The business model concept: theoretical underpinnings and empirical illustrations

Business models of Polish fuel and energy companies in integrated reports

The business model is undoubtedly a new issue in scientific research and currently enjoys great popularity, in recent years, it has attracted increasing attention in relation to both financial and non-financial corporate reporting. The purpose of the article is to identify business model disclosures of fuel and energy companies in Poland presented in integrated reports. The study, which examined 70 integrated reports for 2013 and 2021, involved analysing disclosures of information about the business model, analysing the content of integrated reports of companies and checking the scope and content of disclosed information in the part of the report concerning the business model. The content analysis method was used in the study, and the Likert scale was used to measure the level/quality of disclosures. The quality assessment of business model disclosures in integrated reporting is comprised of two steps: analysis of average scores of disclosures in each of the analysed years and case study analysis to compare the practical approach to disclosing information about the business model. The findings proved that the business model disclosures are at a high level. In most cases, the companies use the capital approach, complementing the business model presentations with value creation schemes. The results of the study allow for a better understanding of the logic of running a business of fuel and energy companies for all stakeholders. The article is the result of original empirical research concerning the analysis of non-financial information disclosed by Polish companies and fills a gap in scientific research on disclosing information about the business model in integrated reports. The research presented in the article contributes to the current literature on integrated reporting by using the novel dataset. 

Ethical Challenges in Social Work Licensing Examinations: A Call for Integrity and Strategies for Success

This article discusses four questions. First, what is the operational framework of the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)? Second, how congruent is the ASWB's operational framework with social work values and ethics? Third, why do ASWB exam candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds-those who identify as African American, who are older, and who do not speak English as a first language-register comparatively lower pass rates in the clinical licensure examination? Fourth, what are ethically sound novel strategies for improving the ASWB exam? This article argues that (1) ASWB, in its present state, operates under a business model philosophy, which is incongruent with the social work value of integrity, and (2) the disparities in pass rates in the ASWB exam may reflect its lack of validity. This article also presents three relatively innovative strategies for restoring confidence and increasing success in the ASWB social work licensing exam and two contingent solutions to the problem of exam pass rate disparities based on race, age, and primary language. The implications of this study for social work stakeholders are also discussed.

What determines FinTech success?-A taxonomy-based analysis of FinTech success factors

Value creation in the financial services sector has been fundamentally transformed by digitally born financial technology (FinTech) companies. FinTech companies synthesize information systems with financial services. Given its disruptive power, the FinTech phenomenon has received great attention in academic research, practice, and media. Still, limited systematic research provides a structure and holistic view of FinTechs' success. Aiming to enhance understanding of the factors enabling FinTech success, we classify success factors across extant scientific literature on distinct FinTech business model archetypes. Our analysis reveals that the "cost-benefit dynamic of the innovation," "technology adoption," "security, privacy, and transparency," "user trust," "user-perceived quality," and "industry rivalry" are crucial factors for FinTech success and can be seen as "grand challenges" for the FinTech ecosystem. In addition, we validate and discuss our findings with real-world examples from the FinTech industry and two interviews with stakeholders from the FinTech ecosystem. Our study contributes to the knowledge of FinTechs by providing a classification system of success factors for practitioners and researchers.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12525-023-00626-7.

Blockchain feasibility assessment: A quantitative approach

This article outlines the research and development of a blockchain assessment framework which enables the assessment of the technical suitability, high-level design, adoption approach, economic feasibility, and business value potential of a blockchain solution with a particular organization for a specific process. The framework is a comprehensive, high-level, and generic assessment approach that enables better decision-making regarding blockchain exploration. Blockchain is a novel technology with the potential to disrupt several industries through its possession of many desirable functional characteristics, including, but not limited to, immutability, transparency, decentralization, and secure. Cryptocurrencies and these desirable characteristics have created hype around blockchain, consequently leading to blockchain projects with minimal understanding of what the technology is capable of and beneficial for, resulting in excessively high failure rates. Attempts have been made by researchers to reduce these high failure rates by creating a better understanding of blockchain, as well as creating assessment approaches. However, these approaches tend to apply to specific narrow use cases, or the approach is not comprehensive and only considers one aspect of blockchain assessment. This emphasizes the need for a comprehensive and generic blockchain assessment approach to aid with better decision-making regarding blockchain within organizations. This article aims at addressing this need by creating a blockchain assessment framework to aids with deciding whether it is worthwhile investing more time, effort, and money into blockchain exploration. The context of the study is set in the introduction, this is then followed by a brief explanation of the blockchain technology. Thereafter, the blockchain assessment framework is presented, followed by a brief explanation of the demonstration and validation of the framework using a case study and expert analysis. The framework is most valuable during the initial stages of blockchain exploration and creates momentum for further blockchain exploration in an organization. The study concludes with the limitations and future research recommendations.

