Business Model Innovations for Low or Zero Carbon Building: An Analysis of Empirical Research from 1996 to 2015

Abstract

The low or zero carbon building (LZCB) approach has been promoted in many countries, however, the claimed environmental, social and economic benefits from utilizing this approach are often impaired or unrealized. Traditional organizational business models face challenges in the delivery of LZCBs, and require re-thinking in order to create and sustain competitiveness and economic value. However, there is a deficiency of previous research into the commercial viability of LZCB from the perspective of business model. The aim of this paper is thus to develop a conceptual model of business model innovation for LZCB, and to identify archetypes of business model innovations for LZCB and their general development trend over the study period. The research was carried out through a meta-analysis of the literature of business model and LZCB. Evidence was collected and examined from 98 empirical studies of business strategies and processes for LZCB and industrial or corporate reports on LZCB published during the period 1996-2015. Through analysing the collected qualitative data using Nvivo 10 and HistCiteTM, the paper develops a conceptual framework of business model innovation for LZCB, which compasses three core components: value proposition, value delivery and creation, and value capture. Business model innovations are explored from these three core components respectively to describe common patterns and mechanisms of business model innovations for LZCB. The evolution of business model is tracked based on the qualitative analysis of LZCB projects of industry players over a twenty-year period (1996-2015). The results show that organizations generally adopt three interrelated innovative approaches to promoting LZCB, namely, reconfiguration of value proposition for customers, reconstruction of delivery mode and stakeholder network, and innovation of revenue generation logic. The archetypes of business model innovation and business model evolution path support the successful delivery of LZCBs. The findings contribute to a systematic understanding of the relationships between business model and LZCB.