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Please quote as: Veit, D.; Clemons, E.; Benlian, A.; Buxmann, P.; Hess, T.; Kundisch, D.;
Leimeister, J. M.; Loos, P. & Spann, M. (2014): Business Models - An Information Systems
Research Agenda. In: Business & Information Systems Engineering - Research Notes,
Ausgabe/Number: 1, Erscheinungsjahr/Year: 2014. Seiten/Pages: 45-53.
BISE – RESEARCH NOTES
Business Models
An Information Systems Research Agenda
In the context of the wide-spread digitization of businesses and society at large, the logic
inherent in a business model has become critical for business success and, hence, a focus for
academic inquiry. The business model concept is identified as the missing link between
business strategy, processes, and Information Technology (IT). The BISE community offers
distinct and unique competencies that can be harnessed for significant research
contributions to this field. Three distinct streams are delineated, namely, business models in
IT industries, IT enabled or digital business models, and IT support for developing and
managing business models.
DOI 10.1007/s12599-013-0308-y
The Authors
Prof. Dr. Daniel Veit (!)
University of Augsburg
Universitätsstraße 16
86135 Augsburg
Germany
veit@wiwi.uni-augsburg.de
Prof. Eric Clemons, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
USA
Prof. Dr. Alexander Benlian
Prof. Dr. Peter Buxmann
TU Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Germany
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hess
Prof. Dr. Martin Spann
LMU München
München
Germany
Prof. Dr. Dennis Kundisch
Universität Paderborn
Paderborn
Germany
Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister
Universität Kassel
Kassel
Germany
and
Universität St. Gallen
St. Gallen
Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Peter Loos
Saarland University and DFKI
Saarbrücken
Germany
Received: 2013-05-09
Accepted: 2013-09-24
Accepted after two revisions by the
editors of the special focus.
Published online: 2014-01-21
This article is also available in Ger-
man in print and via http://www.
wirtschaftsinformatik.de:VeitD,Cle-
mons E, Benlian A, Buxmann P, Hess T,
Kundisch D, Leimeister JM, Loos P,
Spann M (2013) Geschäftsmodelle.
Eine Forschungsagenda für die Wirt-
schaftsinformatik. WIRTSCHAFTSIN-
FORMATIK. doi: 10.1007/s11576-013-
0400-4.
©Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
2014
1 Introduction
With the digitization wave breaking, fun-
damental changes in almost all indus-
tries have been unleashed. Therein enter-
prises face severe challenges when shap-
ing concrete digital business models for
commercialization (BMWi 2012). The
growth of the internet has undoubtedly
created greater opportunities for digi-
tized business transactions but this has
been accompanied by an intensified com-
petition and an accelerated pace of tech-
nological change. On the global scale,
these developments have disrupted mar-
ket forces in a novel way. Such changes
are putting pressure on existing firms
which, in order to maintain competitive-
ness, have to adapt their business logic
and processes to this fast-moving envi-
ronment. Hence, the business model con-
cept seems particularly apt to providing
an overarching framework with which
novel approaches in the digital era can be
strategically structured, analyzed and de-
signed (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2013).
Addressing the business model concept
as an anchor for the identification of the
impact of IT is a fairly novel endeavor.
It has garnered attention in several re-
lated disciplines, e.g., strategic manage-
ment, entrepreneurship and marketing,
but – today – it remains largely under-
researched in the information systems
(IS) field. In light of the comprehen-
sive digitization of enterprises and so-
ciety at large this seems all the more
surprising. The young research field of
business and information systems engi-
neering (BISE) was established with the
aim of combining a range of scientific
perspectives, traditions and methodolog-
ical backgrounds. In this sense it rep-
resents the missing link between busi-
ness and information technology, which
other disciplines do not cover in research
(Bharadwaj et al. 2013). Questions re-
garding the impact of IT and its trans-
formative power on individuals, society,
business and organizations are therefore
of central interest to the discipline.
The objective of this article is to pro-
mote the use of the business model con-
cept by identifying its state of the art, dis-
cussing three research perspectives which
Business & Information Systems Engineering 1|2014 45
BISE – RESEARCH NOTES
serve as umbrella terms for most parts of
this topic area, and to develop a research
agenda for IS and BISE researchers.
