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Business Model Experimentation for Sustainability

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Sustainable Design and Manufacturing 2016 (SDM 2016)

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 52))

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Abstract

Business experimentation is a key avenue for accelerating change for sustainability. In contrast to experimentation in natural sciences, benefitting from controlled situations, business experimentation aims to explore the diverse possibilities that a business could create value from, or understand what works in which particular situations in a real life business context. While at present most popular with start-ups, this paper argues that large businesses can also find inspiration in business experimentation to develop sustainable business models and accelerate positive change for sustainability. Five illustrative cases are included of business experimentation for sustainability by focusing on pivots (modifications) in the business model. This paper only scratches the surface of the potential impactful new research field of business (model) experimentation for sustainability. Future work on sustainable business experimentation for start-ups and mature businesses is viewed as a powerful future research avenue to accelerate change in industries.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Landbergstraat 15, Delft, 2628, CE, The Netherlands

    Nancy M. P. Bocken

  2. Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0FS, UK

    Nancy M. P. Bocken

  3. Centre for Environmental Policy, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, London, SW7 1NA, UK

    Ilka Weissbrod & Mike Tennant

Authors
  1. Nancy M. P. Bocken
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  2. Ilka Weissbrod
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  3. Mike Tennant
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nancy M. P. Bocken .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom

    Rossi Setchi

  2. Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Dorset, United Kingdom

    Robert J. Howlett

  3. School of Engg, Rm S1.04, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom

    Ying Liu

  4. Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

    Peter Theobald

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Bocken, N.M.P., Weissbrod, I., Tennant, M. (2016). Business Model Experimentation for Sustainability. In: Setchi, R., Howlett, R., Liu, Y., Theobald, P. (eds) Sustainable Design and Manufacturing 2016. SDM 2016. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 52. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32098-4_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32098-4_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32096-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32098-4

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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