased focus and vision on faster circular green and sustainable transformation in businesses and research have now turned out to be highly linked to also the social and the competence dimension of “the triple bottom line” approach and measurements. The social economic part of the triple bottom line approach has shown to be increasingly important, but very challenging to operate under the existing Privacy and GDPR regulations. To fulfil and measure how green the human, organizational systems and culture competence components actually are in business models today is not that much investigated. Focus has more been on “greening” the technology part of the competence components but now a number of advanced technologies seems promising to help measure green competences. It opens up for measuring circular, green and sustainable business model competences in some new and more advanced ways, but it could potentially result in the business do not comply with Privacy and GDPR regulations.

Ever since the branching of the scholarly literature on competences of the early 1960’s businesses have constantly being experimenting with business model competence design, reengineering, development and measuring. Creating Green Business Model (GBM’s) competences is no exception. Designing TO BE GBM’s and reconfiguration of AS IS BM’s to become GBM’s and later develop these is in focus – but until now the main focus has been on greening technologies. Very few knows how to “greening” and measure green related to human competences, organizational systems and culture. GBM competence reconfiguration has also mainly focused on changing or reconfiguring AS IS Business Models technology competences.

More and more businesses have realised that investing in new technologies or changing existing technologies are not enough to reach the vision and goals of green transformation. Technologies alone cannot release the full potential and requests of green transformation – reduce the use of material and resources, reduce the waste and spill, reduce the pollution including Co2 and increase biodiversity. The Business will simply not by technologies alone be able “to climb” and “pass” “the Green Wall” without innovating, developing the BM competences – HR, Organizational systems and Culture into becoming greener and thereby support green transformation in the businesses.

Reconfiguring AS IS business model competences to become greener is complex and calls for new and advanced approaches that challenge classical BM competence frameworks and understanding. Green Parameters and Profit are no longer the main focus in GBMI and changing some BM dimensions and components – or even adding new business model dimensions to the BM is neither enough. If business want to remain competitive, efficient and at the same time green, it requires a different GBMI approach and mindset – including measuring BM Competences. This challenges the compliance of Privacy and GDPR related to both businesses and research. The request for circularity and sustainability just adds to the complexity of measuring.

We offer a review of three Privacy and GDPR GBMI compliance cases and challenges in three different businesses with the aim of achieving greater understanding of Privacy and GDPR challenges both for businesses and researchers. We identify issues behind the apparent challenges of Privacy and GDPR in GBMI and discuss how strategic GBMI can contribute to further research on Privacy and GDPR in different fields of Green Business Modelling, offering future research directions of Privacy and GDPR.

The Impact of Positivity in Multi Business Model Innovation in a World of VUCA – How Can Positive Emotions Stimulate the MBMI Process?

Jane Flarup — 2024-05-07

The importance of right speed, effectiveness, efficiency and learning in Multi Business Model Innovation (MBMI) is vital to meet today’s Volatile, Uncertainty, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) challenges to survive as a Business in Business Model EcosystemS (BMES). Coronavirus pandemic, war in Ukraine, volatile global material and resource prices and deliveries, cyberattacks make big external VUCA events to Businesses. VUCA can also come from the inside of the Business as management style change, interventions or a burn down of the Business.

How can Businesses under these VUCA conditions still do high quality MBMI? How can MBMI participants and teams in these processes increase their MBMI output?

This paper investigates the impact of positive emotions, relatedness and creativity on the outcome of three different MBMI processes in three different Business Model Ecosystems influenced by VUCA. Positivity, relatedness and creativity are hypothesized as components to strengthen the individuals’ search for meaning in VUCA and for their motivation to act in MBMI processes influenced by VUCA.

The study is conducted as a mix method research project in the view of MBMI and psychological theory – particularly the concept of positive emotions and relatedness as mental states for learning and knowledge creation. Interviews and observations show that individuals in networks and teams with a mood of positivity strengthen MBMI and the MBMI learning and creation process. Thus, our intention for further research is twofold: Training in positivity in teams can stimulate the courage to make disruptive solutions sufficient for VUCA. Secondly, in searching for the MBMI mindset psychological traits will be studied by the Big Five profile test. This opens for recruitment of participants to optimizing MBMI teams. Main contributions are:

• Positive emotions and relatedness strengthen the urge to learn and to create in VUCA – searching for meaning and motivation to act is related to this concept.

• Learning and creative processes increase, since the basis of positivity and relatedness in individuals, teams and networks are strengthened.

• Innovative outcome seems of a higher quality when based on positive emotions. Research in positive emotions in Business Model Innovation is rare.

• Positive emotion is the core concept and by training of positivity, it may strengthen the MBMI processes and the VUCA competences.

• The outcomes and solution of the MBMI processes in the case study show mainly incremental and radical MBMI – only one is disruptive.

Nordic and Baltic Journal of Information & Communications Technologies

Circular Green and Sustainable Business Model Competence Innovation and Development: Challenges with Privacy and GDPR Related to Businesses and Research

The Impact of Positivity in Multi Business Model Innovation in a World of VUCA – How Can Positive Emotions Stimulate the MBMI Process?