IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v31y2022i2p603-618.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hybrid business models in the sharing economy: The role of business model design for managing the environmental paradox

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuelle Reuter

Abstract

With the primary emphasis on the tensions that platform organizations face between both for‐profit and environmental value‐creation goals, we know very little about the managerial drivers and mechanisms through which they realize multiple goals. Based on a qualitative, inductive case study of a UK‐based digital platform's business model, we uncover the role of business model design. We find that the emphasis managers put on either the redistribution or the accessibility design theme shapes the environmental and financial value‐creation, respectively and that a hybrid business model (i.e., realizing both for‐profit and for‐purpose value‐creation) hinges on their integration. Two managerial drivers—strategic synergies and dynamic coupling—enable platform organizations to increase integration. We contribute to the literatures on hybrid business models, paradox, and business models for sustainability, suggesting that digital platforms not only create, but can actively manage the environmental paradox by integrating multiple design themes within hybrid business models.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuelle Reuter, 2022. "Hybrid business models in the sharing economy: The role of business model design for managing the environmental paradox," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 603-618, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:31:y:2022:i:2:p:603-618
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2939
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2939
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.2939?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mair, Johanna & Reischauer, Georg, 2017. "Capturing the dynamics of the sharing economy: Institutional research on the plural forms and practices of sharing economy organizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 11-20.
    2. Martin, Chris J., 2016. "The sharing economy: A pathway to sustainability or a nightmarish form of neoliberal capitalism?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 149-159.
    3. Maria J. Pouri & Lorenz M. Hilty, 2018. "Conceptualizing the Digital Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Erik G. Hansen & Friedrich Grosse-Dunker & Ralf Reichwald, 2009. "Sustainability Innovation Cube — A Framework To Evaluate Sustainability-Oriented Innovations," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 683-713.
    5. Pazaitis, Alex & De Filippi, Primavera & Kostakis, Vasilis, 2017. "Blockchain and value systems in the sharing economy: The illustrative case of Backfeed," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 105-115.
    6. Fleura Bardhi & Giana M. Eckhardt, 2012. "Access-Based Consumption: The Case of Car Sharing," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(4), pages 881-898.
    7. Bohnsack, René & Pinkse, Jonatan & Kolk, Ans, 2014. "Business models for sustainable technologies: Exploring business model evolution in the case of electric vehicles," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 284-300.
    8. Martin, Elliot & Shaheen, Susan Alison & Lidicker, Jeffrey, 2010. "Carsharing’S Impact On Household Vehicle Holdings: Results From A North American Shared-Use Vehicle Survey," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt0850h6r5, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    9. Achim Schmitt & Sebastian Raisch, 2013. "Corporate Turnarounds: The Duality of Retrenchment and Recovery," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(7), pages 1216-1244, November.
    10. Christian Voegtlin & Andreas Georg Scherer, 2017. "Responsible Innovation and the Innovation of Responsibility: Governing Sustainable Development in a Globalized World," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 227-243, June.
    11. Stefan Schaltegger & Florian Lüdeke-Freund & Erik G. Hansen, 2012. "Business cases for sustainability: the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(2), pages 95-119.
    12. Martin, Elliot & Shaheen, Susan A & Lidicker, Jeffrey, 2010. "Carsharing's Impact on Household Vehicle Holdings: Resultsvfrom a North American Shared-Use Vehicle Survey," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt3bn9n6pq, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    13. Verzijlbergh, R.A. & De Vries, L.J. & Dijkema, G.P.J. & Herder, P.M., 2017. "Institutional challenges caused by the integration of renewable energy sources in the European electricity sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 660-667.
    14. Alex Pazaitis & Primavera De Filippi & Vasilis Kostakis, 2017. "Blockchain and Value Systems in the Sharing Economy: The Illustrative Case of Backfeed," The Other Canon Foundation and Tallinn University of Technology Working Papers in Technology Governance and Economic Dynamics 73, TUT Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance.
    15. Jonathan V. Hall & Alan B. Krueger, 2015. "An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber's Driver-Partners in the United States," Working Papers 587, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    16. Fiona Wilson & James Post, 2013. "Business models for people, planet (& profits): exploring the phenomena of social business, a market-based approach to social value creation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 715-737, April.
    17. B. Demil & X. Lecocq, 2010. "Business model evolution : in search of dynamic consistency," Post-Print hal-00572915, HAL.
    18. Alex Pazaitis & Primavera de Filippi & Vasilis Kostakis, 2017. "Blockchain and value systems in the sharing economy: The illustrative case of Backfeed," Post-Print hal-01676881, HAL.