Critical Components of Airport Business Model Framework: Evidence from Thailand

Because of the scarcity of extant studies in the literature on airport business models, this study aims to identify a framework for airport business model design. Exploratory research obtained from key Thai respondents was used, and the data analysis was further enhanced by an extensive review of related grey literature available in public domains. With our qualitative data analysis, we propose the generic airport business model framework as a foundation for designing business models. Strategic partners, core business activities, human resources and sustainability-related projects should be considered basic components driving an airport to achieve high performance. The remaining business model components should be customised depending on business environments and location contexts.

Procurement of facilities management services designated for office buildings of airline corporate organisations in Asia

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to enhance decision-making process for the procurement of facilities management (FM) services within aviation corporate organisation, where the FM services functions to support the business operation. It builds on considering the fundamental elements comprising the FM procurement process from the aviation perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper investigates the characteristics of the different types of sourcing approaches and the underpinning factors affecting its selection for the procurement of FM services within the aviation industry. The decision-making framework for the procurement of FM services is developed based on the qualitative case study by interview and focus group discussion with the custodian department that is directly involved in the procurement of FM services.

Findings

The degree of outsourcing is increasing due to corporate organisation’s persona. Procurement of FM services is a complex process required detailed review, efforts and time in choosing the right sourcing approach. Off the shelf guidelines for the procurement of FM services suits property professional which directly involved with the procurement of FM services. However, decision-making process for the procurement of FM services specifically for aeronautical and non-aeronautical corporate organisation are rarely found. The case study findings signify that the respondents are familiar with the in-sourcing, outsourcing and right sourcing approaches. The underpinning factors affecting sourcing approaches were categorised according to the main reasons for the procurement of FM services, considerable factors during the procurement stage and value-adding criteria. The use of strategic management tools is not widely imposed, and intelligent client guideline is not available. Hence, the decision-making framework has been developed to fill the gap in this study.

Research limitations/implications

The research is based on a study of aviation or airline corporate organisation, which limits the possibility of holistic view to the FM industry as a whole but highlights the research gap of FM procurement which is scarce within the case study of airline companies. The focus area is also bounded within the procurement of FM services designated for the office buildings.

Originality/value

The paper provides initial guideline for the airline company in sourcing the procurement of FM services that were developed based on established guidelines from accrediting bodies and scholars, as well as from the sampling feedback analysis. It is also among the firsts that examine the procurement of FM services in the context of aviation or airline industry. The outcome of this paper is a decision-making framework for the procurement of FM services that is specially designed for the airlines corporate organisations, which fills the gap that exists in the industry.

Business Model Canvas and Energy Enterprises

So far, little is known about the Business Model Canvas development in the energy sector. In this paper, we fill this knowledge gap and modify the Business Model Canvas. Based on the cause–effect analysis combined with the literature searching method, we suggest that Osterwalder’s Canvas for energy enterprise should be modified because the available Canvas adaptations cannot fully capture the energy enterprise’s business model or realise its business operations combined with the public interest. We propose a new original Canvas adaptation by adding two crucial blocks representing the mission, energy accountability, and impact on stakeholders in the Business Model Canvas. The findings make two main contributions. First, they contribute to developing entrepreneurship theory. We formulate an original definition of a business model, first showing the limitations of current definitions. We verify Chesbrough’s functions of business models. Second, compared to earlier business model frameworks, the new model clearly points out that accountability in firms’ everyday businesses is at the core of business development. Moreover, this article formulates future research avenues in the energy sector and provides a helpful planning tool for practitioners.

A dynamic business model for Turkish techno parks: looking through the lenses of service perspective and stakeholder theory

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the business model of techno parks (TPs) in Turkey and shed light on the value co-creation in TPs in the light of the service perspective and stakeholder theory.

Design/methodology/approach

In this conceptual paper, a generic business model canvas for Turkish TPs has been elicited based on an in-depth review of the literature. Then, the functioning of the model and the nature of value co-creation have been viewed through the lenses of service perspective and stakeholder theory, and then the relationships and flows between the components of the business model have been visualized with a dynamic model.

Findings

The institutional environment leads Turkish TPs to have similar business models with functional differences. The value is co-created by stakeholders in TPs and value co-creation depends on the skills, competencies and cooperative efforts of all actors involved in the functioning of the business model.

Practical implications

This paper provides insight for TP management companies to improve their business models, for policymakers to refine institutional framework to enable effective functioning of TPs and for stakeholders to understand their role in value co-creation.

