58 Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 Sustainable Trajectories for Business Model Innovation: In- sights from Visual Thinking Emelie Havemo1 Abstract This paper introduces a visual approach to sustainable business model innovation that helps business model designers conceptualise how sustainability can be integrated in business models. Drawings are used to illustrate four sustainable trajectories for business model innovation. The visualisation of trajectories helps to open the “black box” of sustainable value creation by enabling different un- derstandings of value creation from a business model perspective. The paper also introduces and exemplifies the concept of “multi-lens” thinking for sustainable business model innovation, which entails combining insights from several perspectives. Keywords: sustainability, business model innovation, design, visual thinking, trajectories, toolbox Please cite this paper as: Havemo, E. (2023), Sustainable Trajectories for Business Model Innovation: Insights from Visual Thinking, Journal of Business Models, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 1 CBMI Centre for Business Model Innovation, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden, emelie.havemo@liu.se ISSN: 2246-2465 DOI: https://doi.org/10.54337/jbm.v11i1.7179 Introduction Business models describe how an organisation cre- ates value. Given the increasing focus on sustain- ability concerns, new approaches to doing business are necessary to ensure that business models sup- port planetary and social value as well as financial value (Bocken et al., 2014). Business model innova- tion is thus a critical activity that supports sustain- able development going forward. Business model redesign is particularly important when it comes to making fundamental changes to business models to achieve sustainable outcomes (Guldmann, Bocken and Brezet, 2019). Visualisation can be used to systematise the design process by providing a shared picture for the design- ers to work on together (Spence, 2014). In addition, visual thinking has the power to engage an audience through holistic and immediate impressions of key information (Meyer et al., 2013). This makes visu- alisations particularly useful in collaborative set- tings where they illustrate and facilitate a shared mailto:emelie.havemo@liu.se https://doi.org/10.54337/jbm.v11i1.7179 Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 5959 understanding among participants (Sibbet, 2008). Accordingly, prior studies have recognised the im- mense potential of visualisation for business model innovation activities (Täuscher and Abdelkafi, 2017; Havemo, 2018; Massa and Hacklin, 2021). For exam- ple, visual tools can be used to clarify design goals and guide dialogues among key stakeholders in each stage of the business model innovation process (Guldmann, Bocken and Brezet, 2019). Incumbent firms in particular may benefit from visual enhance- ments as they face the cognitive challenge of over- coming current business model logics and reducing path dependency during the design phase of busi- ness model innovation (Daood, Calluso and Giustini- ano, 2021; Massa and Hacklin, 2021). To accomplish this, it is important to identify and question the cur- rent cognitive model and identify relevant alterna- tives. However, at present, the visual perspective on busi- ness models is fragmented, as evidenced by the wide range of different approaches to business model visualisation currently used (Täuscher and Abdelkafi, 2017; Henike, Kamprath and Hölzle, 2020). There is thus an opportunity to contribute to the vis- ualisation perspective on business models. Another challenge associated with sustainable busi- ness model innovation is that many of the current design methodologies do not specifically include sustainability (Evans et al., 2017). Some recent stud- ies do include tools and frameworks for sustainable design (e.g., Guldmann, Bocken and Brezet, 2019; Vladimirova, 2019), but given the scarcity of such models there is still a gap when it comes to harness- ing the potential of visual principles to improve sus- tainable business model innovation. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to draw on visual theory to develop tools to improve the sustainable business model innovation process. This is achieved through a framework of sustain- able trajectories for business model innovation. A cognitive view on business models is adopted since this is often linked to the visual perspective (Massa and Hacklin, 2021). According to this view, business model innovation is the activity of (re)imagining the firm’s value creation logics by following visual design principles to update the cognitive map of the busi- ness model. The paper is organised as follows. First, the meth- odological approach is described, which involved using visual theory and linking it to the sustainable business model literature. Next, the key insights are introduced, focusing on how to use visual thinking to support sustainable business model innovation. Fi- nally, the concluding section describes the theoreti- cal contribution, namely the opening of the “black box” of sustainable value creation (Lüdeke-Freund et al., 2020) by visualising different business model value creation trajectories, and the practical contri- bution of guidelines for visual business model design and a multi-lens design approach to combine sus- tainable trajectories. Methodological Approach The paper adds to the typology of value creation log- ics in business model visualisations found in my pre- vious article (Havemo, 2018). In that paper, over 200 business model diagrams from firms’ annual reports and websites were analysed to identify patterns and styles of communication. I found that business