    19. Murillo, David & Buckland, Heloise & Val, Esther, 2017. "When the sharing economy becomes neoliberalism on steroids: Unravelling the controversies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 66-76.
    20. Acquier, Aurélien & Daudigeos, Thibault & Pinkse, Jonatan, 2017. "Promises and paradoxes of the sharing economy: An organizing framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 1-10.
    21. Belk, Russell, 2014. "You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1595-1600.
    22. Valerie M. Thomas, 2003. "Demand and Dematerialization Impacts of Second‐Hand Markets," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 7(2), pages 65-78, April.
    23. Muñoz, Pablo & Cohen, Boyd, 2017. "Mapping out the sharing economy: A configurational approach to sharing business modeling," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 21-37.
    24. Rogers, Jennifer C. & Simmons, Eunice A. & Convery, Ian & Weatherall, Andrew, 2012. "Social impacts of community renewable energy projects: findings from a woodfuel case study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 239-247.
    25. Tobias Hahn & Frank Figge & Jonatan Pinkse & Lutz Preuss, 2018. "A Paradox Perspective on Corporate Sustainability: Descriptive, Instrumental, and Normative Aspects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 235-248, March.
    26. Hans Verboven & Lise Vanherck, 2016. "The sustainability paradox of the sharing economy," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 303-314, December.
    27. Kolk, Ans & Lenfant, François, 2016. "Hybrid business models for peace and reconciliation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(5), pages 503-524.
    28. Helms, Thorsten & Loock, Moritz & Bohnsack, René, 2016. "Timing-based business models for flexibility creation in the electric power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 348-358.
    29. Moshe Farjoun, 2008. "Strategy making, novelty and analogical reasoning — commentary on Gavetti, Levinthal, and Rivkin (2005)," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(9), pages 1001-1016, September.
    30. Martin, Elliot W & Shaheen, Susan A, 2011. "Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Carsharing in North America," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt6wr90040, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    31. Tobias Hahn & Frank Figge & Jonatan Pinkse & Lutz Preuss, 2010. "Trade‐offs in corporate sustainability: you can't have your cake and eat it," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 217-229, May.
    32. Smith, Wendy K. & Gonin, Michael & Besharov, Marya L., 2013. "Managing Social-Business Tensions: A Review and Research Agenda for Social Enterprise," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 407-442, July.
    33. Christoph Zott & Raphael Amit, 2007. "Business Model Design and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 181-199, April.
    34. Christian Voegtlin & Scherer Andreas Georg, 2017. "Responsible Innovation and the Innovation of Responsibility: Governing Sustainable Development in a Globalized World," Post-Print hal-01540972, HAL.
    35. Alex Stephany, 2015. "The Business of Sharing," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-37618-3, December.
    36. Paul Tracey & Nelson Phillips & Owen Jarvis, 2011. "Bridging Institutional Entrepreneurship and the Creation of New Organizational Forms: A Multilevel Model," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 60-80, February.
    37. Phipps, Marcus & Ozanne, Lucie K. & Luchs, Michael G. & Subrahmanyan, Saroja & Kapitan, Sommer & Catlin, Jesse R. & Gau, Roland & Naylor, Rebecca Walker & Rose, Randall L. & Simpson, Bonnie & Weaver, , 2013. "Understanding the inherent complexity of sustainable consumption: A social cognitive framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1227-1234.
    38. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Silvia Giannangeli & Cristina Rossi, 2006. "Entry Strategies Under Competing Standards: Hybrid Business Models in the Open Source Software Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(7), pages 1085-1098, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sk Abu Khalek & Anirban Chakraborty, 2023. "‘Do I share because I care?’: Investigating the factors influencing consumer's adoption of shared consumption," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5669-5685, December.
    2. Kubli, Merla & Puranik, Sanket, 2023. "A typology of business models for energy communities: Current and emerging design options," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    3. Liao, Zhongju & Chen, Jie & Chen, Xueli & Song, Malin, 2024. "Digital platform capability, environmental innovation quality, and firms’ competitive advantage: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    4. Mohamed Amr Sultan & Tomaž Kramberger & Mahmoud Barakat & Ahmed Hussein Ali, 2023. "Barriers to Applying Last-Mile Logistics in the Egyptian Market: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-25, August.
    5. Cecilia Ficco & Paola Bersía & Cecilia Bressan & Edila Eudemia Herrera-Rodríguez, 2023. "Contribution of Argentinian B Corporations to Sustainable Development Goals: Empirical Analysis Based on Their Practices and Solutions to Socioenvironmental Problems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Sebastian Schroedel, 2023. "The Sustainable Business Model Database: 92 Patterns That Enable Sustainability in Business Model Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-27, May.
