The business model prism: managing and innovating business models of arts and cultural organisations

Purpose This paper introduces and analyses the Business Model Prism (BMP) for the arts and cultural organizations as multidimensional framework to map the “as is” structure and the logic of their business model as well as to drive the design of innovation initiatives, i.e. the “as should be” business model. The framework can be used both for descriptive and normative purposes and comprises seven facets organized and represented with a tri-dimensional prism which defines the key business components of arts and cultural organisations. Design/methodology/approach The research design and methodology are based on a literature review on the themes of business models and business models innovation with a focus on the characteristics and features of the arts and cultural organisations. This paper has a conceptual nature and it is based on a literature review. This includes also a desk research investigation of some key examples of arts and cultural organisations that have adopted innovations to transform the way how they work and deliver value to audience. The development of the novel framework builds the foundation for applying operatively and testing it in arts and cultural organisations and supports them in mapping and transforming effectively their business model. Originality/value Traditionally great attention the studies on business model innovation have been focused on businesses and public organisations, while rather limited attention has been paid to the investigation of how arts and cultural organisations can develop and manage their business models. Most of the attempts in this direction are aimed at contextualising, in the cultural sector, frameworks that have been devised for the business sector. Although acknowledging the relevance of these contributions, they present weaknesses related to the capacity to take into account the specific characteristics and features of the arts and cultural organisations. The originality and the value of this paper resides, then, in the attempt to fill this gap, providing a new and industry-specific framework able to effectively support the management and the innovation of the business models in the arts and cultural sector. Practical implications The proposed framework can support arts and cultural managers to understand the key dimensions characterising the business model of their organizations. In addition, it provides guidelines to map and design managerial initiatives to develop and transform the business model of arts and cultural organisations.