This open access book explains how firms achieve strategic renewal by redesigning their business models in a high-growth, post-transition economy, using Poland as a natural laboratory for studying renewal. It shows how Polish companies use business model innovation (BMI) to sustain competitive advantage under turbulence, balancing exploration and exploitation while transforming legacy structures and routines. Strategic renewal is treated as an ongoing, complex process of transformation, for which BMI serves as a vehicle.

Drawing on mixed-methods research with 400 internationally oriented firms and eight in-depth case studies, the book investigates how organizations initiate, structure, and sustain BMI under global competition and post-transition complexity. It examines how firms navigate alternative strategic logics (co-alignment vs co-creation), structural choices (pivot-first, layering, selective parallel models), and innovation modes (internal vs open innovation). Rather than depicting renewal as a linear fit, it conceptualizes it as a fluid, tension-laden journey in which firms continually negotiate efficiency and innovation, stability and experimentation, exploitation and exploration. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of innovation, strategy and international business.

Mariola Ciszewska-Mlinarič is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at Kozminski University, Poland, where she serves as Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and ESR, and Dean of the College of Management. Her research explores strategy, internationalization from emerging economies, decision-making, global expansion challenges, and business model innovation.

Desislava Dikova is a Professor at Vienna University of Economics & Business, Austria, and Kozminski University, Poland. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of East West Business, co-editor of AIB Insights, and Associate Editor of Journal of International Management and European Management Review. She researches internationalization strategies of SMEs and MNEs.

Anna Morgan-Thomas is Professor of Digital Management and Innovation at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, UK. Her scholarship spans digital transformation, international business and marketing. She has held senior academic leadership roles including Dean of Research. She is Associate Editor of the European Management Journal.

Piotr Wójcik is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at Kozminski University, Poland, Program Director of the Master in Management, and Deputy Director of the Research Center for Innovative Growth Strategies. His research focuses on dynamic capabilities, organizational resilience and international business strategy.

Mariola Ciszewska-Mlinarič is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at Kozminski University, Poland, where she serves as Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and ESR, and Dean of the College of Management. Her research explores strategy, internationalization from emerging economies, decision-making, global expansion challenges, and business model innovation.

Desislava Dikova is a Professor at Vienna University of Economics & Business, Austria, and Kozminski University, Poland. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of East West Business, co-editor of AIB Insights, and Associate Editor of Journal of International Management and European Management Review. She researches internationalization strategies of SMEs and MNEs.

Anna Morgan-Thomas is Professor of Digital Management and Innovation at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, UK. Her scholarship spans digital transformation, international business and marketing. She has held senior academic leadership roles including Dean of Research. She is Associate Editor of the European Management Journal.

Piotr Wójcik is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at Kozminski University, Poland, Program Director of the Master in Management, and Deputy Director of the Research Center for Innovative Growth Strategies. His research focuses on dynamic capabilities, organizational resilience and international business strategy.