Journal of Business Models call for papers

Sustainable Value Creation Through Business Models

Guest Editors

Florian Lüdeke-Freund, University of Hamburg
Romana Rauter, University of Graz
Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen, Copenhagen Business School
Christian Nielsen, Aalborg University

Contact: fluedeke-freund@escpeurope.eu

Background

Value creation is a core issue in business model research. Although business model scholars sometimes refer to value creation with and for stakeholders, this notion is mostly limited to value propositions for customers and contributions from and to business partners such as suppliers or investors. Such limited notions of value, value creation and the dispersion of value among stakeholders in turn lead to correspondingly limited perspectives on business models and business model innovation, which are insufficient to deal with important and pressing issues of, for example, ecological and social value creation.

This call for papers shall therefore motivate authors from various disciplines, first, to take a closer look at theories, concepts, and cases that apply more comprehensive and stakeholder-sensitive notions of value and value creation, second, to consider diverse forms of value (e.g., economic, ecological, social, cultural, relational, psychological etc.) and their underlying values, and third, to explicitly connect such comprehensive notions of value and value creation to business models and business model innovation.

Scope and topics

Contributions to this special issue can address but are not limited to the following indicative questions and topics:

1. What is value and how is it created? Which forms of value and value creation processes are missing from current business model research? Which value theories, from fields as diverse as economics, psychology, business ethics, philosophy or design, can help to broaden the current scope of business model research towards sustainable value creation?
2. Which instruments can be used to help organizations develop and implement new value creation processes in practice? How can these instruments and processes be tested and evaluated? Besides these practical questions, new research instruments and strategies that are rather under-represented in business model research, such as lab experiments or large sample studies, are also of interest.
3. How can value be created in relationships, multiorganizational and network settings? How can members of such settings define and negotiate their individual and joint interests, value definitions, and resulting synergies but also conflicts? What does true sharing of value mean in such settings, beyond rather narrow and instrumental definitions of value and value creation?

Where suitable, case studies may be used to look into the above proposed research questions and topics. Single cases as well as larger samples of comparative cases are welcome, as are longitudinal studies of organizations and the evolution and transformation of their approaches to value creation. Since this special issue addresses several gaps in current business model research, systematic practice and literature reviews may also be suitable formats.

Schedule

• Full paper submission: 15 January 2018
• Initial review: 15 April 2018
• Revised papers: 15 July 2018
• Second review: 15 October 2018
• Revised papers: 15 January 2019
• Final review by JoBM: 15 February 2019
• Publication of Special Issue: Summer 2019

Download the detailed call for papers.