Originality/value

This paper provides a dynamic framework and a model for understanding business models of TPs and the value co-creation process, which is an understudied area, especially in a developing country context. It also extends the business model and value co-creation literature in the context of TPs by integrating multiple theoretical perspectives.

Patterns for Resilient Value Creation: Perspective of the German Electrical Industry during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a massive, often unanticipated, external disruption for many companies. As a concept for responding to such disruption, organizational resilience has recently received great attention. In the organizational context, the overriding question is how companies can become more resilient. This study aims to contribute to answering this question by identifying, categorizing, and providing specific business model patterns for achieving resilience on the corporate level. For this purpose, a review of publications by major consulting firms was conducted. Patterns were extracted from publications until a convergence criterion indicated that no new pattern could be identified considering further publications. The 110 extracted unique patterns were clustered into 13 objectives, and additionally categorized according to resilience phases, as well as business model elements, to support the application in practice. The final catalog of patterns was validated through expert interviews and thus provides organizations, such as those in the electrical industry, with an overview and specific approaches on how to tackle industrial resilience through the adaption of their business model.

The “Intrinsic Value” of Cultural Heritage as Driver for Circular Human-Centered Adaptive Reuse

By referring to the European Green Deal, this paper analyzes the “intrinsic value” of cultural heritage by investigating the human-centered adaptive reuse of this heritage. This implies questions such as how to improve the effectiveness of reuse, restoration, and valorization interventions on cultural heritage/landscapes and how to transform a cultural asset into a place, interpreted as a living ecosystem, to be managed as a living organism. The autopoietic characteristic of the eco-bio-systems, specifically focusing on the intrinsic versus instrumental values of cultural heritage ecosystem is discussed in detail. Specifically, the notion of complex social value is introduced to express the above integration. In ecology, the notion of intrinsic value (or “primary value”) relates to the recognition of a value that “pre-exists” any exploitation by human beings. The effectiveness of transforming a heritage asset into a living ecosystem is seen to follow from an integration of these two values. In this context, the paper provides an overview of the different applications of the business model concept in the circular economy, for a better investment decision-making and management in heritage adaptive reuse. Matera case is presented as an example of a cultural heritage ecosystem. To conclude, recommendations toward an integrated approach in managing the adaptive reuse of heritage ecosystem as a living organism are proposed.

Facing TBL with IoT: creating value and positively impacting business processes

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze how Internet of Things can contribute to the achievement of a sustainable development based on people, profit and planet. Based on the triple bottom line theoretical framework, this work explores the relation between technology and the creation of value in management operative and support processes carried out by a firm with a direct impact in society and the environment. By doing so, new insights on strategic management to create value and consolidate sustainable business models are provided.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study analyzes firms within the context of the European Union, considering the involvement of the region in achieving sustainable development, in particular, the usage of technology and specifically Internet of Things to create value and contribute to company’s position as leaders in the industry’s change toward sustainable development. To achieve this goal, the Spanish market was analyzed, specifically companies who were publicly listed in the IBEX35, which is the benchmark stock market index of Spain’s main stock exchange (Bolsa de Madrid). In addition, firms were also considered regarding the strong impact within their industries not only nationally, but also worldwide.

Findings

Findings show that companies incorporating Internet of Things can enhance their role as leaders in change toward sustainable development. Similarly, the usage of these technologies positively impacts the pollution reduction and limiting usage of non-renewable resources, as well as positively impacting people’s lives. Furthermore, technology has a positive effect on the creation of value, considering management, operative and support processes. By considering people and planet, companies can have a profitable business model that is also sustainable in the long-run, creating a win-win situation within the triple bottom line.

Originality/value

This study shows the links between Internet of Things and sustainable development within the framework of the triple bottom line. It portrays the relevance of technology in value creation to achieve business models that can cater to profit, people and planet objectives. Consequently, practitioners can incorporate Internet of Things elements to create value and contribute to their corporate social responsibility objectives, establishing synergies between managerial and socio-environmental aspects. Moreover, researchers studying business strategy can incorporate these variables to further enlarge the results herein derived. Finally, this work reinforces the usage of triple bottom line theory to analyze a firm’s sustainable development and its business models.