2 Foundations of the Business
Model Concept and State of the
Art
The business model is seen as a tool
for depicting, innovating and evaluating
business logics in startups and in existing
organizations, especially in IT-enabled or
digital industries. In IS research it is also
used as a tool, as a unit of analysis and
as a framework (European Commission
2012). According to Al-Debei and Avi-
son (2010,p.372)thebusinessmodelis
“an abstract representation of an organi-
zation, be it conceptual, textual, and/or
graphical, of all core interrelated archi-
tectural, co-operational, and financial ar-
rangements designed and developed by
an organization presently and in the fu-
ture, as well all core products and/or ser-
vices the organization offers, or will of-
fer, based on these arrangements that are
needed to achieve its strategic goals and
objectives”. The importance of the con-
cept is also highlighted by a number of
other authors who have underlined its
descriptive and structuring power in re-
lation to information and communica-
tion technologies (ICT). It has been ap-
plied to, for example, the simulation and
patenting of designed business logic, and
to improvements in the decision-making
processes of a firm’s strategic alignment
or success (Osterwalder 2004). To date,
research on the topic has emerged from
its infancy by offering core definitions
and components to the classification,
evaluation, and innovation of business
models (Pateli and Giaglis 2004;Zott
et al. 2011). Scientists began to study the
reasons why some enterprises had been
successful while many others had failed
(Amit and Zott 2001;Dubosson-Torbay
et al. 2002;McGrath2010).
An effective realization of the business
model concept can foster the develop-
ment of enterprise applications (Gordijn
et al. 2000)andconsequentlythecom-
munication between business and IT
(Osterwalder et al. 2005). Hence, the in-
creasing utility of the concept of business
models is, in practice, contingent on it
becoming more formalized (Becker et al.
2011). Additionally, the business model
Fig. 1 Business Model as
intermediary between
strategy and business
processes (adapted from:
Al-Debei et al. 2008)
concept has proven to be a very helpful
and distinct unit of analysis when it is
conceptualized as an activity system that
determines the content, governance and
structure of a firm’s boundary-spanning
interactions (Zott and Amit 2007). This
conceptualization is inherently attractive
since it acknowledges not only the rel-
evance of social interactions for busi-
ness but also the mutual interdependence
between a firm and its business envi-
ronment. Extending this view to more
generic level allows to integrate the busi-
ness model concept into economic con-
siderations about the role of the enter-
prise in society and its effect on the well-
being of whole nations (Audretsch et al.
2006).
Business models are often seen as a an
intermediary between a company’s strat-
egy and its business processes (Morris
et al. 2005;DiValentinetal.2012)as
depicted in Fig. 1.Thus,whilestrategy
focuses on how to prevail over com-
petitors, the business model depicts the
logic of value creation and the effec-
tive coordination of business resources
(Osterwalder et al. 2005). In contrast, a
business process describes the produc-
tion of a specific output through the use
of several input factors (Hammer and
Champy 1994;Gordijnetal.2000;An-
dresen et al. 2011). If, for example, a com-
pany changes its business model from
in-house production to external produc-
tion, this will also have an influence on
the required resources and related busi-
ness processes. The literature features ap-
proaches whereby the reverse is also con-
sidered, describing the way business pro-
cesses have an influence on a company’s
business model (Bonakdar et al. 2013).
IS research sees its role in focusing par-
ticularly on the interplay between busi-
ness models and business processes and
the resulting requirements for ICT (Hess
et al. 2012). By considering all the factors
that correlate with the activities of a busi-
ness process, its scope can be utilized as a
meaningful unit of analysis in the course
of planning business models. Thus, rele-
vant information for the design of busi-
ness models can be obtained based on the
underlying business processes. Hence, a
business model conveys the meaning of
the underlying business processes by ex-
plaining why they are being carried out in
the way they are (vom Brocke et al. 2011;
Di Valentin et al. 2012).
We adop t t h e v ie w o f Te e c e ( 2010), Zott
and Amit (2007), and others who define
business models and strategy as distinct
concepts that are linked to each other.
