Business model innovation through digitisation in social purpose organisations: A comparative analysis of Tate Modern and Pompidou Centre

Combining heterogeneous organisational forms continues to pose unresolved challenges that foster organisational innovation. This study examines the effect of digitisation on the business model of insufficiently funded art museums in the United Kingdom and France influenced by national cultural policies. Based on two representative case studies of Tate Modern and the Pompidou Centre, we found that digitisation is revitalising social purpose organisations by innovating the business model in two ways. First, digitisation enables creative revenue streams that directly feed into the social mission by creating a synergy between trade and social activities. Second, digitisation delivers social value to a larger audience with lower costs by engaging with visitors through virtual experience. Creative utilisation of digitisation provides a mechanism for business model innovation in social purpose organisations with enhanced financial autonomy and greater social value.