Miying Yang

Creating and Capturing Value Through Sustainability

OVERVIEW: Recent research and practice have shown that business model innovation can be one way to create and capture new value and drive production and consumption toward sustainability. However, business model tools typically do not create a space to consider how sustainability concerns may be integrated into the innovation process. To address this gap, this article describes a tool that can help companies identify new opportunities to create and capture value through sustainability by analyzing value captured and uncaptured for key stakeholders across the product life cycle. The Sustainable Value Analysis Tool is shown to help companies recognize value uncaptured and turn it into opportunities; it facilitates sustainability-focused business model innovation by identifying value uncaptured—and hence, opportunities for innovation—associated with environmental and social sustainability in production, use, and disposal.

Creating and Capturing Value Through Sustainability: The Sustainable Value Analysis ToolA new tool helps companies discover opportunities to create and capture value through sustainability.

This study was supported by the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability (grant EP/I033351/1) and the EPSRC project Business Models for Sustainable Industrial Systems (grant EP/L019914/1).

Product-service systems business models for circular supply chains

Abstract Shifting supply chains from linear to closed-loop models is an important step towards circular economy. This paper investigates business model innovation for circular supply chains, and proposes that product-service systems (PSS) business models can enhance the circularity of supply chains through value creation in inner circles, circling long and cascading use circles. It adopts an exploratory case study method of a large Chinese manufacturing firm operating a traditional product-based business model and three types of PSS business models (i.e. product-, use- and result-oriented PSSs). The supply chain operations of the four distinct business models are analysed and their associated circularities are discussed. The findings show that business models akin to result-oriented PSS, have tighter and more efficient cycles of supply chain operations; which means, the repair, reuse and remanufacturing system is faster and the rate is higher. This research contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between business model innovation and supply chain circularity.

Engineering for Sustainable Value

Sustainability is increasingly recognised as a key approach to long-term high value creation along the entire engineering value chain. Engineering for sustainable value creation requires business models that systematically integrate each stage of the engineering value chain to maximise total value creation. There is a need for methods and tools to help companies deliver such sustainable value. This chapter presents a conceptual model of engineering for sustainable value, and a practical tool (i.e. Sustainable Value Analysis Tool) to elicit value uncaptured across the whole life cycle and uncover new value opportunities through a structured and visual approach. The tool has helped a number of engineering companies to innovate business models for sustainable engineering operations in global value networks.

Sustainable Value Creation—From Concept Towards Implementation

Sustainability is crucial to create long-term high value in manufacturing system. Sustainable value creation requires systems thinking in order to maximise total value captured. There is a need to better understand how companies can improve sustainable value creation. Few tools or structured approaches to thinking about sustainable value are available. This chapter seeks to provide understanding of key concepts for and tools that aid practitioners in sustainable value creation in manufacturing. The chapter also provides case studies on how the tools have helped companies improve sustainability.

An Internal Perspective of Business Model Innovation in Manufacturing Companies

Business model innovation is increasingly being used as a concept in different academic fields, although it is still missing a ground theoretical conceptualization. This work aims at advancing the understanding of business model innovation from an internal perspective in manufacturing companies. It builds on a literature review regarding two main concepts -- business model and business architecture -- and proposes a set of key areas for internally-driven business model innovation. Six main areas have been identified: i) strategy & business goals, ii) organizational culture, iii) product and service management, iv) technology management, v) operations management, vi) performance management systems. Further research will analyze the innovation processes within each area, based on existing theoretical foundations and empirical studies. Moreover, new empirical studies will be performed to further investigate different potential pathways for business model innovation.