Does Business Model Innovation Enhance the Sustainable Development of New Ventures? Understanding an Inverted-U Relationship

Improving the sustainable development of new ventures and helping them survive and develop in the entrepreneurial environment are important research issues. Business model innovation is considered as a potential way for new ventures to enhance their sustainable development capability and performance. Although previous studies have pointed out that there is a positive linear relationship between business model innovation and sustainable development, little research has found the nonlinear relationship between them, as well as the moderating effects of competitive strategy innovation and strategy flexibility. In this study, an empirical model was established to test our hypotheses and answer our research questions. Analysis of data collected from 326 questionnaires shows that an inverted-U relationship exists between business model innovation and sustainable development such that new ventures with low or high business model innovation have worse sustainable development than new ventures with appropriate business model innovation. Moreover, this paper finds that competitive strategy innovation and strategic flexibility positively moderate the inverted-U relationship between business model innovation and sustainable development of new ventures. From a theoretical perspective, this study offers a model with which to understand the impacts of business model innovation, and contributes significantly to the research on new ven- tures. From a practical perspective, this paper provides new insights into the management of new ventures and recommends several practical strategies for managers and practitioners.

Explicating the business model from a knowledge-based view: nature, structure, imitability and competitive advantage erosion

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the business model (BM) from a knowledge-based view (KBV), to interpret its nature and knowledge structure and to investigate the relationship between its imitability and the erosion of firm’s competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a systematic literature review, this study builds an integrated framework to explicate the nature and structure of the BM from a KBV. Moreover, on the analysis of two contrasting cases, the argument concerning the relationship between BM imitability and its strategic value is proposed, analyzed and supported.

Findings

The main finding of this study is that a BM can be viewed as a structured knowledge cluster that contains explicit and implicit parts. Its imitation is a dynamic process of knowledge diffusion across firm boundaries. Ceteris paribus, with a lower proportion of implicit knowledge, a BM is more likely to be imitated and the adopter’s competitive advantage is more likely to be eroded, and vice versa.

Practical implications

The proposed framework could provide managers with a deeper understanding of the nature and structure of the BM and help potential adopters develop a successful entry strategy by avoiding BMs that seem profitable but are incapable of maintaining competitive advantage.

Originality/value

As a complement to previous studies, the research conceptualizes the BM as a “structured knowledge cluster” to explicate its nature and knowledge structure from a KBV. The implicit part of the BM is explored, and its importance for the adopter’s competitive advantage is discussed and verified.

Video-Sharing Apps Business Models: TikTok Case Study

As the number of mobile and Internet users increases around the world, the consumption of video content continues to grow exponentially among people, as well as businesses. However, for these platforms to offer their services at a low to no cost, they have to experiment with different business models, looking for profitability and economic balance without charging their users. In this paper, we will describe and discuss the business model of a video sharing platform that became a worldwide phenomenon only three years after its launch, from raising billions of dollars from notorious investors — e.g. SoftBank Group, Tiger Global Management — to generating exorbitant revenues, this video application was very innovative and versatile at making money and generating revenues. The main goal of this study is to understand how video sharing platforms monetize their business, especially if most of its services are free for its users. The paper highlights all the steps of a business model, using the “TikTok” application as the case study of a successful model. We found that video-sharing applications need to incorporate new ways of monetizing their businesses that they are very versatile, they do not rely solely on advertising and that they are experimenting with various models, e.g. paid subscriptions and in-app purchases.

Exploring interpretations of blockchain's value in healthcare: a multi-stakeholder approach

Purpose

Drawing broadly from the technology frame (Davidson, 2002) and organizing vision perspectives (Swanson and Ramiller, 1997) which consider the business value of information technology as resulting from actors' efforts to make sense of new technology, the study applies Ojala's (2016) business model framework to examine how different sets of actors understand the value of blockchain within the healthcare sector.

Design/methodology/approach

To include the perspective of different sets of actors, the research combines a systematic literature review to capture academic research, semi-structured interviews with blockchain experts, with an analysis of blockchain healthcare vendors.

Findings

The study finds a high degree of congruence between the perspective of different actors, with key sources of blockchain value concentrated around value proposition, particularly enhancing privacy and security; value capture, specifically cost savings, and value network, mostly enhancing data accessibility and reducing intermediation. Value delivery is the least emphasized value creation mechanism and concerns primarily improvements in supply chain transparency. Minor variations between actors' interpretations of value exist, mostly around the contribution of blockchain to support the value proposition and include the provision of social value, the creation of trust, supporting automation and improving employment.

Originality/value

Recognizing that the value of new technology is as much the result of actors' interpretations, as the objective outcome of its deployment, this study takes a multi-stakeholder perspective to examine blockchain's business value and highlights new aspects of value associated with blockchain deployments. The findings include a value outcome framework that allows systematic comparisons between blockchain implementations across contexts.

