Electronic Markets

Alt, Rainer

doi: 10.1007/s12525-020-00438-zpmid: N/A

Bouwman, Harry; de Reuver, Mark; Heikkilä, Marikka; Fielt, Erwin

doi: 10.1007/s12525-020-00424-5pmid: N/A

This special issue bundles a series of papers on business model tooling. Business model tools are methods, frameworks or templates to facilitate communication and collaboration regarding Business Model analysis, (re-)design, adoption, implementation and exploitation. In this introduction to the special issue, we position business model tooling in the broader literature, going beyond the mere use of tooling to disseminate academic knowledge. We point out the unique contributions on business model tooling that information systems scholars can bring. After giving an overview of business model tools and ontologies, we sketch a brief research agenda comprising seven research directions: (1) design of tooling; (2) interfaces and usability; (3) evaluation and testing; (4) adoption, diffusion and commercialization of tooling; (5) privacy and security of tool users; (6) the use of tooling in business model education; and (7) future tooling enabled by big data and machine learning.

Schwarz, Johannes S.; Legner, Christine

doi: 10.1007/s12525-019-00379-2pmid: N/A

As companies engage in business model (BM) innovation, they increasingly turn to BM tools, such as the Business Model Canvas, the STOF framework, or e3-value ontology. The main advantages associated with these tools are that they establish a standard lexicon, or common language, within an organization. Despite the increasing scholarly interest in BM tools, we still lack theoretical foundations and empirical evidence for understanding their roles and uses in BM innovation. In this article, we argue for conceptualizing BM tools (i.e. models, methods, and IT support), as boundary objects that must have the capacities to overcome the knowledge boundaries between different communities of practice. Based on empirical insights from six case studies and an in-depth field study, we make three contributions: First, we identify five typical communities of practice involved in BM innovation in large organizations. Second, we analyze the knowledge boundaries between them. Third, we discuss implications for BM tool design as boundary objects with syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic capacities.

Weking, Jörg; Hein, Andreas; Böhm, Markus; Krcmar, Helmut

doi: 10.1007/s12525-018-0322-5pmid: N/A

Although business model innovation (BMI) is essential to remaining competitive, many firms fail at it. A promising approach is building on reoccurring successful solutions – business model patterns (BMP) – as a blueprint for BMI. However, existing patterns face constraints subject to a high diversity and overlaps among patterns. In addition, literature do not consider relations among BMPs, which limits their potential for BMI. This paper develops a hierarchical taxonomy of BMPs including generalizations and specializations based on inheritance. We conduct a literature review to identify patterns and a cluster analysis to create an inductive structure, followed by a qualitative analysis. The resulting hierarchical taxonomy includes 194 elements. It is the first hierarchical taxonomy of BMPs. The hierarchy addresses the diversity of patterns and overlaps with inheritance. It aids research to structure and understand BMPs. For practice, the taxonomy allows for the application of patterns and supports BMI.

Szopinski, Daniel; Schoormann, Thorsten; John, Thomas; Knackstedt, Ralf; Kundisch, Dennis

doi: 10.1007/s12525-018-0326-1pmid: N/A

Software tools for business model development hold great promise for supporting business model innovation, but nonetheless, virtually no design-relevant knowledge exists concerning the functions that such tools should possess. As a result, practitioners lack guidance for choosing software tools, and researchers lack a foundation for advancing knowledge on these tools in a cumulative way. To address these issues, we synthesize knowledge from research on software tools for business model development and adjacent fields with the results of an analysis of 24 software tools from practice. Our contribution is threefold. First, we provide a comprehensive taxonomy that identifies 43 characteristic functions of software-based business model development tools. Second, we provide a classification of existing software tools for the taxonomy and, on this basis, third, we derive an agenda for future research. We thus support practitioners’ decision making on tool (re-)design and investment, and provide the foundation for a cumulative stream of research on software tools for business model development.

Athanasopoulou, Alexia; De Reuver, Mark

doi: 10.1007/s12525-020-00418-3pmid: N/A

Business model tools are commonly used to describe and communicate business model ideas. However, studies do not sufficiently address whether and how business model tools support the early, exploratory phase in which new business models are initiated, conceptualized, assessed and planned. In this exploratory phase, offerings and addressable markets are highly uncertain, which requires extensive idea generation, reframing, comparison and evaluation. This paper examines whether and how business model tools facilitate the process of business model exploration. Through action research, we find three ways in which business model tools can better facilitate the process of exploring, reframing and comparing alternative business models. The paper contributes to business model literature and managerial practice by providing empirical evidence on how tooling facilitates business model exploration.

