mes thesis - ontology & canvas for strongly sustainable business models - oral defense

28
1 ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward , 2013 Towards an Ontology and Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models A Systemic Design Science Exploration MES* Thesis Defense August 6, 2013 Antony Upward , CMC, C.Eng * York University Masters of Environmental Studies with Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment Faculty of Environmental Studies and Schulich School of Business Full resume at www.linkedin.com/in/antonyupward Certified Management Consultant www.cmc-canada.ca , Chartered Information Systems Engineer www.engc.org.uk This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License . Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.theUpwards.net/Permissions Download to Access Speakers Notes on Many Slides

Upload: antony-upward

Post on 30-Aug-2014

979 views

Category:

Business


0 download

DESCRIPTION

The presentation made at the successful defense of my graduate thesis "Towards an Ontology and Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models: A Systemic Design Science Exploration. For a brief intro see http://easyurl.net/About_SSBMC_in_3_mins_Prezi; for more see http://www.SSBMG.com. Full text will be available at http://hdl.handle.net/10315/20777 after ~Aug 30, 2013. Part of my Masters of Environmental Studies in Business Model Design and Sustainability + Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment at York University's Faculty of Environmental Studies and Schulich School of Business.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

1ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Towards an Ontology and Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models

A Systemic Design Science Exploration

MES* Thesis Defense

August 6, 2013Antony Upward†, CMC, C.Eng‡

* York University Masters of Environmental Studies with Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment Faculty of Environmental Studies and Schulich School of Business

† Full resume at www.linkedin.com/in/antonyupward‡ Certified Management Consultant www.cmc-canada.ca, Chartered Information Systems Engineer www.engc.org.uk

This

wor

k is

lice

nsed

und

er a

Cre

ativ

e C

omm

ons

Attr

ibut

ion-

Non

Com

mer

cial

-Sha

reA

like

3.0

Unp

orte

d Li

cens

e. P

erm

issi

ons

beyo

nd th

e sc

ope

of th

is li

cens

e m

ay b

e av

aila

ble

at

http

://w

ww

.theU

pwar

ds.n

et/P

erm

issi

ons

Download to Access Speakers Notes on

Many Slides

Page 2: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

2ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Gap and Impact• Gap:

– No micro- economic, social and environmental definition of strong sustainability

– No conceptualization of such a definition within existing business model literature

– No taxonomy for patterns of strongly sustainable business model designs (nor visual design tool)

• Impact of Gap:– Desirable achievement of sustainability outcomes by

organizations unlikely (unreliable) and difficult (inefficient) (Doig, 2003; Ehrenfeld, 2008;McDonough & Braungart, 2002)

• Benefit Audiences if Gap Closed– New and Existing Firms, Policy Makers, Advisors, Investors,

Incubators

Page 3: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

3ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Methodological Challenge / Resolution

How can knowledge of strong sustainability, useful to managers, be created?*

– Challenge: Lack of extant strongly sustainable businesses to theorize from using descriptive science methods

– Resolution: use design science to undertake applied exploratory research:

• Systems Thinking• Focus on net-profit making organizations

Design science creates knowledge based on the experience gained from the rigorous construction and evaluation of artefacts useful to managers

solving problems using the best available knowledge.

* Knowledge of what constitutes a strongly sustainable business is urgently needed to avoid the worst effects of Climate change and other elements of the Global Problématique (Ozbekhan, 1970)

Page 4: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

4ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Research Question

RQ: Is it possible to design an ontology that can be usefully employed to describe a firm’s strongly sustainable business model design?