The Role of Information Systems in the Sustainable Development of Enterprises: A Systematic Literature Network Analysis

Information Systems (IS) play an important role in improving the efficiency of firms’ operations and supply chains, which links to sustainability. Therefore, this study conducted a systematic literature network analysis to review 132 articles that discuss current trends in the IS discipline. Based on a citation network analysis, this study discovered three main research domains (sustainable competitive advantage, environmental sustainability, and sustainable online social communities), and two emerging research domains (the role of IS in developing countries and sustainable information infrastructures). Furthermore, a main path analysis was conducted to understand the knowledge structure of each research domain. This addresses how different trends are reflected in the IS literature related to improving firms’ competitive advantages and environmental sustainability. The results found that the sustainable competitiveness of enterprises is improved by the synergy between IS and other recourses within in the enterprises. Green IS initiatives not only solve the issues of environmental sustainability, but also enhance sustainable competitive advantage (i.e., stock price). As social media becomes the optimal enterprise communication channel, this study discusses the factors affecting sustainable online social community, such as structural dynamics (i.e., membership size, communication activity), social dynamics (the basic nature of interactions among members), participation costs, and topic consistency. Overall, the Information System literature is highly focused on three areas—economy, environment, and society, which supports Triple Bottom Line theory.

Big-data business models: A critical literature review and multiperspective research framework

The emergence of “big data” offers organizations unprecedented opportunities to gain and maintain competitive advantage. Trying to exploit the strategic business potential embedded in big data, many organizations have started to renovate their business models or develop new ones, giving rise to the phenomenon of big-data business models. Although big-data business model research is still in its infancy, a significant number of studies on the topic have been published since 2014. We thus suggest it is time to perform a critical review and assessment of the literature at the intersection of business models and big data (analytics), thereby responding to recent calls for further research on and sustained analysis of big-data business models. In particular, our review uses three major criteria (big-data business model types, dimensions, and deployment) to assess the state of the big-data business model literature and identify shortcomings in this literature. On this basis, we derive and discuss five central research perspectives (supply chain, stakeholder, ethics, national, and process), providing guidance for future research and theory development in the area. These perspectives also have practical implications on how to address the current big-data business model deployment gap.

Value Modeling for Ecosystem Analysis

Scholars have proposed many approaches to represent and analyze value creation. Value creation in ecosystems such as platform ecosystems often relies on a specific structure of partner alignment. Value modeling techniques can improve the understanding of how ecosystem risks and non-generic complementarities determine value creation and the alignment structures required. First, we conceptualize ecosystem analysis as a tool for alignment in the context of business innovation. Then, we carry out a structured literature review to identify existing techniques, which could support ecosystem analysis. Further, we provide a comprehensive overview of the value modeling techniques and integrate our ecosystem analysis conceptualization with existing classification frameworks. This integrative framework allows researchers and scholars to identify techniques that suit specific needs in terms of internal alignment reach, tooling, innovation phase and ecosystem analysis. Our results show limited support for ecosystem analysis. Still we are able to identify techniques that can provide a useful conceptual or tooling basis to enable ecosystem analysis.

Business Models and Performance of International Construction Companies

As the construction business environment becomes ever more competitive and intense, business models are receiving considerable attention as potential sources of sustainable survival and growth. In order to design sustainable business models in today’s global construction market, it is important to understand the business models that would make a construction company achieve higher performance in terms of profitability, growth and market competitiveness. Therefore, this study identifies the business model variables of international construction and statistically analyzes the relationship between business model variables and firm performance guiding 72 international construction companies over a six-year period from 2009 to 2014. We examine the effect of business model variables on firm performance and how different business model variables can lead to different outcomes. The results show that business models play significant roles in determining the performance of international construction companies, with financial resources being a major determinant of profitability and regional diversification a major determinant of revenue growth and market competitiveness. Each business model variable had a different effect on profitability, growth and market competitiveness. This confirms that there are ideal combinations of business model variables that can help firms achieve higher performance. These findings are expected to provide useful guidance to assist executives’ decision making when designing a business model that will enable their firm to thrive in the global marketplace.

A systemic logic for platform business models

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new business model logic, highlighting value processes in and properties of platform business models to inform business model thinking from a systemic and dynamic perspective. It challenges the idea of firms managing, influencing and controlling entire activity systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The study traces the evolution of different approaches to business models and assesses theories that explain value cocreation and systemic value capture to develop a new business model logic.

Findings

Business model thinking has evolved away from Porter’s value chain to a new logic based on open networks and platforms. This study develops a framework for understanding platform business models from a systemic perspective. Derived from service-dominant logic, this new business model logic responds to phenomena in contemporary business environments characterized by increasing connectivity and sociality among actors.

