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The scaling of game-changer business models to address societal grand challenges
Summary
This viewpoint paper analyzed 17 organizations identified as game-changers for societal challenges including plastic pollution, identifying six recurring patterns including place-based solutions with global relevance, advanced technology leverage, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and multiple funding sources. The authors extended game-changer theory by showing how these patterns overlap with and differ from sustainable business models, blue ocean strategies, and disruptive innovators while addressing challenges such as food security, plastic pollution, and climate change.
Purpose This viewpoint paper aims to identify and illustrate the underlying logics of game-changer business models and situate them within the broader academic discourse on sustainable business model innovation and international business. This paper also examines the factors that influence the potential and actual scaling of these models. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines 17 cases identified as game-changers from the existing literature, the World Investment Forum’s Game Changers Summit and by scanning the outcomes of high-profile business competitions. These organizations aim to develop innovative solutions to address issues such as food security, climate change, plastic pollution, waste management, water security, sanitation, economic growth and the energy crisis. Findings The authors identify six recurring patterns or “logics” that characterize these game-changers: place-based solutions scalable through global relevance; leveraging the opportunities provided by advanced technologies; a “land-to-lab” approach for innovation; multi-stakeholder collaboration; the ability to tap into multiple funding sources; and a blend of vision, science and management capabilities. Originality/value The authors highlight how the meaning attached to particular terms, such as game-changers, can evolve over time. The findings and the subsequent theorizing outline how the concept of game-changers overlaps and differs from other concepts such as sustainable business models, blue ocean and disruptive innovators. By deriving observable logics from these cases, the authors provide a frame of reference to facilitate the comparison of findings across time and space regardless of how these business models are labeled.