Business model innovation for sustainability: The role of stakeholder interaction and managerial cognitive change

Business model innovations emerge over time and are influenced by managerial interaction with stakeholders. Especially with regard to business model innovation for sustainability, manager–stakeholder interaction can radically change a company’s business model and underlying logic. However, the majority of the literature shows how manager–stakeholder interaction may limit business model innovation when stakeholders reinforce existing managerial cognitions. In this chapter we study how stakeholders can also stimulate business model innovation by affecting managerial cognitive change. Through three case studies, we find that this can occur through three shaping processes: market approach shaping, product/service offering shaping, and credibility shaping. We also find that the impact of new or latent stakeholders is greater than that of existing stakeholders. We end the chapter by sketching a research agenda to further unravel the role of stakeholders affecting managerial cognition around business model innovation for sustainability.