mod- el illustrations could be sorted into four basic value creation logics based on how they visually depicted value, where each logic presented a different cog- nitive lens describing the business model. As a re- sult, a visualisation logic may guide interpretations and discussions of the business model according to the cognitive potentials and limitations of that particular visual illustration. For example, a visuali- sation showing activities and links (the transactive logic) will centre discussions around the network of exchanges and relationships between actors and activities, whereas a process illustration will em- phasise the inputs and outputs of a value creation process. Because mental and visual models guide how we think and interact with others (Tversky, 1997; Sib- bet, 2008), they can be used to support the business model design process. The methodological ap- proach in this paper was therefore to use the visual value creation logics described in Havemo (2018) as Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 6060 a starting point to develop four sustainable trajec- tories for business model innovation. The first step was to conduct a literature survey of sustainable business models to identify theoretical concepts and approaches linked to each visual logic. Next, empirical examples (for example, H&M’s circular business strategy) were used together with visual theory to populate each trajectory with content. For example, the visual grammar described by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) was used to determine the design affordances of different types of diagrams, such as classification and process diagrams. This grammar was combined with the work of Barbara Tversky (1997), which describes different visual modes such as “spatial metaphors” and the commu- nicative role of shapes and lines in diagrams, to de- velop the illustrations of the trajectories according to visual design recommendations. Finally, a second literature search was conducted to find case stud- ies in the literature that illustrate the thinking within each trajectory. Key Insights: Sustainable Business Model Trajectories To imagine what it takes to be more sustainable, the concept of pathways has been used to identify steps that support increased business model sustainabili- ty in prior research. For instance, Endregat and Pen- nink (2021) describe pathways for managing business model complexity and Bocken et al. (2014) outline eight archetypes of sustainable value creation and value capture (e.g., maximising resource efficiency and encourage sufficiency) that can lead to higher sustainability performance of the business model. Drawing on concepts like pathways and archetypes, this paper develops four trajectories for sustainable business model innovation based on visual thinking. The four logics of value creation (from Havemo, 2018) and the resulting sustainable trajectories are shown in Figure 1 in the top and bottom row, respectively. The illustrations of business models are examples of types based on the findings by Havemo (2018). The trajectories are also summarised in Table 1, which names advantages and disadvantages of each logic and lists examples of related cases. Classification trajectories Classification diagrams conceive of the business model as a set of components that are crucial for value creation. This logic is common among prac- titioners’ business model diagrams (Havemo, 2018) as it conveys key dimensions of value creation (for example, business units, products, or activities) in a clear manner. Using the classification visualisation as the basis of sustainable innovation invites ques- tions about the role of the existing components and whether any elements should be added or removed to increase sustainability. A theoretical proposi- tion in line with this idea is the sustainable canvas adapted from the original Business Model Canvas to include people and planet as part of the value prop- osition (Bocken, Schuit and Kraaijenhagen, 2018). The classification design is, however, limited to the static nature of these diagrams (Kress and van Leeu- wen, 2006), such that changes will focus mainly on the presence or absence of elements rather than the role of links, relationships, and transformations. An example of a classification-based approach is the business model innovation displayed by the owner of a sustainable pizzeria, as described by Franceschelli et al. (2018). The business model of “Pizza” was devel- oped by changing the components of the “tradition- al” pizzeria business model by including, for example, bike or e-scooter delivery (instead of car), the use of electric ovens, biodegradable cutlery (instead of plastic), and locally sourced and “zero kilometre” in- gredients to ensure a low environmental impact as well as high quality products (as opposed to a low- cost model). Each change from the traditional res- taurant model involved exchanging a component for a sustainable alternative. The innovation process thus included the activity of defining the character- istics of an original business model and making re- placements in line with sustainable goals. Transactive trajectories The transactive logic stipulates that value is cre- ated through interaction between, or within, firms (Havemo, 2018). This corresponds to a network per- spective on the business model, for example, the ac- tivity systems view that conceptualises the business model as the sum of activities carried out by the firm and its network (Zott and Amit, 2010; Massa and Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 6161 Hacklin, 2021). From a visual perspective, changing a transactive logic involves adding new nodes (e.g., actors) to a network, changing links between nodes, or reorganising nodes as