The concept of business models is of-
ten used in management as a method to
help analyze and understand a company’s
current business logic. Used in this way
the concept also supports the planning of
strategic decision-making (Osterwalder
et al. 2005;SeppaenenandMaekinen
2005;KijlandBoersma2010). The con-
tinuously rising number of publications
dealing with the concept have marked the
beginning of an academic era in which
business models form the central unit
of analysis (Burkhart et al. 2012;Veit
and Steininger 2012). So far, however,
most business model concepts consider
generic aspects but fail to take into con-
sideration industry-specific aspects. Ac-
cordingly, the following three main pil-
lars of importance to BISE research were
identified in three workshops:1(1) Busi-
ness models in IT industries (e.g., ICT
providers, software industry), which are
facing challenges and opportunities such
as shortening life cycles or low produc-
tion costs (Buxmann et al. 2012). (2) IT
enabled or digital business models (e.g.,
media industry, iPad/iPhone ecosystem,
1MKWI Workshop on Business Models as a BISE research topic, 2012-03-01, Braunschweig (Hess 2012)andWorkshopwithpresentations
of business model research projects of the group, 2012-10-02, Mannheim, Pre-ECIS Workshop on the Digitization in Business Models and
Entrepreneurship, Utrecht.
46 Business & Information Systems Engineering 1|2014
BISE – RESEARCH NOTES
on demand services) which are trans-
forming consumer behavior and society
(Tiwana et al. 2010). (3) IT support for
developing and managing business mod-
els (e.g., modeling languages or simula-
tion) through the development of tools
for visualization, simulation, or decision
support (Kundisch et al. 2012).
Business model studies are uniting
BISE, entrepreneurship and strategic
management research with a strong accu-
mulation in BISE outlets, mirroring the
interdisciplinary nature of the topic and
the discipline (DeSanctis 2003). Exam-
ples are comprehensive classifications of
literature (Burkhart et al. 2011); the defi-
nition of business models for the software
industry (Buxmann et al. 2012;Schief
and Buxmann 2012)andtheirperfor-
mance (Schief et al. 2012); the changes
and impacts through IT-enabled business
models in the music industry (Steininger
et al. 2012;Wagneretal.2013)orin-
ternet business models (Leimeister and
Krcmar 2004); and tools for representing
business models (Kundisch et al. 2012;
Kundisch and John 2012).
Areviewoftheliteratureundertaken
by Pateli and Giaglis (2004)hassum-
marized the following key definitions in
business model research:
Definitions:Importantcontributions
were made by Timmers (1998), who un-
derstands a business model as “an archi-
tecture for the product, service and in-
formation flows, including a description
of the various business actors and their
roles; and a description of the potential
benefits for the various actors; and de-
scription of the sources of revenue” (p. 4)
or Magretta (2002,p.4)whodescribesa
business model as a “story that explains
how an enterprise works”. Further au-
thors dealing with the definition of busi-
ness models are Tapscott et al. (2000),
Linder and Cantrell (2000), Gordijn et al.
(2000)andPetrovicetal.(2001).
Components:Morrisetal.(2005)fo-
cus in their literature review on the con-
stituent elements of a business model by
deriving a generic business model frame-
work consisting of six key decision ar-
eas. Burkhart et al. (2011) present a holis-
tic view on the business model con-
cept by structuring the research field of
business models. They derive a classifi-
cation framework consisting of 17 eval-
uation criteria and corresponding at-
tributes. Further representatives dealing
with business model components are Os-
terwalder and Pigneur’s (2010)Business
Model Canvas and Hamel (2002).
Representations: Gordijn and Akker-
mans (2001)presentane-businesson-
tology (e3-value ontology) consisting of
core concepts that are interrelated by us-
ing so-called ‘Use Case Maps’ (a scenario
technique). Tapscott’s B-Webs describe a
network consisting of distributors, sup-
pliers, and commercial service providers
as well as customers that are connected
to each other via the Web and other
electronic media (Tapscott et al. 2000).
Burkhart et al. (2012)presentanontol-
ogy for business models in the software
industry.
Taxon o m ie s :Rappa(2004)proposesa
classification scheme of nine e-business
models, consisting of brokerage, adver-
tising, information intermediary, mer-
chant, manufacturer direct, affiliate,
community, subscription, and utility. He
also introduces the utility business model
emphasizing the future of computer ser-
vices, Osterwalder and Pigneur (2002)
derived the e-business model ontology
with the aim of designing a business
model.
From a BISE perspective, several ar-
ticles have laid down the foundations
for research. Hedman and Kalling (2003)
structure the components of a business
model within a firm with regards to
IT and propose theoretical perspectives
such as the resource-based view (RBV)
for the different levels. Al-Debei and
Avison (2010)arebuildingonsomeof
these ideas and develop a unified busi-
ness model framework encompassing a
definition, dimensions, functions, reach,
and modeling principles of the concept
through a content analysis of existing
literature.
