Business Model Innovation and Sustainability

This assignment delves into the concept of business model innovation and its significance in contemporary business. It examines how innovative business models can contribute to economic performance and explores the intersection of business model innovation with sustainability. The discussion encompasses various aspects, including value proposition design, customer referral programs, and the dynamic interplay between price coordination and distribution channels. Furthermore, the assignment highlights the importance of considering shared value creation and sustainable practices within business model development.

Running head: BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Business creation and innovation
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

1
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Description of Blue Skies................................................................................................................3
The Business Model Canvas............................................................................................................4
Key Partners.....................................................................................................................................6
Value Proposition............................................................................................................................7
Key activities...................................................................................................................................8
Customer relationships....................................................................................................................9
Customer segments........................................................................................................................10
Key resources.................................................................................................................................10
Channels........................................................................................................................................11
Cost structure.................................................................................................................................11
Revenue streams............................................................................................................................11
SWOT ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................12
Strengths.....................................................................................................................................12
Weakness...................................................................................................................................12
Opportunities..............................................................................................................................13
Threats........................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15

2
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION

3
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Introduction
The essay will be prepared to analyse the different concepts of business considering the
business organisation named Blue Skies Holding Ltd. in United Kingdom. It defines the various
products and services along with the major processes and operations followed by the company to
enable innovation and creation of value for fulfilling the demands and preferences of the
customers and maintain consistent level of profit all throughout (blueskies.com, 2018).
Description of Blue Skies
Blue Skies Holding is one of the most popular and established business organizations that
delivers the highest quality fresh fruit products like juices and soft drinks. The fruits from which
the juices are extracted have been harvested at the optimal maturity and are even grown in the
countries where the juices are manufactured only. The entire network of the business
organizations consist of more than 5000 employees not only from United Kingdom, but also
from other countries including South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, etc. Due to its maintenance of
cultural heritage and following the fresh from harvest philosophy, the best quality fruit juices are
produced from the fruits that are harvested when fully mature and cut after becoming naturally
ripe after it has been delivered fresh from the harvest (blueskies.com, 2018).
Blue Skies is popular for delivering the highest quality, freshest possible fruit products
that are harvested at their optimal maturity and prepared in the countries where the fruits are
grown. Our network of factories employs over 5,000 people in Ghana, Egypt South Africa,
Brazil and the UK, and manufactures prepared fruit and juice products for retailers throughout
the world. The company has worked with good farmers to maintain high quality standards and

4
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
for adhering to the international standards including the fair trade, organic materials by linking
the environment and farming activities. The business organisation is located at Paddock View,
Spring Hill farm, Pitsford NN6 9AA in United Kingdom (Lee, Olson & Trimi, 2012).
The Business Model Canvas
Key partners
Major partners
Blue Skies
Albert Heijn
Waitrose
Foundation
Key suppliers
Lovely Farms
managed by Mr.
Seth Etse
Mr. Eugene
Amadi Atta, farm
manager of X
Ray mangoes and
Blue Skies
Papaya Farms.
Key activities
Production of
fresh cut fruits
best quality
juices.
Large amounts of
done.
Involvement with
multiple partners
to manage
projects
Distribution of
products in
multiple places
Value
propositions
Best quality
fruits and juices
High priced
products
Health and safety
needs are needed
to be fulfilled
Every customers
are needed to be
satisfied
Customer
relationships
Customer
acquisition
Retention of
customers
Personal
assistance
Self service
Not much costly
due to
sustainable use of
resources
Customer
segments
Creation of value
for the mass
market and
diversified
customer
segments

5
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Key resources
Mango farms,
papaya farms and
other fruits’
farms
Key resources
Physical
resources
Mango pulp
Pineapple
Papaya
Orange
Human resources
Financial
resources
Distribution and
marketing
channels
Business to
business
Business to
consumers
Direct selling
Dual distribution
Selling through
intermediaries
Reverse channels
Channels
Distribution
channels
Direct selling
works best and is
cost effective as
well

