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Co-creation and Design Thinking to Envision More Sustainable Business Models: A Foresight Design Approach for Organizational Sustainability of SME Manufacturers

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Managing Complexity

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

Abstract

Many businesses such as manufacturers base their business model on selling more products. We begin our research with the question: How can we help organizations imagine their business model to be more sustainable? For this action research, we prepared a workshop for 13 manufacturing organizations and undertook a co-creation design process that resulted in more sustainable business model concepts in the sense of economic, environmental and social benefits. We followed up with five participating manufacturers by using design thinking and ended up with our own concepts of more sustainable business models. We report on four advantages of following a dual design process of co-creation and design thinking when generating a vision for more sustainable organizations. In the end, we strike a balance between the engagement of co-creation that leads to pertinence and the guiding ideals that drive the design thinking process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Alexandre Joyce

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  1. Alexandre Joyce
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Correspondence to Alexandre Joyce .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management & Technology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jocelyn Bellemare

  2. Department of Management & Technology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Serge Carrier

  3. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Kjeld Nielsen

  4. Technology and Innovation Management, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Frank T. Piller

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Joyce, A. (2017). Co-creation and Design Thinking to Envision More Sustainable Business Models: A Foresight Design Approach for Organizational Sustainability of SME Manufacturers. In: Bellemare, J., Carrier, S., Nielsen, K., Piller, F.T. (eds) Managing Complexity. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29058-4_14

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