The QV - Business Model Canvas

Sustainability from the Start:

Rethinking the Business Model Canvas

Interlocking sustainability with a company’s business objectives and a business strategy based on it is urgently necessary across all branches of the economy if we want to maintain our livelihoods in the long term. The world of politics has also realized this. So, for, example, it uses CSR reporting for large, capital market-oriented companies or the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority leaflet for dealing with sustainability risks to direct attention to a company’s social responsibilities and demand transparency. If a company also wants to be competitive in future, it must be aware of its effects on society and the environment. It must contribute to maintaining or improving livelihoods and reducing the burdens imposed by its business practices. But how do you motivate a rethink or even a new start, and work out an integrated strategy?

To do this, the “QuartaVista-Business Model Canvas” tool was developed in the QuartaVista innovation project. It provides the following:

• When taking stock before any change process, a much more detailed look is taken at the effects of a company or business model on nature and society, and is extended by three effective dimensions. There may be ecological opportunities and profits here today and in future, not just simply in the classical financial sector, but also in the ecological, social, and knowledge areas– successes shared by companies, the environment, and society. 

• The QuartaVista-BMC helps right from the start when first thinking about a new business model or when founding a new company, by taking the four existing financial, ecological, social and knowledge dimensions into account to avoid risks that cause a burden or damage to nature or society and which may rebound on the company. This opens the perspective that a company is inseparably linked with society and nature.

The forerunner of this schema is the well-known Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2011) that has nine fields arranged by material and monetary effects. Sustainability aspects such as risks and damage to the environment and society, which are now main centers of attention, can indeed be depicted as financial effects with the classical Business Model Canvas. However, this is no longer sufficient today.

The QuartaVista-BMC is a tabular schema with 18 fields that clearly categorize the most important aspects of a business model. As a poster in a workshop, it helps participants to form a comprehensive picture of their company or business model, and at the same time to think about the effects on the four dimensions– Finance, Ecology, Society, and Knowledge – in an integrated way. Information can be collected and documented, for example, by sticking labels with key words on the fields.

The fields of the four impact dimensions that are in color, are arranged around the central fields, and are related to all the internal fields as well as the dimension fields. Requirements placed on the business model, resulting for example, by the United Nations’ SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) or by planetary guidelines, can be depicted clearly here and be analyzed. All dimensions consider benefits and disadvantages, as well as costs and risks. 

The central point of the schema is the Responsibility field. In this way the view is directed from the start on ethical aspects of the economy, trade, and their consequences. This field appeals to social solidarity, the common good, and economical use of resources.

The central “Value Proposition” field, like Osterwalder’s “Value Proposal”, refers to statements about a company’s products and services, but emphasizes that advertising messages constitute an obligation to the customer with regard to their fulfillment. Whereas the term “Value Proposal” remains approximate, it requires liability. The inner stance behind a value proposition shifts the concept of responsibility from philosophy into practice, which also shows itself in the neighboring fields:

The “Sustainability at the End of the Produtct Lifetime” and “Sustainability during Product Usage“ fields focus on the long-term effects of the product after  it has left the producer. Is it really useful? Is it durable? Can it be repaired? Is it dangerous after use? This also borders the “Activities” field. This is the right place to focus on sustainability in production or in providing services.

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The QuartaVista-BMC with its four-dimensional structure is without precedent. Use of the extended Canvas shows how orientation towards sustainability in developing the business model can succeed through new socio-ecological approaches and be complemented by the Knowledge and Finance areas in the enhanced modules. This makes it the most useful tool in the creative and interdisciplinary process of business model development, both individually as well as in group work. 

References:

• Osterwalder, A. and Pigneur, Y. (2011), Business Model Generation: Ein Handbuch für Visionäre, Spielveränderer und Herausforderer, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt a.M. 
• U.N., SDGs (2015), “United Nations sustainable development goals”, UN. Org., available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/  (retrieved 30.11.2020).