engleski

Business model concept: An integrative framework proposal

Every firm employs a particular business model seeking competitive advantage. However, this pursuit is difficult, and sometimes unsuccessful. The reasons for failure could be sought in the managers’ lack of understanding of their organizations’ business models and the potential that they have. Even in the scientific community there is very heterogeneous comprehension of the concept and little agreement on the core elements of a business model (Shafer, Smith, & Linder, 2005 ; Zott, Amit, & Massa, 2011 ; Wirtz et al., 2016). The objective of the paper is to critically rethink existing literature on business models for the purpose of creating integrative generic business model framework proposal, more adapted to the new needs on the changing markets and suitable for various types of organizations. Examining databases was confirmed as appropriate method for exploring extant literature on business models (Ghaziani & Ventresca, 2005 ; Zott et al., 2011 ; DaSilva & Trkman, 2014 ; Wirtz et al., 2016). For this study, leading academic and practitioner- oriented management journals and ABI/INFORM database were searched for articles that contain the term business model in the title, abstract or keywords. After introducing three additional criteria for the purpose of increasing quality of selection, the final sample contained 108 publications. Frequency of appearance of business model elements in the selected literature was recorded. To gain additional insight, the Shafer et al. (2005) approach was followed by developing an affinity diagram to categorize business model elements that were cited four or more times. This diagram was a starting point for rethinking existing elements, their overlapping, and creation of new integrative framework proposal. This study identified 391 different first- and second-order themes, that is, business model elements. Four elements (value proposition, customer, product, and resources) are mentioned in more than 20 publications, and 59 are mentioned at least four times. To help managers better understand business models, further critical analysis of these elements resulted in an updated and innovative integrative business model framework. It consists of four primary interrelated categories (value proposition, value capture, value creation, and value network) including several elements that accentuate the generalizability of the proposal. Literature review confirmed the lack of consensus on the understanding of business model concept while the complexity of changing markets and the prevailing search for sustainability beyond profit emphasised the need for generic business model framework. This paper proposed the model not specific to a single sector, but comprehensive enough to be useful for a variety of organizations, with various mission and vision orientations and interaction with the environment. From a conceptual viewpoint, more clarity is given to the theoretical foundations of a business model as an independent concept which has general validity. From a practical viewpoint, this study may be particularly helpful to practitioners whose organizations are seeking how to refine or reinvent their business model in order to adapt to signals of change from the external environment. References: DaSilva, C. M., & Trkman, P. (2014). Business Model: what it is and what it is not. Long Range Planning, 47(6), 379-389. Ghaziani, A., & Ventresca, M. J. (2005). Keywords and cultural change: Frame analysis of business model public talk 1975-2000. Sociological Forum, 20(4), 523- 559. Shafer, S. M., Smith, H. J., & Linder, J. C. (2005). The power of business models, Business Horizons, 48(3), 199-207. Wirtz, B. W., Pistoia, A., Ullrich, S., & Göttel, V. (2016). Business models: Origin, development and future research perspectives. Long Range Planning, 49(1), 36-54. Zott, C., Amit, R., & Massa, L. (2011). The business model: recent developments and future research. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1019-1042.

business model ; value proposition ; value creation ; value capture ; value network

This work was supported by the Croatian Science Foundation [grant number UIP-2014-09-1214].