insiders or outsiders. Re- latedly, the sustainability literature emphasises that the boundary of control needs to be expanded to support strong sustainability where firms take more responsibility (Antonini and Larrinaga, 2017); this could be visually illustrated by the extending or shrinking of the line marking the boundary of the business model network. Several studies stress the importance of collabora- tion for sustainability, which from the transactive Figure 1: Framework of sustainable business model trajectories Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 6262 perspective can be supported by changing how ac- tors are linked in the business model’s network. For example, Brennan and Tennant (2018) describe busi- ness model network innovation in a case study of a commodities supply chain in the UK. The initial con- figuration of the business model network was strict- ly market-based, where a brewery accessed their resources through a maltster and its supply chain, buying products through yearly spot contracts. The brewery then conducted a reconfiguration at the net- work level by changing the links between actors to include direct links with each tier of its supply chain, which influenced the actors’ sustainability responsi- bility through new pathways for learning and innova- tion. This illustrates the trajectory of changing links between existing actors to increase the influence re- garding sustainability concerns in the firm’s business model, a change which can be illustrated visually by adding new lines that link actors in the network. Circular trajectories The circular trajectory reflects the lifecycle thinking of circular business models, whereby value is created through a circular process with the aim of narrowing or closing resource loops (Bocken, Schuit and Kraai- jenhagen, 2018). For example, prior studies have used the cycle logic to illustrate causal loops between de- cisions and outcomes (Casadesus-Masanell and Ri- cart, 2010). Visually, changes can be illustrated based on the concept of directionality. According to Tversky (1997), directionality is the sense of transformation or change conveyed through the order of elements (left- to-right) and the use of arrows to indicate a direction of change. Thus, the circular diagram lends itself to visualising recycling or remanufacturing by adding new activities to the current loops or by adding new arrows to indicate the closing of loops. What this logic fails to illustrate clearly, however, is the role of spe- cific actors and the inputs and outputs that are inevi- tably part of a resource loop. This could be addressed by adding inputs and outputs to each step of the loop, although this runs the risk of increasing the visual complexity to the point that it lowers the usefulness of the illustration. An example of business model redesign guided by life-cycle thinking is the case of Norwegian of- fice chair manufacturer HÅG (Høgevold, 2011). HÅG’s sustainability journey began in the 1990s when they started to reframe the business model in terms of a lifecycle logic, which guided the firm’s design pro- cess. For instance, concepts like cradle-to-cradle were adopted when adding recycled materials to the production loop in order to reduce the product’s neg- ative environmental impacts over its entire lifespan. Process trajectories The process logic identifies the value chain as the focal point of value creation, which is tied to an un- derstanding of the firm as a rationally organised and bureaucratic entity (as opposed to the nature-ori- ented view of the circular logic). Treating the busi- ness model as a process visually emphasises the value proposition (input), value creation (process steps) and value delivery (output) as a set of sequen- tially organised elements. Process visualisation therefore supports design discussions focusing on inputs and outputs, i.e., the key material flows and outcomes of the business model, which are crucial topics from a resource efficiency perspective. The office chair case (see above) contains several examples of a process-oriented redesign of a manu- facturing business model. Since life-cycle analyses showed that it was largely the supply chain that contributed to the firm’s product’s environmental impact, the conceptualisation of the process was expanded to include inputs from the supply chain in order to show the total impact of the firm’s busi- ness model. This illustrates how process-oriented thinking invites questions regarding the flows of the supply chain as well as the roles of suppliers and customers in the business model process. Combining lenses Most firms use only one business model visualisation logic at a time (Havemo, 2018). However, it has been suggested that multiple design principles can be combined to achieve a fruitful design process (Täus- cher and Abdelkafi, 2017), especially when it comes to sustainable business models (Young and Gerard, 2021). For example, the office chair case (HÅG) shows that business model innovation can be guided by both circular and process thinking, which suggests synergistic outcomes from using these perspectives together. Accordingly, it would be possible to treat Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 6363 the visual trajectories as complementary ‘design lenses’ in order to cast light on different aspects dur- ing the business model innovation process. Such a multi-lens approach could cycle through each of the design lenses, either iteratively or sequentially. An example of a sequential design process is shown in Figure 2. A first step is to use the process lens to describe the intended outputs of the value creation process. Here, designers need to define the purpose of the business model that takes sustainable value into account, as