The simultaneous management of business model innovation and replication processes:

The case of Airbnb’s “experiences”

Abstract

This article aims to understand how organizations can simultaneously manage their business model innovation and replication processes. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, we analyze Airbnb’s business model innovation and replication processes when the company launched its new value proposition. Our findings show that innovation and replication processes are designed, tested and implemented simultaneously. We underline the role of the platform in standardizing the key elements of the different stages of the processes. Through its digital platform, Airbnb can standardize its value creation and value capture processes to drive replication at scale. We discuss the contributions of our study to the replication strategy literature and to research on the Airbnb business model.