Business model innovations emerge over time and are influenced by managerial interaction with stakeholders. Especially with regard to business model innovation for sustainability, manager-stakeholder interaction can radically change a company’s business model and underlying logic. However, the majority of the literature shows how manager–stakeholder interaction may limit business model innovation when stakeholders reinforce existing managerial cognitions. In this chapter we study how stakeholders can also stimulate business model innovation by affecting managerial cognitive change. Through three case studies, we find that this can occur through three shaping processes: market approach shaping, product/service offering shaping, and credibility shaping. We also find that the impact of new or latent stakeholders is greater than that of existing stakeholders. We end the chapter by sketching a research agenda to further unravel the role of stakeholders affecting managerial cognition around business model innovation for sustainability.
Stakeholders and in particular customers are an important source for business model innovation. Especially for sustainable business models, stakeholder integration may radically change the business logic and help to revise the business model. In this process cognition plays a central role, challenging basic assumptions and changing the dominant logic. In this paper we explore how interactions with the network contribute to making a cognitive shift in development of a sustainable business model. We build on three cases and closely look at the commercialisation stage in which a change of cognition and redesign of the business model take place. Our findings show that network interaction changes the dominant logic in business model innovation in two ways: by triggering a cognitive shift and by contributing to business model redesign. Our main contribution is the conceptualization of three interrelated shaping processes: market approach shaping, product/service offering shaping and credibility shaping. They provide a fine-grained perspective on value creation through collaborative networks and add to the business model literature by providing a framework to study the role of networks and cognition in business model innovation. For practitioners the shaping processes may support business model redesign and building relationships to advance commercialisation of sustainability-oriented innovations.
Background: The dynamics of maternal and newborn care challenge midwifery education programs to keep up-to-date. To prepare for their professional role in a changing world, role models are important agents for student learning. Objective: To explore the ways in which Dutch and Icelandic midwifery students identify role models in contemporary midwifery education. Methods: We conducted a descriptive, qualitative study between August 2017 and October 2018. In the Netherlands, 27 students participated in four focus groups and a further eight in individual interviews. In Iceland, five students participated in one focus group and a further four in individual interviews. All students had clinical experience in primary care and hospital. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Results: During their education, midwifery students identify people with attitudes and behaviors they appreciate. Students assimilate these attitudes and behaviors into a role model that represents their ‘ideal midwife’, who they can aspire to during their education. Positive role models portrayed woman-centered care, while students identified that negative role models displayed behaviors not fitting with good care. Students emphasized that they learnt not only by doing, they found storytelling and observing important aspects of role modelling. Students acknowledged the impact of positive midwifery role models on their trust in physiological childbirth and future style of practice. Conclusion: Role models contribute to the development of students’ skills, attitudes, behaviors, identity as midwife and trust in physiological childbirth. More explicit and critical attention to how and what students learn from role models can enrich the education program.
The transition towards an economy of wellbeing is complex, systemic, dynamic and uncertain. Individuals and organizations struggle to connect with and embrace their changing context. They need to create a mindset for the emergence of a culture of economic well-being. This requires a paradigm shift in the way reality is constructed. This emergence begins with the mindset of each individual, starting bottom-up. A mindset of economic well-being is built using agency, freedom, and responsibility to understand personal values, the multi-identity self, the mental models, and the individual context. A culture is created by waving individual mindsets together and allowing shared values, and new stories for their joint context to emerge. It is from this place of connection with the self and the other, that individuals' intrinsic motivation to act is found to engage in the transitions towards an economy of well-being. This project explores this theoretical framework further. Businesses play a key role in the transition toward an economy of well-being; they are instrumental in generating multiple types of value and redefining growth. They are key in the creation of the resilient world needed to respond to the complex and uncertain of our era. Varta-Valorisatielab, De-Kleine-Aarde, and Het Groene Brein are frontrunner organizations that understand their impact and influence. They are making bold strategic choices to lead their organizations towards an economy of well-being. Unfortunately, they often experience resistance from stakeholders. To address this resistance, the consortium in the proposal seeks to answer the research question: How can individuals who connect with their multi-identity-self, (via personal values, mental models, and personal context) develop a mindset of well-being that enables them to better connect with their stakeholders (the other) and together address the transitional needs of their collective context for the emergence of a culture of the economy of wellbeing?
Size measurement plays an essential role for micro-/nanoparticle characterization and property evaluation. Due to high costs, complex operation or resolution limit, conventional characterization techniques cannot satisfy the growing demand of routine size measurements in various industry sectors and research departments, e.g., pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials and food industry etc. Together with start-up SeeNano and other partners, we will develop a portable compact device to measure particle size based on particle-impact electrochemical sensing technology. The main task in this project is to extend the measurement range for particles with diameters ranging from 20 nm to 20 um and to validate this technology with realistic samples from various application areas. In this project a new electrode chip will be designed and fabricated. It will result in a workable prototype including new UMEs (ultra-micro electrode), showing that particle sizing can be achieved on a compact portable device with full measuring range. Following experimental testing with calibrated particles, a reliable calibration model will be built up for full range measurement. In a further step, samples from partners or potential customers will be tested on the device to evaluate the application feasibility. The results will be validated by high-resolution and mainstream sizing techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Coulter counter.
In de schoonmaakbranche is de werkdruk hoog . Hierdoor worden gebouwen dagelijks niet goed genoeg schoongemaakt. Er heerst krapte op de arbeidsmarkt. Schoonmaakwerk is vooral handmatig werk en is ook zwaar werk. De schoonmaakbranche is dringend op zoek naar technologische oplossingen die het werk in de toekomst kunnen verlichten. Eén van die technologische oplossingen is de introductie van schoonmaakrobots , die op dit moment mondjesmaat op de markt worden gebracht. Schoonmaakorganisaties weten nog niet goed hoe deze robots efficiënt in te zetten, het vergt nog veel tijd om ze te kunnen gebruiken en schoonmaakmedewerkers zijn terughoudend om ermee te werken. Het project Assisted Cleaning Robots (ACR) richt zich op de volgende onderzoeksvraag: “hoe integreer je robottechnologie in het werkproces in de schoonmaakbranche, zodat een robot enerzijds zo optimaal mogelijk het werkproces ondersteunt, en anderzijds zo optimaal mogelijk met de mens samenwerkt.” Wat hierin optimaal is en hoe dit gemeten kan worden, is onderdeel van het onderzoek en is afhankelijk van de technologische mogelijkheden, de mensen die er mee werken, en de werkomgeving. In dit project werken Fontys Hogeschool Engineering, Fontys Hogeschool Techniek & Logistiek en de Haagse Hogeschool samen met schoonmaakorganisaties CSU en Hectas en andere bedrijven (toeleveranciers van schoonmaakrobots als ontwikkelaars), nationaal samenwerkingsverband Holland Robotics en brancheorganisatie Schoonmakend Nederland. Dit project kent een looptijd van twee jaar en gaat van start op 1 november 2021. In dit project worden nieuwe schoonmaakprocessen gedefinieerd en wordt op basis van deze processen technologie ontwikkeld (waar doorgaans eerst een nieuw product wordt ontwikkeld en daarna pas gekeken naar hoe dit product in te zetten). In dit project staat de mens die met de technologie in het proces moet gaan werken centraal. De technologie en het proces worden gevalideerd middels praktijktests met de betrokken schoonmaakorganisaties, op representatieve locaties. Hieruit worden lessen getrokken voor verbeteringen.
