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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Noemi SinkovicsORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
This viewpoint paper aims to identify and illustrate the underlying logics of game-changer business models and situate them within the broader academic discourse on sustainable business model innovation and international business. This paper also examines the factors that influence the potential and actual scaling of these models.This paper examines 17 cases identified as game-changers from the existing literature, the World Investment Forum’s Game Changers Summit and by scanning the outcomes of high-profile business competitions. These organizations aim to develop innovative solutions to address issues such as food security, climate change, plastic pollution, waste management, water security, sanitation, economic growth and the energy crisis.The authors identify six recurring patterns or “logics” that characterize these game-changers: place-based solutions scalable through global relevance; leveraging the opportunities provided by advanced technologies; a “land-to-lab” approach for innovation; multi-stakeholder collaboration; the ability to tap into multiple funding sources; and a blend of vision, science and management capabilities.The authors highlight how the meaning attached to particular terms, such as game-changers, can evolve over time. The findings and the subsequent theorizing outline how the concept of game-changers overlaps and differs from other concepts such as sustainable business models, blue ocean and disruptive innovators. By deriving observable logics from these cases, the authors provide a frame of reference to facilitate the comparison of findings across time and space regardless of how these business models are labeled.
Author(s): Gunaratne D, Sinkovics N, Sinkovics RR, Molina-Castillo F-J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Multinational Business Review
Year: 2026
Volume: 34
Issue: 1
Pages: 1–25
Print publication date: 25/02/2026
Online publication date: 03/11/2025
Acceptance date: 19/09/2025
Date deposited: 28/04/2026
ISSN (electronic): 1525-383X
Publisher: Emerald
URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/mbr-07-2024-0130
DOI: 10.1108/MBR-07-2024-0130
Data Access Statement: Data availability: This study draws on secondary data from publicly available sources, including company reports, organizational websites and news articles. All data used in the analysis are accessible through open online sources. To enhance transparency and reproducibility, we provide supplementary materials, which include detailed profiles of the 17 illustrative cases, the coding of conceptual logics and full reference information. These materials allow readers to retrace the researchers’ pattern-matching approach to qualitative analysis (cf. Sinkovics, 2018) and understand how the cases informed the conceptual framework. The supplementary materials are available via the Center for Open Science (OSF): Denanjalee Gunaratne, Noemi Sinkovics and Rudolf R. Sinkovics (2025), “Game-changer business models and grand challenges: Supplementary materials,” Center for Open Science (OSF). 10.17605/ OSF.IOJQ6VS.
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