In addition to more generic defini-
tions of business models, a number of
definitions focus on e-business and e-
commerce. Timmers (1998)wasoneof
the first to propose eleven types of e-
commerce business models. Besides the
research work on the foundations of the
concept there are articles looking at the
innovation of business models and their
performance. An example of such an arti-
cle on innovation shows how Xerox cap-
tured value from innovations through
moving to a new business model (Ches-
brough and Rosenbloom 2002). First
quantitative articles on performance im-
plications are looking at the configura-
tion of business models (Zott and Amit
2007,2008) and are finding implica-
tions that go beyond factors that can be
explained through strategy alone.
3 BISE Research Perspectives on
the Business Model Concept
The three major pillars of business model
research in the BISE field, which have
been identified in Sect. 2based on the
literature and the initial workshops of
the research group can be utilized to
structure the perspectives for the business
model concept (Fig. 2).
3.1 Business Models in IT Industries
Among the different IT sub-industries
(e.g., hardware, software, telecommuni-
cations), the software industry stands out
because of the specific features that dis-
tinguish it from other industries (Bux-
mann et al. 2012). Software products can
be reproduced at low marginal costs and
hence, the variable costs are close to
zero. Moreover, software can be copied
without any loss of quality and software
products can be easily changed. Soft-
ware markets have special characteristics,
too. One feature is its strong internation-
alization. Another are network effects
which might lead to winner-takes-it-all-
markets. Furthermore, software markets
are continuously affected by and shaped
through disruptive technological trends
such as in-memory database manage-
ment (Loos et al. 2011)orsoftware-as-a-
service (Benlian et al. 2009;Benlianand
Hess 2011). From the vendor’s perspec-
tive, a number of strategies and busi-
ness models can be derived from these
characteristics of software products and
markets. The multi-faceted nature of the
business model concept can help to ex-
plain how these characteristics impact on
value creation and capture by firms.
More recent research on business
models has attracted scholarly attention
(Steininger et al. 2011;Burkhartetal.
2011). While most research focused on
generic business models, the perspective
of software firms is of particular inter-
est to the field of IS (Hess et al. 2012).
The distinguishing characteristics of soft-
ware products and markets have resulted
in a focus on business models in the soft-
ware industry. However, similar charac-
teristics such as network effects can be
found in the telecommunication busi-
ness (Zarnekow et al. 2007). In contrast,
we think that business models in the
hardware business are more compara-
ble to those in traditional, physical in-
dustries. We broadly categorize the re-
search questions raised in the previous
literature on software business models
into three interconnected areas. In the
Business & Information Systems Engineering 1|2014 47
BISE – RESEARCH NOTES
Fig. 2 Expected research
results and objectives
first we raise the question of identify-
ing the constitutive elements of a soft-
ware business model (Rajala et al. 2003;
Kontio et al. 2005; Rajala 2009;Schief
and Buxmann 2012). Secondly, we intend
to identify the most prevalent classes of
software business models (Kontio et al.
2005; Valtakoski and Rönkkö 2010;Popp
2011;Schiefetal.2012). Thirdly, we
aim to identify the performance implica-
tions of software business models (Rajala
and Westerlund 2012;Schiefetal.2012;
Schief and Pussep 2013).
Further research should not only build
upon these foundations and continue
to accumulate empirical evidence but
also transfer findings to other IT sub-
industries such as hardware, networking
and telecommunication businesses. Us-
ing object-oriented terminology, we see
aneedforthederivationofspecificsub-
classes for business models for IT firms
from the generic class of business mod-
els in general.Thesubclasswouldinherit
the elements of generic business mod-
els and extend them to specific areas
of the respective IT industry (e.g., soft-
ware industry). The research question of
how particular business model instantia-
tions impact on the performance of firms
should also be of continuing interest for
researchers and practitioners. Answering
these questions requires a deep under-
standing of the industry. As such, the IS
field is particularly suitable to providing
answers related to IT industries.
3.2 Digital Business Models
A business model is digital if changes in
digital technologies trigger fundamental
changes in the way business is carried
out and revenues are generated. Venka-
traman (1994)referstothisasthefourth
and fifth level of IT-enabled business
transformation. The majority of business
models are digital in the media indus-
try, the retail industry, the financial ser-
vices industry, and in logistics. This is of
course also the case for online-only (i.e.
pure play) companies. Researchers from
the BISE community are able to identify
new technologies early, understand the
technologies in depth and bring new ar-
tifacts into the world (following the de-
sign science approach). BISE researchers,
therefore, offer distinct competitive ad-
vantages over researchers from business
studies or economics (Osterwalder and
Pigneur 2013).
