New sustainable, social and solidarity-based concerns are now encouraging the development of new sustainable and innovative business models. Objective is to build more open production models, involving more local partners who share common convictions and values, with a view to sustainability. However, organizing an opening dynamics is not simple, especially for SMEs with limited resources. To overcome the limits of too static current research, we propose to adopt a dynamic approach to study the openness into a sustainable business model. Based on a qualitative and comparative analysis of 5 SMEs in the social economy of the Franco-Swiss cross-border zone, our results contribute to better understand how SMEs can organize the opening dynamics of the business model with a local ecosystem of partners to maintain sustainability. The positive structuring role of value equation management and local ecosystem management is also highlighted in the business model trajectory and in achieving sustainability.
