Open Access

In recent years, companies have become increasingly aware of the importance of social responsibility and sustainability in their operations. Social enterprises have emerged as a concept that aims to blend social objectives with profit-making characteristics. For social enterprises to succeed, a well-designed marketing strategy is essential. Ideally, this strategy should clearly communicate unique purposes and future visions, while justifying any high prices associated with their commitment. Patagonia is an example of a social enterprise that implements a purpose-driven marketing strategy.

In the context of the digital transformation of the 21st century, this paper explores the evolution from traditional, hierarchically organized value chains to dynamic, networked multi-actor constellations. The focus is on identifying and analyzing suitable governance mechanisms that are crucial for the success of both individual partners and the value creation system as a whole. Through a combination of comprehensive literature research and qualitative interviews with various leading experts from business, science, and politics the relationships between value creation, networking, and governance were analyzed as part of this study. This emphasizes the importance of transparency, motivation, and trust in these networked systems and discusses the use of technology to ensure effective governance. Technologies can be used to create data security through the traceability and immutability of data. The literature shows that there are no universal solutions, but that individual, situation-specific approaches are required that combine legal expertise and the use of technology. The results of the study indicate that customers are increasingly becoming integral parts of networked value creation systems, with data protection, laws and guidelines, exit plans, exploitation rights, and the challenges of international contract negotiations playing key roles. The work provides important insights into the need for continuous adaptability to constantly changing framework conditions.

The circular economy is one of the emerging trends in value creation systems, which emphasises the efficient use of resources, minimising waste and the loss of value added as well as replacing the concept of “end of life” for products and services in value creation systems. Since many of products and complementary services available on the market are not designed for circularity, it is challenging to convert the linear product life to a circular life cycle. However, conceptualise value creation systems that are suitable for a circular economy is a challenge, as a large number of influence factors are interrelated. Thereby not all influence factors reinforce each other, but can also have no or even a negative influence. Thus, in order to make the mutual influence transparent and create a holistic understanding of how the circularity can be implemented in value creation systems, this paper proposes an interdependency matrix which is enhancing the decision-making in the conception of circular value creation systems. The research design follows the mixed method approach. First, a literature review is carried out to review the state of the art. The research is extended by structuring relevant influence factors in the design of circular value creation. The findings from the literature research are supplemented by expert knowledge from industry and research. Finally, the findings are then incorporated into the development of the interdependency matrix. The assessment of the correlations between the individual influence factors is based on unique morphologies. A case study serves as a reference and framework for the application of the developed interdependency matrix. In order to validate and further develop the interdependency matrix, a verification process is carried out by creating application examples for the developed case study. The application examples serve as practical instances to test the applicability and resilience of the interdependency matrix. The proposed interdependency matrix shows which influence factors have correlations to each other – a distinction is made between whether the influence has a positive or negative effect. It also shows which influence factors are to be considered independently and for which influence factors a statement about their correlation is only possible depending on the specific situation in the value creation system. The core of this study is the determination and evaluation of the correlations, which the influence factors of a circular value creation system exhibit. The developed interdependency matrix aims to ensure that decision-makers in value creation systems are increasingly able to make decisions that promote a circular value creation in future. However, therefore it is insufficient to consider only individual influence factors or measures without their correlations. The approach serves to take a holistic view of a circular value creation system and is intended to help accelerate the transformation towards a circular economy.

In early 2013, Mitfahrgelegenheit, the market leader in the German ridesharing sector, introduced transaction fees for booking rides. As a consequence, users flocked to competitors and Mitfahrgelegenheit began to struggle. In 2015, Mitfahrgelegenheit was acquired by the new market leader BlaBlaCar. In 2016, despite the cautionary tale of Mitfahrgelegenheit, BlaBlaCar began efforts to monetize its services by introducing an obligatory booking system and charging transaction fees. This paper presents a comparative case study of these platforms. It investigates how BlaBlaCar has developed a mobile business that allows monetization of peer-to-peer ridesharing and how this approach compares to the historical precedent. Against this background and the extant theory regarding multi-sided platforms, network effects, pricing, and incrementalism, a novel monetization strategy is identified. The piecemeal monetization strategy can increase the likelihood of sustainable monetization by impeding user defection after the introduction of transaction fees.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on organizations, economies, and the workplace. The pandemic forced employees to work remotely, and by 2020, around 17.4% of the global workforce was working from home (ILO, 2022). As we move forward, 57% of remote workers are considering a hybrid work model. This is indicating a trend towards hybrid arrangements, as it provides employees with the flexibility to carry out their job responsibilities in diverse settings and offers more flexibility and improved quality of life (Iqbal et al., 2021). As technology continues to evolve and workforces continuously become more hybrid, a new approach has emerged: hybrid transformational leadership.