6
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Intellectual
properties
Patents,
copyrights
Cost structure
The fruits harvested take lot of time and money
Marketing and promotions are most expensive.
Fixed and variable costs, both are important.
Revenue streams
Value offered by customers
Selling of assets
Licensing
Advertising
Negotiations
Key Partners
The key partners include the suppliers, business partners, resources that are derived from
the partners and activities that the business partners perform. The management of partners could
help in optimization and growth in economy whereas the risks and uncertainties could also tend
to decrease. By acquiring outside resources and support from other business partners, it would be
easy to enhance the efficiency of the business processes and ensure generating more revenue in
business as well. The major partners of the company are Blue Skies, Albert Heijn and Waitrose
Foundation while the suppliers of Blue Skies Holding Ltd are Lovely Farms, managed by Mr.
Seth Etse, Mr. Eugene Amadi Atta, farm manager of X Ray mango farms and Blue Skies Papaya

7
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Farms (Amit & Zott, 2012). Lovely Farms is managed by Seth, who cultivates good quality
Cayenne Pineapple and due to this, more than 500 fruits are supplied every week for Blue Skies..
At Waitrose, the products of Blue Skies are provided that has increased the customer base and
has driven the sales for the company too. Due to the immense support by the business partners
and suppliers, it had become easy for the company to distribute its products and even established
good network and platforms for deriving moiré profit in business (Casadesus‐Masanell & Zhu,
2013).
Value Proposition
The Best quality fresh fruits and juices extracted from the freshly harvested fruits are
offered to the customers. The company produces the juices and distributes those at various retail
partners to ensure availability and positioning of products and services properly and meeting the
customers’ needs and requirements with ease and effectiveness. Value proposition means
delivering value to the customers based on which the customers pay the prices. The growers of
fruits are the major members of the marketing associations and packing department for making
the fruits ready till maturity and extract the best quality fresh juices from those. The freshly
prepared fruit and squeezed juices are provided to the customers to ensure that they are kept
healthy. The products are of good qualities and are available at various online shopping web sites
like Amazon, which makes it easy for the customers to make purchases (Schaltegger, Lüdeke-
Freund & Hansen, 2012). It is considered that value has been offered because the fruit juices
contain useful components such as Vitamin A, B, C and E, which can help in maintaining
healthy skin and good eyesight as well. These fresh cut fruits are high on iron and calcium are
considered as excellent sources of useful vitamins and minerals. This is how Blue Skies Holding

8
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
has innovated its products and services, attracted more customers and retained them too (Pagani,
2013).
The prices of the products were slightly on the higher side, which was a major problem.
The company extracts the juices from the fruits that are harvested till maturity, so the quality is
exceptional and thus the prices have been set by keeping inclined with the quality of products
and services delivered by the organisation. The needs and preferences of the customers are
changing from time to time, and so they have become more health conscious nowadays. Due to
the good quality fruits and juices offered by Blue Skies, the needs and preferences of theirs could
be fulfilled (Trimi & Berbegal-Mirabent, 2012). The prices should be lowered down a bit for
easy access to the customers and influencing their buying behaviors too.
Key activities
Production of best quality fresh cut fruits and freshly squeezed juices directly after the
harvest has been possible. Investments of over one million pounds with the involvement of
foundation partners has created positive impact on more than 67 projects and provided benefits
to nearly 300000 people as well. The products are distributed not only in UK, but also in Ghana,
Egypt, Senegal and other African states to increase the production level and generate more profit.
Due to its worldwide selling of products and services, the network management is effective and
the production has risen since then with better profit and gaining f competitive advantage in
business as well (Boons et al., 2013). With the involvement of major partnerships, optimization
of services is possible and the costs will be lowered, furthermore generating more revenue and
enhancing the growth in economy too. Acquiring other sources would also help in managing the
production level as well as reduce the level of stress for the companies to perform to the

9
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
potential. The marketing and promotional activities are also part of the major business activities
that are managed for enhancing the brand awareness among the customers and improving the
visibility to increase the sales revenue generated (Massa & Tucci, 2013).
Customer relationships
There are different types of customer relationships including the personal assistance, self-
service, automated services and co-creation of values and benefits all throughout. Establishing
relationships with the customers does not require additional cost because of the sustainable
approaches that are being followed. The sustain bale approaches undertaken have helped the
company to deliver products that are fresh from harvest. The Fresh from Harvest philosophy has
enabled the organisation to main quality standards through delivery of best quality and tasty fruit
products (Dudin et al., 2015). The sustainable approaches also allowed for harvesting the fruits
when fully matured and were cut after being naturally ripe, which furthermore reduced the costs
of delivering products to the customers.
Customers’ relationships have been managed through personal assistance and they were
known about the features of the products while the automated services resulted in enhancing the
business value and creation. The customer acquisition was possible by enabling content
marketing, using search engine optimization and email marketing too. The up selling of products
allowed to convince the customers to purchase more and it could be possible by identifying the
social factors, economic, demographic and their buying behaviours. The automated services
could also obtain suggestions and opinions from the customers to make necessary changes and
enhance the shopping experience too (Trimi & Berbegal-Mirabent, 2012).

10
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Customer segments
Every customer expects the brand to establish good relations with them so that they can
remain influenced to make purchases on a consistent manner. The business organisation wants to
establish good relationships with the mass market to cater the needs and preferences of the
customers and at the same time, understand their purchasing behaviors, their needs and
requirements. To create value for the mass market, distribution channels, value propositions and
customers’ relationships are combined together while for the diversified markets, different
segments of customers are provided with values and benefits through capitalization of resources
and IT infrastructure (Osterwalder et al., 2014). Investments should be done for targeting each
and every customer segments and ensure delivery of value to the mass market with ease and
effectiveness.
Key resources
The resources that are required for value proposition include the farms from which the
freshly cut fruits and juices have been extracted. Thus, fruits like mangoes, pineapple, orange
and papaya are considered as important resources of Blue Skies. There are other resources too
including the human resources, i.e., the employees and suppliers and the financial resources too.
The channels of marketing and distribution are considered as important resources too while the
physical resources are infrastructures, distribution networks and point-of-sales systems. Selling
through intermediaries is possible by making the products available at Amazon and other online
shopping websites and then delivers those to the customer (Hassan, 2012). The intellectual
resources are patents, copyrights, data and information obtained through research and
development activities.

11
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Channels
The customer channels enhance the marketing functions by creating awareness among
people regarding the products and services and providing enhanced customer support services
too. Direct selling allows for providing products and services directly to them and creating
positive mindset among them to make purchases consistently. The post sales services have
helped in making sure that the customers are satisfied with the quality of products and services
and they can come back desiring something more from the company (Shi, Liu & Petruzzi, 2013).
Cost structure
The costs’ structure is suitable for evaluating the different types of costs including fixed
and variable costs based on the key resources used and key activities managed by the
organisation. The fixed costs include the costs incurred while managing the infrastructures, rents,
wages paid and leisure facilities, which remain fixed. The variable costs change from time to
time based on the availability of certain fruits products and volumes purchased. Advanced
technologies implementation requires additional costs too that can help in selling products and
services online and make those delivered to the customers at competitive prices (Martín-Herrán
& Taboubi, 2015).
Revenue streams
Revenue streams are achieved through representation of cash and profit derived after
selling the products and services of Blue Skies at different customer segments. By selling the
assets and ownership rights of a product could be effective while renting could grant an
individual the exclusive right to a particular asset for the fixed period in return for a particular
fee amount. Licensing could allow the owners to retain the copyrights and sell the licenses for

12
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
generating revenue properly and even gain handsome amounts of return on the advertising and
pricing mechanisms (Pfitzer, Bockstette & Stamp, 2013).
SWOT ANALYSIS
According to the business model, various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
can be assessed with the use of SWOT analysis framework.
Strengths
Strengths of the business model showed that Blue Skies Holding Ltd has an annual
turnover of more than £30m and it is growing by 25 percent every year. The best quality fruit
products delivered and freshly cut fruits after harvesting have also fostered protection of
environment and maintained healthy behaviors and habits among the people. The company has
won the Queens Award for enterprise within the category of sustainable development. The fruits
are sourced from Ghana, South Africa, Brazil and Egypt (Atasu, Toktay & Van Wassenhove,
2013). The Joint effort enterprise manages collective responsibility for facilitating the
partnership working and ensured better business value creation though enhanced development of
products, management of communication and finance.
Weakness
The weaknesses include trade deals and agreements issues along with emergence of
multiple competitors that manage production of fresh cut fruits and juices too. Thus, the
increasingly competitive market is one of the major causes of weaknesses while the increase in
prices of oil has also created issues while transporting the fruit products from the place to
production to the customers (Garnefeld et al., 2013).

13
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Opportunities
The issues and challenges faced have given rise to immense scopes and opportunities for
improving the social performance and security of people through betterment of health and safety.
By engaging with business partners and logistic partners, the fruit products are positioned
properly in the market segments, which have not only increased the customers, but also generate
good amounts of revenue in business. The mission of the company is to promote sustainable
development and so each other’s trust and respect are maintained to raise awareness among
people and influence their buying behaviors too. The company wants to expand internationally
and so it has obtained information regarding the sustainability performance to management,
which is an innovation procedure too (blueskies.com, 2018). Many suppliers were involved in
the business and fruits were being sourced from various parts of the world for ensuring attraction
of new clients and retention of existing customers too.
Threats
Few threats arose due to the presence of competitors in the fruit market, lack of training
provided to the suppliers and producers of fresh fruit and juices of Blue Skies Holding. The
prices of the products were somewhat higher, which could even de-motivate the customers from
purchasing the products. Due to the increase in fuel prices, the transportation costs increased,
which might even make customers unsatisfied (Amit & Zott, 2012).
Conclusion
The essay was focused on the concepts of business value creation and innovation
through the development of a business model canvas. By using this model, the major
components of the model was illustrated including the key partners, activities and management

14
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
of customers’ relationships that have helped in providing value to the customers. The direct
selling and use of effective distribution channels were useful for the company to reach different
customer segments while the structures of cost helped in managing budget properly and kept
products’ prices lowered. The SWOT analysis was done for identifying the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by the company in respect of the business model
canvas used.

15
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
References
Amit, R., & Zott, C. (2012). Creating value through business model innovation. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 53(3), 41.
Atasu, A., Toktay, L. B., & Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2013). How collection cost structure drives
a manufacturer's reverse channel choice. Production and Operations Management, 22(5),
1089-1102.
blueskies.com. (2018). Blueskies.com. Retrieved 19 January 2018, from
http://www.blueskies.com
Boons, F., Montalvo, C., Quist, J., & Wagner, M. (2013). Sustainable innovation, business
models and economic performance: an overview. Journal of Cleaner Production, 45, 1-8.
Casadesus‐Masanell, R., & Zhu, F. (2013). Business model innovation and competitive
imitation: The case of sponsor‐based business models. Strategic management
journal, 34(4), 464-482.
Dudin, M. N., Kucuri, G. N., Fedorova, I. J. E., Dzusova, S. S., & Namitulina, A. Z. (2015). The
innovative business model canvas in the system of effective budgeting.
Garnefeld, I., Eggert, A., Helm, S. V., & Tax, S. S. (2013). Growing existing customers' revenue
streams through customer referral programs. Journal of Marketing, 77(4), 17-32.
Hassan, A. (2012). The value proposition concept in marketing: How customers perceive the
value delivered by firms–A study of customer perspectives on supermarkets in
Southampton in the United Kingdom. International journal of marketing studies, 4(3),
68.

16
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Lee, S. M., Olson, D. L., & Trimi, S. (2012). Co-innovation: convergenomics, collaboration, and
co-creation for organizational values. Management Decision, 50(5), 817-831.
Martín-Herrán, G., & Taboubi, S. (2015). Price coordination in distribution channels: a dynamic
perspective. European Journal of Operational Research, 240(2), 401-414.
Massa, L., & Tucci, C. L. (2013). Business model innovation. The Oxford handbook of
innovation management, 20, 18.
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2014). Value proposition design: How
to create products and services customers want. John Wiley & Sons.
Pagani, M. (2013). Digital business strategy and value creation: Framing the dynamic cycle of
control points. Mis Quarterly, 37(2).
Pfitzer, M., Bockstette, V., & Stamp, M. (2013). Innovating for shared value. Harvard Business
Review, 91(9), 100-107.
Schaltegger, S., Lüdeke-Freund, F., & Hansen, E. G. (2012). Business cases for sustainability:
the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability. International Journal
of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 6(2), 95-119.
Shi, H., Liu, Y., & Petruzzi, N. C. (2013). Consumer heterogeneity, product quality, and
distribution channels. Management Science, 59(5), 1162-1176.
Trimi, S., & Berbegal-Mirabent, J. (2012). Business model innovation in
entrepreneurship. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 8(4), 449-
465.

17
BUSINESS CREATION AND INNOVATION
Trimi, S., & Berbegal-Mirabent, J. (2012). Business model innovation in
entrepreneurship. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 8(4), 449-
465.