Research limitations/implications

The framework, developed from an extensive body of business model literature, has yet to be subjected to empirical investigation. Future research may involve the exploration of business model design processes and business model innovation from a systemic perspective.

Practical implications

Managers who aim to design their business models based on the logic of platform businesses require an understanding of their organization’s collaboration potential, technological interfaces and potential to leverage network relationships. This research guides start-ups and incumbents to evaluate their platform potential.

Originality/value

This study systematically emancipates the business model logic from a firm-centered, inside-out perspective, focuses on network relationships beyond the customer–firm dyad, explains value processes beyond organizational borders and rethinks value capture from a systemic perspective.

The impact of digitalization on business models

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how digital technologies have forced small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reconsider and experiment with their business models (BMs) and how this contributes to their innovativeness and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study has been conducted on 338 European SMEs actively using social media and big data to innovate their BMs. Four in-depth case studies of companies involved in BM innovation have also been carried out.

Findings

Findings show that the use of social media and big data in BMI is mainly driven by strategic and innovation-related internal motives. External technology turbulence plays a role too. BMI driven by social media and big data has a positive impact on business performance. Analysis of the case studies shows that BM is driven by big data rather than by social media.

Research limitations/implications

Research into big data- and social media-driven BMs needs more insight into how components are affected and how SMEs are experimenting with adjusting their BMs, specifically in terms of human and organizational factors.

Practical implications

Findings of this study can be used by managers and top-level executives to better understand how firms experiment with BMI, what affects business model components and how implementation might affect BMI performance.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first research contributions to analyse the impact of digitalization, specifically the impact of social media and big data on a large number of European SMEs.

Three Different Ways to Skin a Cat: Financialization in the Emergence of National e-ID Solutions

The growing phenomenon of financialization influences an array of societal dimensions that go beyond the economic realm, to include public policy-making and information technology (IT). This study presents a cross-country analysis of the emergence of national electronic identification (e-ID) solutions as the result of interaction between the financial and the public sector in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Drawing on on-line sources, documents, and interviews with key actors in the three cases, we adopt a cross-disciplinary perspective by applying the lens of collective action theory to identify the role of interests, resources, and governance in the emergence of national e-ID solutions. Findings show that different governance solutions can emerge as the result of the convergence of interests and of interdependency of resources between the actors over time. We contribute to research on financialization and IT by proposing a dialectic process model and identifying five mechanisms that drive the process forward.

The evolution of facility management business models in supplier-client relationships

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to improve the current understanding of business model innovation by outlining how business models unfold over time within supplier–client relationships in facilities management (FM) services.

Design/methodology/approach

This study of FM services in Denmark consists of an explorative case study and three case studies of FM clients. Both phases, related and overlapping, involved collection and analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews and archive data.

Findings

Findings show that business model innovation entails interorganisational collaboration across different phases of the innovation process. The research demonstrates that external orientation within FM service ecosystems involves both a reaction to changes in the external environment and the proactive involvement of stakeholders throughout business model innovation.

Research limitations/implications

The selection of business model innovation processes was limited to the Danish context. The sample, although heterogeneous and representative, represented only a fraction of the total population, which may have excluded processes of business model innovation that contradict the research.

Practical implications

This paper suggests that by observing the business models of the value network over time, organisations could learn from the interdependencies between intra- and interorganisational stakeholders, thereby supporting the monitoring of risks and uncertainties as well as the anticipation of potential consequences of changes in the ecosystem.

Originality/value

This paper introduces new thinking on the subject of business model innovation to the context of FM. It presents the external orientation of FM business models as a way to combine planned and emergent business model innovation through interorganisational collaboration and value creation in FM ecosystems.

Value creation models in the 3PL industry: what 3PL providers do to cope with shipper requirements

Purpose

The resources and mechanisms required to complete a value proposition are generally considered as crucial aspects in designing a company business model. However, research in the third party logistics (3PL) arena concerned with studying how 3PL providers define their value creation architecture to meet different shippers’ requirements has so far been inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap, providing a detailed investigation on how the 3PL providers’ capabilities and logistics expertise can add value to their shippers’ processes.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative exploratory research was conducted involving, first, a systematic combining process to understand the main factors and operational strategies whereby 3PL providers can create value and build a comprehensive framework of their value creation architecture. Second, a qualitative survey was conducted on 44 leading 3PL providers operating in Italy to understand how these providers can organise themselves to create value for shippers.

Findings

The 3PL providers’ value creation architecture is presented within a clear and comprehensive framework, together with 30 potential operational strategies that can be used by 3PL providers and the related factors that enable value to be created for shippers. Three main value creation models (volume-oriented 3PL providers, process-oriented 3PL providers and innovation-oriented 3PL providers) are identified. The importance of the different factors enabling value creation is highlighted for each model, identifying the distinctive operational strategies and those adopted most frequently.

