Business models of heat entrepreneurship in Finland

Lasse Okkonen and Niko Suhonen

Energy Policy, 2010, vol. 38, issue 7, 3443-3452

Abstract: This paper presents the business models of small-scale heat energy production in Finland. Firstly, the development of heat entrepreneurship in the country is presented, including the remarkable growth of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the last 15 years. Secondly, the concept of business model (business architecture of product/service flows and earning logics) is modified to the framework of wood heat production. The business model concept, and its sub-concepts, is applied in a brief review of current heat energy businesses in Finland. We arrive at a business model of heat entrepreneurships that are public companies/utilities, public-private partnerships, private companies and cooperatives, Energy Saving Company (ESCO), network model of large enterprise and franchising. Descriptive cases of these models are presented. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion on the applicability of the business models in different operational environments and geographical contexts.

Keywords: Wood; energy; Heat; entrepreneurship; Business; models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:7:p:3443-3452

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