How do business model tools facilitate business model exploration? Evidence from action research
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RESEARCH PAPER
How do business model tools facilitate business model exploration? Evidence from action research Alexia Athanasopoulou 1 & Mark De Reuver 1 Received: 22 July 2019 / Accepted: 18 March 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract 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. Keywords Business model exploration . Business model tooling . Action research . Business model innovation
Introduction Tools for describing, presenting and communicating business models are emerging rapidly, both in practice and academia (Szopinski et al. 2019). Business models describe how companies create value for users and stakeholders (e.g. De Reuver et al. 2013; Teece 2010; Khanagha et al. 2014). Business model tools are `boundary objects’ that facilitate exchanging business model ideas between stakeholders (Bouwman et al. 2018b). Business Model Canvas is particularly popular (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2010), and has become the de facto standard tool for documenting and sharing business model ideas. Studies show that canvas-based business model tools
Responsible Editors: Hans-Dieter Zimmermann This article is part of the Topical Collection on Business model innovation: Tools and Innovation patterns * Alexia Athanasopoulou [email protected] Mark De Reuver [email protected] 1
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 5, 2628, BX Delft, The Netherlands
help to describe, document and communicate business model ideas (Chandra Kruse and Nickerson 2018). For our study, we focus on the notion of business model exploration, in which uncertainties are great and new business opportunities emerge. Business model exploration comprises processes of developing initial ideas for a new business model (Cavalcante et al. 2011), (2) conceptualizing alternative business models (Sosna et al. 2010), (3) exploring and assessing alternatives (Heikkilä et al. 2016), and (4) formulating concrete actions to implement the selected business models (Baden-Fuller and Morgan 2010; McGrath 2010). In this way, business model exploration goes beyond describing, documenting and communicating business model ideas. The goal of this study is to examine how business
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