Practical implications

From a managerial perspective, 3PL providers will find these results useful for developing suitable strategies to compete on the market. From their side, shippers can understand and evaluate how 3PL providers are able to offer value to their logistics processes, allowing them to select the logistics partner who best fits their needs.

Originality/value

The present paper fulfils the identified need of examining the 3PL providers’ business model in detail. A set of distinct value creation models is identified and thoroughly investigated to reveal the different competitive advantages available to shippers.

The business model and intellectual capital in the value creation of firms

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze business model (BM) and intellectual capital (IC) of a firm with a focus on their common elements. The common bases in the field of strategic management for these two concepts are, among others, resource-based view, knowledge-based view, intellectual capital-based view, dynamic capabilities, and configurational approach. It indicates areas in which these two concepts can benefit from each other, e.g. in classification of components, their configuration, or dynamic approach. This general review examines the following research questions: What are the common concepts for the BM and IC? What are their common components? What does the dynamic approach to IC and BM mean?

Design/methodology/approach

The Web of Science™ Core Collection database was selected for the period 1975-2014 and the Journal of Intellectual Capital (JIC) indexed in Scopus® (Elsevier) was incorporated into the analysis for the period it had been indexed by Scopus (1990-2015). These databases were selected because they offer a reliable overview of historical data regarding journals, articles, and citation impact. The key filter criteria were the presence of the phrases “business model” or “intellectual capital” in the article title, abstract, and key words in order to narrow down the selection to the most appropriate results for the research area.

Findings

This paper investigates two concepts from the point of view of their underpinnings in management, definitions, and components, as well as value creation. Analysis of the foundations in management allows the author to present a cohesive model, which depicts a comprehensive approach to analysis of these two concepts. Many common elements have been identified and investigated.

Originality/value

First, it provides an indication of the common underpinnings of the analyzed concepts within the framework of strategic management and proposals for their development toward resource, knowledge, and IC accumulation, combination and heterogeneity-based views. Second, it presents an analysis of the BM and IC components, showing common elements between them. Third, it provides a description and analysis of dynamic view of BM and IC components in a value creation context.

No advertising, but more sponsorship?

Purpose

This paper is dedicated to answer two questions: What is the business model of interactive television (iTV) ad at China’s Spring Festival Gala; and Why the business model of iTV ad creates different commercial values for different firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The two questions can be summarized as what and why problems; so, this paper adopts the method of the qualitative case study. For the first question, this paper uses the method of system activity diagram to design the business model. For the second question, this paper proposes a new analytical method – voice, incentive and convenience (VIC) model, which is used to analyze the commercial value of iTV ad. The proposal of VIC model is based on Wang et al.’s Iceberg theory.

Findings

The effect of interactive advertising is significantly better than that of traditional advertising, and interactive advertising is becoming the first choice for marketers. The business model innovation of iTV ad brings new business opportunities. In addition, the larger the area of the triangle surrounded by the three elements of VIC, the higher the commercial value of iTV ad.

Originality/value

Current business model studies focus on business model definitions and innovations, whereas the studies on business model evaluation and its influential factors are rare. A new analytical model named VIC is proposed. It explores the effect of VIC on the commercial value of iTV ad and provides a reference for the quantitative empirical analysis. The combination of activity system theory and VIC model contributes to the understanding of the explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge of iTV ad business model. This framework can be used to guide TV stations and stakeholders for business model innovations and optimizations.

THE BUSINESS MODEL PATTERN DATABASE — A TOOL FOR SYSTEMATIC BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

Companies are more frequently seen shifting their focus from technological innovation towards business model innovation. One efficient option for business model innovation is to learn from existing solutions, i.e., business model patterns. However, the various understandings of the business model pattern concept are often confusing and contradictory, with the available collections incomplete, overlapping, and inconsistently structured. Therefore, the rich body of literature on business model patterns has not yet reached its full potential for both practical application as well as theoretic advancement. To help remedy this, we conduct an exhaustive review, filter for duplicates, and structure the patterns along several dimensions by applying a rigorous taxonomy-building approach. The resulting business model pattern database allows for navigation to the relevant set of patterns for a specific impact on a company’s business model. It can be used for systematic business model innovation, which we illustrate via a simplified case study.

