Business models, stakeholders and capabilities in coping with societal grand challenges: the case of Japan’s convenience stores

In Japan, convenience store operators have hailed their stores as “social infrastructure.” Policy makers have acknowledged this role, striving to involve the private sector in the process of strengthening communities, especially in light of Japan’s greatest societal challenge: its rapidly aging population. Convenience store companies have also earned such recognition through their responses to natural disasters. This is, however, somewhat paradoxical, since their just-in-time business model is in principle highly vulnerable to such events. This article introduces the case of the Japanese convenience store to demonstrate how responding to grand societal challenges can—beyond demonstrating corporate social responsibility or striving for legitimacy—become an essential part of corporate business models. It argues that such an approach creates the need for higher-level capabilities and increases the number of involved stakeholders, and concludes that this might throw previously successful business models off balance.