    7. Assunta Di Vaio & Anum Zaffar & Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente & Antonio Garofalo, 2023. "Decarbonization technology responsibility to gender equality in the shipping industry: a systematic literature review and new avenues ahead," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Ralf Wagner & Agnieszka Kabalska, 2023. "Sustainable value in the fashion industry: A case study of value construction/destruction using digital twins," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1652-1667, June.
    9. Wang, Nan & Wan, Jiahao & Ma, Zhenzhong & Zhou, Yan & Chen, Jin, 2023. "How digital platform capabilities improve sustainable innovation performance of firms: The mediating role of open innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    10. Tatiana Mijailovic & Lionel Garreau & Amélie Gabriagues, 2023. "Dépasser les tensions au sein des business models hybrides. Application de la perspective systémique au cas Café Joyeux," Post-Print hal-04403925, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Acquier, Aurélien & Daudigeos, Thibault & Pinkse, Jonatan, 2017. "Promises and paradoxes of the sharing economy: An organizing framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 1-10.
    2. Meisam Ranjbari & Gustavo Morales-Alonso & Ruth Carrasco-Gallego, 2018. "Conceptualizing the Sharing Economy through Presenting a Comprehensive Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-24, July.
    3. Rojanakit, Patcharapar & Torres de Oliveira, Rui & Dulleck, Uwe, 2022. "The sharing economy: A critical review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1317-1334.
    4. Akbari, Morteza & Foroudi, Pantea & Khodayari, Maryam & Zaman Fashami, Rahime & Shahabaldini parizi, Zahra & Shahriari, Elmira, 2022. "Sharing Your Assets: A Holistic Review of Sharing Economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 604-625.
    5. Valeria Andreoni, 2020. "The Trap of Success: A Paradox of Scale for Sharing Economy and Degrowth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Yuan, Ruizhi & Luo, Jun & Liu, Martin J. & Yu, Jiang, 2022. "Understanding organizational resilience in a platform-based sharing business: The role of absorptive capacity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 85-99.
    7. Florian Hawlitschek & Nicole Stofberg & Timm Teubner & Patrick Tu & Christof Weinhardt, 2018. "How Corporate Sharewashing Practices Undermine Consumer Trust," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, July.
    8. Bauwens, Thomas & Hekkert, Marko & Kirchherr, Julian, 2020. "Circular futures: What Will They Look Like?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    9. Michael Etter & Christian Fieseler & Glen Whelan, 2019. "Sharing Economy, Sharing Responsibility? Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital Age," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 935-942, November.
    10. João Miguel Cotrim & Francisco Nunes & Rafael Laurenti, 2020. "Making Sense of the Sharing Economy: A Category Formation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-23, December.
    11. Steven Kane Curtis & Matthias Lehner, 2019. "Defining the Sharing Economy for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-25, January.
    12. Florin PUCHEANU & Alexandru-Mihai BUGHEANU & Ruxandra DINULESCU, 2020. "Business Model Innovation In The Digital Economy: Blockchain Based Collaborative Models," Business Excellence and Management, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 10(4), pages 68-81, December.
    13. Davlembayeva, Dinara & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2020. "Sharing economy: Studying the social and psychological factors and the outcomes of social exchange," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Manuel Sánchez-Pérez & Nuria Rueda-López & María Belén Marín-Carrillo & Eduardo Terán-Yépez, 2021. "Theoretical dilemmas, conceptual review and perspectives disclosure of the sharing economy: a qualitative analysis," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(7), pages 1849-1883, October.
    15. Fernandes, Bruno & Chimenti, Paula & Nogueira, Roberto, 2020. "A taxonomy of initiatives at work in the sharing economy," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 81-86.
    16. Schneckenberg, Dirk & Roth, Steffen & Velamuri, Vivek K., 2023. "Deparadoxification and value focus in sharing ventures: Concealing paradoxes in strategic decision-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    17. Maria J. Pouri & Lorenz M. Hilty, 2018. "Conceptualizing the Digital Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, November.
    18. Tünde Zita Kovács & Forest David & Adrián Nagy & István Szűcs & András Nábrádi, 2021. "An Analysis of the Demand-Side, Platform-Based Collaborative Economy: Creation of a Clear Classification Taxonomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, March.
    19. Adrien Labaeye, 2019. "Sharing Cities and Commoning: An Alternative Narrative for Just and Sustainable Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-23, August.
    20. Gugerell, Katharina & Penker, Marianne & Kieninger, Pia, 2019. "What are participants of cow sharing arrangements actually sharing? A property rights analysis on cow sharing arrangements in the European Alps," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:31:y:2022:i:2:p:603-618. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.