Im, Kwanyoung; Nam, Kihwan; Cho, Hyunbo

doi: 10.1007/s12525-020-00427-2pmid: N/A

Despite the great importance of designing innovative business models, a validated methodology that helps related process is still not available. To fill this gap, this research introduces business model management concepts that consider business models as individual entities that can be systematically developed and managed by utilizing science based methodology. This study mainly focuses on proposing business model evaluation and deployment framework by applying analytic network process (ANP), a multi multiple criteria decision-making method and portfolio matrix strategy. The proposed evaluation method is designed to consider both internal and external perspectives where internal perspective is measured through ANP method by employees, while external perspective is measured through customer survey by in-depth interview. The obtained values from ANP and customer survey are then used to construct the business model portfolio matrix for continuous business model management. To this end, this study identifies 12 criteria within three different categories employed in ANP analysis and business model portfolio matrix, respectively. The proposed framework for managing business models provides new insights to both practitioners and academics. It regards business models as individual entities and introduces a way to practically apply the business model concept. It also provides managers with guidelines to manage business model alternatives in terms of evaluation, selection, and continuous management. Finally, because this study is, to the best of our knowledge, one of the first attempts to employ the portfolio management concept in business model research, it can function as the foundation for future applied business model research.

Bazarhanova, Anar; Yli-Huumo, Jesse; Smolander, Kari

doi: 10.1007/s12525-019-00331-4pmid: N/A

BackgroundThere is substantial interest among scholars in digital platforms and the ecosystems around them. Digital platforms are open, continuously evolving, sociotechnical structures that can be sensitive to various changes.AimWe take one-step further and investigate the post-dominance phase of platforms. The electronic identification (eID) ecosystem in Finland provides a good example of ecosystem transformation due to external changes from EU and national regulation.MethodWe engage in an extensive case study of a nation-wide monopolistic eID platform. We first take a retrospective view to understand the historical context and then examine in detail how an external driver leads to changes in the ecosystem.ResultsWe explicate the platform evolution process, from a phase of dominance with centralized control structures to a more federated governance approach. We find that the introduction of intermediaries between the platform and its users contributes to a weakening of the dominant platform owners.ConclusionThis finding that platforms can transform into industry infrastructures has an important implication for our understanding of the dynamics underlying digital platforms.

Veisdal, Jørgen

doi: 10.1007/s12525-020-00409-4pmid: N/A

Motivating buyers and sellers to join an empty platform is thought to be a key challenge for firms attempting to launch digital platforms in two-sided markets. According to predictions from extant literature, ’no one joins until everyone joins’. The phenomenon is often referred to as the “chicken-and-egg problem”. This study investigates the phenomenon in an exploratory multi-case study of ten startup technology firms operating digital platforms in two-sided markets. The study finds that the firms entered their markets using a variety of strategies distinguishable by strategic, relational and temporal factors. A conceptual framework is proposed which distinguishes the firms’ strategies along these dimensions. In addition, a cross-case discussion of the dynamics of the firms’ strategies is provided. Deductively, the findings contribute to establishing an empirical grounding for predictions from extant literature. Inductively, the findings contribute preliminary managerial implications as well as propositions for further research on entry strategies for digital platforms in two-sided markets.

Drasch, Benedict J.; Fridgen, Gilbert; Manner-Romberg, Tobias; Nolting, Fenja M.; Radszuwill, Sven

doi: 10.1007/s12525-020-00412-9pmid: N/A

Multi-sided platforms are omnipresent in today’s digital world. However, establishing a platform includes challenges: The platform utility usually increases with the number of participants. At an early stage, potential participants expect the platform utility to be low and lack an incentive to join (i.e., “chicken and egg” problem). Blockchain-enabled utility tokens hold the promise to overcome this problem. They supposedly provide a suitable financial incentive for their owners to join the platform as soon as possible. In the first half of 2018, investors seemed to believe in the presumption and spent more than US$ 17.6 billion in token sales. To date, we know little about this financial incentive in the context of the token economy. For this purpose, we model the token value development and the associated incentives in a multi-sided blockchain-enabled platform. The resulting findings suggest that blockchain-enabled utility tokens can help to overcome the “chicken and egg” problem. However, these tokens lead to contradictory incentives for platform participants, and can even inhibit platform usage. The contribution of our work is twofold: First, we develop one of the first models for token value development. Second, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the utility token’s financial incentive.