In “Building Sustainable Business Models – A Blended Learning Exercise” students are placed in groups with a dedicated sustainable innovation and the task to create a viable business model. In order to build a sustainable business model, they need to think about strategies to increase the perceived value of the innovation, patterns to create and capture the sustainable value and explore attractive revenue models. The resources include worksheets and an online environment for instructors and students. All material can be downloaded online at https://goo.gl/sFBruw

The following is a brief overview of the exercise:

1. Present the goal of the blended exercise in front of the class. This includes a short introduction into business model innovation, value proposition design and the concept of patterns (ppt provided).
2. Put the class into groups of 3-4 students
3. Give each group an envelope which contains the assigned sustainable technology (ideally with a short explanation) and the worksheets to analyse the perceived value. Let groups work for 45 min with the worksheets analysing the value of the technology and exploring tactics to increase the value.
4. Invite students to go online to smartbusinessmodeler.com and let them build the sustainable business model using the sustainable patterns packs (Sustainable Business Models or Circular Economy Business Models). This takes students about 1.5 hrs and could also be an exercise to be done outside class.
5. At the end each group presents their sustainable business models including value proposition, revenue model and sustainable patterns in front of the class.

Instructors may also use an instructor account to see the progress and message feeds of all students to provide feedback. In the debrief, the instructor can allocate a fictional amount of USD 200k to to each group to invest into the best ideas. This adds a competitive edge to the exercise. 

Developers

René Bohnsack, Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics

Florian Lüdeke-Freund, ESCP Europe

Jonatan Pinkse, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester