Title: Balancing the creative business model

Authors: Walter Van Andel

Addresses: Culture Commons Quest Office, University of Antwerp, Lange Sint-Annastraat 7, Room SS208, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract: Entrepreneurship within the creative industries is said to adhere to specific circumstances, rules and norms. This article takes on an exploration into the specific context of these industries as it investigates how the environment surrounding a creative organisation can create opposing demands on the organisation, leading to issues in long-term sustainability. The specific environment is operationalised by the creative biotope, which is composed of four spheres that influence a sustainable artistic practice, with each domain containing its own norms for legitimacy. Correspondingly, each domain exudes its own influences and pressures on the creative organisation on how to behave. This article postulates that the business model, defined as the active operationalisation of an organisation's strategy, can be used as a balancing mechanism to mitigate these tensions. This leads to eight theoretically derived propositions on the relationship between the business model and tensions resulting from the creative environment.

Keywords: creative industries; creative entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship; business models; institutional theory; creative biotope; organisational tensions; institutional pluralism; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2020.107750

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2020 Vol.40 No.2, pp.230 - 246

Accepted: 09 Sep 2018
Published online: 16 Jun 2020 *

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