The role of networks in business model innovation: three shaping processes supporting cognitive shifts

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.