New business models

New Business Models

Sustainability is maturing. People in society are mobilising. They feel that things can and indeed should be done differently. This is how initiatives emerge around themes that matter, such as food, energy, and care. We call this the emergence of the WEconomy. There are a growing number of initiatives, yet many do not come to full fruition. This is a pity, as this way society loses the valuable energy of people who help shape a transition to a different economy, a different society.

Shaping the future together from the bottom up 'as we go along' represents an immense challenge. Sustainability does not grow on trees or bushes, but needs to be organised by people, with each other and with competence. This is difficult. Organising the WEconomy requires new ways of interacting with one another, new transaction models, and new business models.

Over the past three years, research into New Business Models (NBMs) has been conducted by Jan Jonker (professor of Sustainable Entrepreneurship at Radboud University Nijmegen) with various groups of people. The core of a NBM is to organise value together and share the profits. NBMs offer a way of organising where it is not just about money, but about other values as well, facilitating mutual value sharing.

The WEconomy, this is us!

With over thirty co-authors, these insights have been elaborated in this beautifully designed reading and do-it-yourself-book. The result offers a guide for arriving at a fully-fledged alternative to conventional business models. Anyone can go about setting up or refining a NBM themselves, so that sustainable initiatives actually get off the ground successfully. The book offers background information, a range of examples, tips and checklists.