discussed by, for example, Bocken et al. (2014). Second, the classification logic guides de- signers to think about which elements are needed to deliver more sustainable value. Inspired by the Pizzeria case, a favourable design outcome could involve identifying which existing practices to re- place in order to enable more sustainable value cre- ation across all the elements of the business model. Third, the cycle perspective invites consideration of whether there are any loops to close to reduce waste, which in turn feeds into transactive-orient- ed considerations about the key business model Table 1. Classification Transactive Circular Process Focal point Key value creation elements Actors and exchanges Sustainable loops Materials and resource efficiency Goal of the visual design process Identify elements to change, add, or remove to create more sustainable value. Consider key roles from a system perspective and redefine roles for value creation. Identify circularity inside and outside the firm boundary to increase sustainable value. Increase process efficiency and link process steps to a renewed notion of sustainable value. Advantages Simple to use when identifying key BM elements. Highlights actors’ co-creation and collaboration. Emphasises circular thinking and closing loops. Shows material flows (inputs and outputs). Disadvan- tages Static; does not illustrate the process of value creation. Hides the sustain- ability impact of each actor’s activi- ties. Ignores inputs and outputs. Ignores the role of network actors and circular loops. Illustrative case Pizzeria case (Franceschelli, Santoro and Candelo, 2018) Brewery case (Brennan and Tennant, 2018) Office chair case (HÅG) – lifecycle perspective (Høgevold, 2011) Office chair case (HÅG) – supply chain perspective (Høgevold, 2011) Table 1: Design trajectories for sustainable business models Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 6464 actors, what links between them are needed inside the activity system to enable the sustainable loops, and whether the firm boundary needs to shrink or expand to enable sustainable value creation. Taken together, these questions support the combination of multiple perspectives in the business model inno- vation process. Conclusions By conceptualising how sustainability can be inte- grated into the business model through four different sustainable trajectories that guide the innovation process, this paper contributes to the literature on sustainable business models and business model innovation. The paper also provides a novel visu- alisation to the growing list of sustainable business model visualisations, such as the Circular Business Experiment Cycle (Bocken, Schuit and Kraaijenha- gen, 2018) and the sustainable value proposition model (Vladimirova, 2019). A further contribution is the multi-lens perspective, that is, the combined use of multiple business model logics to support sustainable business model innovation. Since sus- tainability is a complex matter involving numerous business model changes, multi-lens methodologies are potentially important tools to manage complexi- ties and consider multiple, sometimes conflicting, perspectives in the design process. Moreover, the four trajectories illustrate that value creation can be understood in fundamentally differ- ent ways, as each logic frames value differently and emphasises different focal points, such as actors, loops, resources, and outputs. This in turn affords different interpretations of the key design goals in the sustainable business model innovation process. Thus, the paper responds to the concern that sus- tainable value creation is often treated as a “black box” in the literature (Lüdeke-Freund et al., 2020) by extending and nuancing sustainable value creation through visual drawings that illustrate different in- terpretations of value creation. The practical contribution of the paper is the “tool- box” of visual business model trajectories. Firms can use this toolbox to identify the current value crea- tion logic of their business model and then use the sustainable trajectory of this logic as a design lens to discuss avenues for innovation. A second option is to employ all the business model lenses interactively Figure 2: The sustainable trajectories used as business model (BM) design lenses Journal of Business Models (2023), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 58-67 6565 or sequentially during the innovation process to identify multiple opportunities for designing a sus- tainable business model. The practical toolbox can be used at any level of the organisation where the current and future state of the business model are discussed. For instance, Doganova and Eyquem-Renault (2009) describe business modelling involving visualisations as a way to represent a new venture’s future value creation potential to key investors. Although business mod- el design is often linked to the domain of decision makers – indeed, it has been suggested that it can be useful to start with a small team of key roles in the early stages of business model innovation and to gradually engage more stakeholders (Bocken, Schuit and Kraaijenhagen, 2018) – there is a potential to ex- tend the scope of business model design by using visualisations to support dialogue with a range of internal and external stakeholders during the design process. In terms of limitations, the sustainable trajectories are theoretically derived based on visual theory and the sustainable business model literature but not yet empirically verified. Although empirical examples were mapped according to the trajectories, it is con- ceivable that firms would not follow the trajectories as strictly as the current framework suggests. 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