* Ontology is the artefact being built and evaluated by the systemic design science epistemological approach

Page 5: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

5ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Research Activities and OutputsDesign Science Research Activity Streams

OutputElements

P. D. E.

PrepareBuild

(Develop / Design)Evaluate (Validate)

i. Constructs

Understand the literature:

– Business Models (Profit-First & Strong Sustainability)

– Epistemology

Entities Complete? Consistent?

ii. Models Entity Relationship Model

Comprehendible?Real-world Likeness to Artefact?

iii. Instantiations Case Studies Useful?(Effective, Efficient)

iv. Method Systemic Design Science

Rigorous enough to design useful artefact?D

esig

n Sc

ienc

e R

esea

rch

Out

put

Synthesized from Table 3-13 and 6-25: Table Structure derived from March & Smith, 1995, p.255; with additions from Vaishnavi & Kuechler, 2009, p.6

Page 6: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

6ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Designed Artefacts Overview Wall charts of four of the Thesis Supplementary Materials displayed:

– SM4b: Strongly Sustainable Business Model Ontology

(Chapter 7)

– SM6a: Example instantiation of the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Ontology (Timberland, Chapter 8)

– SM5c & SM7: Example summary instantiation of Timberland using Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas (Chapter 8 and 7 respectively)

Page 7: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

7ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Summary of Evaluation Results – Confirming Utility“I really liked is that it

really makes you makes you thinkthink about things

that you would neverconsider before”

Management Consultant “You've ratcheted it upYou've ratcheted it up to the next degree of specificity and

made sure that it is truly about sustainable businesses. Whereas the current [tools] that I’ve seen,honestly could be applied to any

kind of business”Sustainable Business NGO

“The power of this thing is it’s really the first to take the first to take the social aspect and the the social aspect and the

biophysical into biophysical into considerationconsideration. And I

haven’t seen that that any other business model

that would take that into consideration”

Business Architect / Professor / Consultant

“This is an impressive body of work”

Management Consultant

“I like the tool and think it provides a great way to analyze a company”

Leader Eco-Industrial Park

“It’s about timeIt’s about time somebody did something like

this”Author / Consultant

“I recognize this firm.” “This gets the zeitgeist of This gets the zeitgeist of

who we arewho we are, which is great” (Reacting to his business

described using the Canvas)CTO Small Manufacturer

“If I was starting abrand new business, a

significant business today, I would use thisI would use this business model to help me define

and develop a pure detailed business plan”

Management Consultant

Page 8: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

8ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Make it “better, better, faster, faster,

strongerstronger” ?

Learning by Using / Testing Testing

it out some it out some moremore?

Summary of Evaluation Results – Opportunities for

Improvement

A better way to introduce and summarize the

canvas

A methodologymethodology for designing great

sustainable business models?

An “app” so I can do this on my tablet with my

clients?

A communitycommunity of people using and

improving it?

Ensuring the design principles align with the emerging “Gold

Standard” for Sustainable Business?

Training / Workshops for

Social / Environmental

Entrepreneurs ?

A Consulting Service that uses the Canvas

to Diagnose and Improve the

Sustainability of Business?

The design principlesdesign principles to help me come up with

great answers to the 14 questions?

How about some more examples and

case studiescase studies?

Page 9: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

9ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Contributions Summary1. RQ can be answered Yes

– The Strongly Sustainable Business Model Ontology and Canvas achieved a satisfactory level of utility with opportunities for improvement identified

2. Framing of the problem and solution– Weaknesses, world-view, inter-disciplinarity, definitions, proto-

theory/design principles

3. Improvements to (systemic) design science preparation, build and evaluation research design and execution

• Limitations– Time, business process detail, design mode use, longitudinal

use, design method

Page 10: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

10ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Further Work: Academic & Practitioner

• Opportunities to contribute to multiple fields via Multiple epistemic modes

• International practitioner / academic network is growing– Crowd-funded collaborative “Strongly Sustainable

Business Model Innovation” Toolkit planned• Book, app, education and consulting versions• Full alignment with emerging “Gold Standard” for Strongly

Sustainable Business

Join Us! http://signup.SSBMG.com

Page 11: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

11ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Discussion

Page 12: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

12ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Backup Slides

Page 13: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

13ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Comparing Descriptive and Design Science

Research Activity

Tendency Purpose Output Examples

Descriptive Science Inquiry

Describing and explaining the bio-physical and social

Theoretical Truth: the description / explanation / theory is true

Theory* & Evidence

Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Ecology, Sociology, Economics, Psychology