Are Stakeholders the Only Source of Information for Requirements Engineers? Toward a Taxonomy of Elicitation Information Sources

Requirements elicitation consists in collecting and documenting information about the requirements from a system-to-be and about the environment of that system. Elicitation forms a critical step in the design of any information system, subject to many challenges like information incompleteness, variability, or ambiguity. To deal with these challenges, requirements engineers heavily rely on stakeholders, who turn out to be one of the most significant provider of information during elicitation. Sometimes, this comes at the cost of less attention being paid by engineers to other sources of information accessible in a business. In this article, we try to deal with this issue by studying the different sources of information that can be used by engineers when designing a system. We propose TELIS (a Taxonomy of Elicitation Sources), which can be used during elicitation to review more systematically the sources of information about a system-to-be. TELIS was produced through a series of empirical studies and was partially validated through a real-world case study. Our objective in this article is to increase the awareness of engineers about the other information providers within a business. Ultimately, we believe our taxonomy may help in better dealing with classical elicitation challenges and increase the chances of successful information systems design.

Capturing value from big data – a taxonomy of data-driven business models used by start-up firms

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to derive a taxonomy of business models used by start-up firms that rely on data as a key resource for business, namely data-driven business models (DDBMs). By providing a framework to systematically analyse DDBMs, the study provides an introduction to DDBM as a field of study.

Design/methodology/approach

To develop the taxonomy of DDBMs, business model descriptions of 100 randomly chosen start-up firms were coded using a DDBM framework derived from literature, comprising six dimensions with 35 features. Subsequent application of clustering algorithms produced six different types of DDBM, validated by case studies from the study’s sample.

Findings

The taxonomy derived from the research consists of six different types of DDBM among start-ups. These types are characterised by a subset of six of nine clustering variables from the DDBM framework.

Practical implications

A major contribution of the paper is the designed framework, which stimulates thinking about the nature and future of DDBMs. The proposed taxonomy will help organisations to position their activities in the current DDBM landscape. Moreover, framework and taxonomy may lead to a DDBM design toolbox.

Originality/value

This paper develops a basis for understanding how start-ups build business models capture value from data as a key resource, adding a business perspective to the discussion of big data. By offering the scientific community a specific framework of business model features and a subsequent taxonomy, the paper provides reference points and serves as a foundation for future studies of DDBMs.

CAN THE CROWD DO THE JOB? EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF INTEGRATING CUSTOMERS INTO A COMPANY’S BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

While collaborative business modeling (CBM) constitutes a promising new approach for opening up a company’s innovation process, existing literature lacks empirical evidence of the effects related to this approach. Drawing on related literature on the quality of creative output, this paper proposes that in the context of a CBM initiative, the integration of customers will improve the quality of the generated output. As indicated by the results of our empirical evaluation, customers are indeed capable of developing high quality business models and are able to outperform company experts when it comes to the task of developing new business models.

Sustaining and Expanding Telehealth: A Survey of Business Models from Selected Prominent U.S. Telehealth Centers

INTRODUCTION

Telehealth centers across the country, including our own center, are addressing sustainability and best practice business models. We undertook this survey to explore the business models being used at other established telehealth centers. In the literature on telehealth and sustainability, there is a paucity of comparative studies as to how successful telehealth centers function.

METHODS

In this study, we compared the business models of 10 successful telehealth centers. We conducted the study by interviewing key individuals at the centers, either through teleconference or telephone.

RESULTS

We found that there are five general approaches to sustaining a telehealth center: grants, telehealth network membership fees, income from providing clinical services, per encounter charges, and operating as a cost center. We also found that most centers use more than one approach.

CONCLUSION

We concluded that, although the first four approaches can contribute to the success of a center, telehealth centers are and should remain cost centers for their respective institutions.

Understanding Internet of Things (IoT) diffusion

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a representative technological innovation for future computing and communications. IoT technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and sensors have garnered huge attention in both academia and industry. However, the expected rapid adoption and diffusion of IoT technologies have not yet taken place and there is still a lack of understanding about IoT and how industries can apply IoT properly. To understand IoT utilization, predict the diffusion trends of IoT, and provide reliable guidelines for potential IoT adopters, this study investigated the value configuration of IoT technologies, focusing on the utilization of specific technology attributes of IoT in particular business contexts. Based on 762 IoT business cases (2008–2012), this study explored the technology attributes and business contexts of IoT usage and identified five representative value configuration models of IoT through cluster analysis: ID-based service model, Multiple operation management model, Service-combined inventory management model, Intelligent inventory transport model, and Sensor-based multiple service model. In addition, propositions for IoT utilization in each industry were provided according to the five value configuration models. The research results provide a holistic view for understanding IoT utilization in various business areas and the value configuration framework approach provides a more elaborate frame to understand diffusion trends of new technology.