Design Science Inquiry

Building and evaluating something new

Applied Efficacy: the built artefact is useful

Artefacts* & Evidence

Engineering, Medicine, Architecture, Law, Management, Information Systems

* Note that Theories and Artefacts are both credentialed knowledge, but the process of credentialing is different.Table 3-3, Derived from Derived from: Lee, 2000, Slides 15-16 speakers notes; Romme, 2003b, Table 1 & 2)

Page 14: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

14ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

“Discovery”

“Justification”

…of Theories

“Build”

“Evaluate”

…Artefacts

Provides “truths” Guide generation,

construction and evaluation of

designs

Phenomena inContext

DescriptiveScience

Research

DesignScience

Research

Provides “value & utility” Phenomena

are created through the use of artefacts.

Informs creation of theories via observation

of phenomena

Tends to be disciplinaryi.e. Theoretical / Experimental

Tends to be Trans-, Inter- or Multi-disciplinaryi.e. Applied / Action Research

* Figure 3-5: Derived from text of March & Vogus, 2010

Design and Descriptive Science – A Causal Loop Diagram

Page 15: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

15ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

People• Executives, Managers,

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Business Architects, Consultants

Organizations• Strategy, operations and

innovation planning and decision making groups

Technology• Communication support• Generative (Abduction)

support• Evaluative (Decision

Making) support

Environment Research

D. Build• Strongly Sustainable

Business Model Ontology artefact:

i. Constructsii.Modeliii.Instantiationiv.Method

E. EvaluateE1: SelfE2: Third-PartyE3: Case StudyE4: Synthesis/Analysis

Philosophical• Critical pragmatism

Epistemological1. Design2. Information3. Systems

Key Disciplinary Frames• Natural & Social science• Ecological: sociology,

economics & management• Organization (Innovation,

Strategy, OM/IS)

Methods• Data collection, analysis

design and evaluation techniques

Tools / Techniques / Formalisms

• Literature Review• Entity Relationship

Modelling• Interviews

Knowledge Base

IterativeDesign

Process (D1-4)as

sess refine

Relevance Rigor

P1. Problem P2. Applicable Knowledge

C1. Application to solve problem

C2. Additions to knowledge base

Quality (reliability, consistency, effectiveness) and efficiency of creation of strongly sustainable business models

Consistent explicit process choosing relevant knowledge (A-Search, B-Reflect, C-Apply)

Research Process – Prepare (P), Build (D), Evaluate (E)

Figure 3-19, Derived from Hevner et al., 2004, Fig.2 p.80

Page 16: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

16ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Overall Process for the Design of the Business Model Ontology

Iterative Abduction*,Induction &Deduction

Analysis & Synthesis

* Informed guessing…Charles Sanders Pierce’s "abductive logic" (Martin, 2009).

1. Build“What should this strongly

sustainable business model ontology consist of?”

Iterative Feedback & Evaluation

Analysis & Synthesis

2. Evaluate“Is the strongly sustainable business model ontology

useful?”

Comparator Knowledge from Existent Businesses (Formal & Tacit) (“K1…6”)

Representation of Existent Businesses Business Models as Instantiations of Ontology

Natural and Social Science Theoretical Knowledge

Formal Science

Theoretical

Knowledge

3. Knowledge of Real

Businesses Business

Models Represented

Using Ontology

(2 Case Studies)

2. Knowledge from Real Businesses

(7 Expert Interviews)

1. Knowledge Embedded

in Sustainability

Measurement Tools

Strongly Sustainable

Business Model Ontology & Canvas

(Designed Artefacts)

“K0” “K0-PF” “K0-SS”

Key Theoretical Frames

• Formal ScienceInformation Systems (Computation), Systems, Chaos & Complexity

• Natural Science Physics, Chemistry, Biology& Ecology

• Social Science Ecological: Sociology, Economics & ManagementIncl. Reflexive Modernization, Strong vs. Weak Sustainability

• Organization & Management Innovation, Strategic, Ops & Mgt Info. Systems

Page 17: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

17ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Research Activities and OutputsDesign Science Research Activity Streams

OutputElements

P. D. E.

PrepareBuild

(Develop / Design)Evaluate (Validate)

i. Constructs Literature Review of Key Theoretical Frames – Summarized in Design Principles (ODPs, DDPs)

Entities Identified from Design Principles

Complete? Consistent?

ii. Models Entity Relationship Model developed from Design Principles & Entities

Comprehendible?Real-world Likeness to Artefact?

iii. Instantiations Case Studies Identified

Case Study Instantiations Developed

Useful?(Effective, Efficient)

iv. Method Literature Review of Design Science Literature – Summarized in Build Principles (BPs)

Research Design that Attempts to Minimize Bias by Maximizing Rigour

Rigorous enough to design useful artefact?

Des

ign

Scie

nce

Res

earc

h O

utpu

t

Synthesized from Table 3-13 and 6-25: Table Structure derived from March & Smith, 1995, p.255; with additions from Vaishnavi & Kuechler, 2009, p.6

Page 18: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

18ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Contributions by Output and ActivityDesign Science Research Activity Streams

OutputElements

P. D. E.

Prepare Build (Develop / Design)

Evaluate (Validate)

i. Constructs Rigorous understanding the Problem and related Definitions

Rigorous definition of constructs

Rigorous definition of metrics

ii. Models Rigorous identification of ontology design principles which relates the definitions

Rigorous coding and capture of all the construct inter-relationships

Rigorous relation of metrics to research question and objective

iii. Instantiations None None Novel instantiations of existing business

iv. Method Improvements in (systemic) design science, ontology engineering and soft systems preparation activity design

Improvements in (systemic) design science, ontology engineering and soft systems build activity design

Improvements in (systemic) design science, ontology engineering and soft systems evaluation activity design

v. Better Theory Proto-theory of the Conditions Required for the Emergence of Strongly Sustainable Organization

Proto-Principles for the Design of Strongly Sustainable Organizations

None

Des

ign

Scie

nce

Res

earc

h O

utpu

t

Table Structure derived from March & Smith, 1995, p.255; with additions from Vaishnavi & Kuechler, 2009, p.6

Page 19: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

19ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Contribution: Revised / Novel Definitions (1 / 2)

• A “profit-first” organization is one in which monetary profit is the sole legitimate objective; success is defined in terms of attempting to maximizing monetary profit at all times and over time. (Derived from Friedman, 1962)

• A “strongly sustainable” organization is one in which all of its behaviours and all the behaviours of all other relevant social, economic and biophysical actors, lead to the possibility that human and other life will flourish on the planet forever. (Derived from Ehrenfeld, 2008)

Page 20: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

20ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Contribution: Revised / Novel Definitions (2 / 2)

A description of how an organization defines and achieves success over time.

A Business ModelA Business Model: the logic for an organization’s existence: who it does it for, to and with; what it does now and the future; how, where and with what does it do it; and how it defines and measures its success.

“A Business Model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value [in monetary terms]”

Value isValue is the perception by a human or non-human actor of a need being met; measured inaesthetic, psychological, physiological, utilitarian and / or monetary terms.

From

To

Value is created when needs are met via satisfiers that align with the recipients world-view, and destroyed when they don’t

Necessary, but not Sufficient

p. 14 Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2009). In Clark T. J., Smith A. (Eds.), Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers

Page 21: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

21ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Comparing Profit-First & Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvases

V1.031

+

+

Δ

+

Δ

+

+

+

+

Δ Δ ++

Δ

Δ

Δ

Δ

Δ

Δ +

+ = New concept in SSBMC which doesn’t appear in BMCΔ = Change / extended concept in SSBMC which does appear in some form in BMC (as indicated by green arrow).

Page 22: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

22ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Evaluation Results Detail

Research ObjectiveAspect of

Utility Metrics

Summary Metric Values

ConfirmatoryOpportunity for

Improvement

RO0 Rigor Context

M1 Expectation High

GR1-11M2 Desirability High

M3 Importance High

RO1a Reliability

CompletenessM4a Completeness

(reliable) Satisfactory GU1-6

M5 Level of Detail Satisfactory – Highly Satisfactory GU8

QualityM6a Comprehensibility

(reliable) Satisfactory – Highly Satisfactory GU7, GU9, GU10

M7 Real-world Likeness Satisfactory – Highly Satisfactory None

RO1b Consistency Quality M8 Internally consistent Satisfactory None

RO1c EffectivenessGeneric M9 Useful to user Satisfactory – Highly Satisfactory GU9, GU11

Beauty M10 Elegance (technical, aesthetic) Satisfactory None

RO2 Efficiency

Completeness M4b Completeness (efficiency) Satisfactory GU1-6

Quality

M6b Comprehensibility (efficiency) Satisfactory GU7, GU9, GU10

M11 Easy to use Satisfactory GU9, GU11

Table 8-14. GR = Gap in Research Rigour; GU = Gap in Artefact utility; Both identified by evaluation activities (Thesis Chapter 8)

Page 23: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

23ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Further Work: Academic• Opportunities to contribute to…multiple fields via

– Existing field Profit-First Business Models– Adding the Bio-physical Environment & Society to

Operations and Management Information Systems– New field of Strongly Sustainable Business Models

• …via Multiple epistemic modes– Design Science: Changes to improve artefact utility– Descriptive Science: 5 testable hypothesis– Action Research: Bring practitioner version of

Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas and method for its effective use to market

Page 24: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

24ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Further Work: Practitioner

• 46 International members of OCADU Strategic Innovation Lab Strongly Sustainable Business Model Group

• 10 International “First Explorers” using SSBMCanvas now

– Further feedback accumulating• Planning for not your typical

business “book” underway– 10 International co-contributors

identified– Self Publish, 2014– Crowd-Funded

• Individuals & Organizations• Sufficient Funding Gate ~Fall 2013

• “app”– Design Tool– Business Learning Game

• Community Revenue Opportunities via– Training Service “Toolkit”– Consulting Service “Toolkit”– Education / Classroom “Toolkit”– Sustainability Entrepreneur’s “Toolkit”– Industry Specific “Toolkits”– Sustainability Maturity Level Specific

“Toolkits”• Full alignment with emerging “Gold

Standard” for Strongly Sustainable Business

– Measurement “Toolkit”• Best Practices & More Case Studies

Now Next

Join Us! http://signup.SSBMG.com

Page 25: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

25ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Possible Table of Contents for “Book”

Page 26: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

26ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Page 27: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

27ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

www.SSBMG.com• About the Strongly Sustainable Business

Model Canvas ~3 minute Audio Visual Overview

• Survey to give input to book– survey.SSBMG.com

• Mailing List sign-up– signup.SSBMG.com

• Learning / Knowledge – wiki.SSBMG.com/home/learning-map

• Blogs– blog.SSBMG.com– slab.ocad.ca/blogs/antony-upward

http://www.facebook.com/StronglySustainableBusinessModels

@aupward #SSBMG

info (at) SSBMG.com

blog.SSBMG.comMailing List sign-upsignup.SSBMG.com

Page 28: MES Thesis - Ontology & Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models - Oral Defense

28ES / ENVS7999 Thesis, © Antony Upward, 2013

Citation• Preferred citation for this work is:

– Upward, A. (2013). Towards an Ontology and Canvas for Strongly Sustainable Business Models: A Systemic Design Science Exploration. (Masters of Environmental Studies / Graduate Diploma in Business + Environment, York University, Faculty of Environmental Studies and Schulich School of Business), 1-891 (i-xx). (http://hdl.handle.net/10315/20777)

– Electronic copy will be available at this handle/DOI after Aug 30, 2013

• All citations in this presentation may be found in the Bibliography of the thesis.