The first stream of literature on dig-
ital business models was established in
the 1990s. This research has started on
the impact of new technologies such as
EDI on the division of labor between
companies, an important aspect of the
outside perspective on a business model.
Also business models of intermediaries
were discussed at the time. A major re-
sult of these efforts is the ‘move-to-
the-middle’ hypothesis (Clemons et al.
1993). Another research stream looks
into value creation and value capture en-
abled through digital business models.
Amit and Zott (2001), for example, ex-
amined 59 e-business models for explor-
ing the theoretical foundations of value
creation. They regard value creation as
aprerequisiteforvaluecapture.Inthis
context, (Teece 2010)notesthatbusi-
ness models in the information and inter-
net industries are particularly challeng-
ing with respect to value capture. A third
stream of literature deals with the role
of ICT as the driver of a new wave of
industrialization (Barua et al. 2004). A
fourth stream focuses on ICT-enabled
changes in product and service models,
especially in retailing and in the media in-
dustry. One typical field of research is the
analysis of the interdependences between
different channels (Forman et al. 2009).
A fifth stream deals with the emergence
of entirely new business models (Österle
2007;Steiningeretal.2013)ofwhich
the discussion of the business model of
providers of social media platforms is a
prominent example (Liang and Turban
2011).
The first direction of research is still
very active with new technologies con-
sistently being introduced into the mar-
ket. The current focus is on ecosystems
(Burkard et al. 2012)andthechanging
role of the customer (Reichwald et al.
2009;Leimeister2012). Another topic
here centers on the discussion of the
economies of intermediation, especially
from a customer perspective (Matt and
Hess 2012). Dealing not only with cus-
tomers but with all of a firm’s stake-
holders, the business model literature on
value creation and capture is currently
attending to a range of issues including
how to create value in times of change
(e.g., Zott and Amit 2012), additional
value dimensions such as normative and
cognitive requirements (e.g., Sach 2013),
or how to synchronize societal and eco-
nomic value creation (e.g., Seelos and
Mair 2007). In the fourth stream of re-
search on business models one focus is
currently on revenue models, for example
on the analysis of the premium model´s
potential to increase consumer willing-
ness to pay for content (Wagner et al.
2013)orthepotentialandacceptance
of dynamic pricing in electronic com-
merce (Hinz et al. 2011). Other studies
are dealing with the impact that mobile
devices have on retailers (Molitor et al.
2012). Smartphones possess sensors that
can digitize information on a consumer’s
situational context (e.g., geographical lo-
cation, product EAN code) and use this
48 Business & Information Systems Engineering 1|2014
BISE – RESEARCH NOTES
information to provide consumers with
context-specific information (e.g., prices
for this product in other stores in a con-
sumer’s vicinity, recommendations from
friends for restaurants nearby). There is
also an ongoing discussion on emerg-
ing business models such as location-
based advertising using the technological
possibilities of smart mobile devices or
(mobile) technologies and enabling cus-
tomers to become ‘prosumers’, i.e. pro-
ducers and consumers of information
services (Resatsch et al. 2008). One ques-
tion is whether there will be a mar-
ket for companies offering large amounts
of consumer data that combine (anony-
mous) online profiles (e.g., clickstream
data) with consumers’ offline behavior
and the current user context (e.g., geo-
graphical location, content of website ac-
tive in browser etc.) for every customer
point of contact.
Anewfieldofresearchondigital
business models is currently developing
around the enrichment of established
products or production systems. In Ger-
many this is being discussed under the
term ‘Industry 4.0’. Questions related to
this topic are very broad. One interest-
ing field is concerned with the pricing
of hybrid bundles. For example, product
service systems (PSS) are a specific form
of hybrid products which apply a ser-
vice dominant logic to products (Vargo
and Lusch 2008), usually consisting of a
bundle of IT services and human services
(Berkovich et al. 2011). Interesting exam-
ples are, e.g., printing solutions or manu-
facturing solutions in the B2B area, where
some former hardware manufacturers
have now turned into equipment opera-
tors, offering pay-per-use pricing mod-
els. Key research challenges are around
different ways of creating and captur-
ing value with PSS. These specific exam-
ples also underline the ambiguity of the
term as well as the necessity to foster
terminological homogenization.
3.3 IT Support for Developing and
Managing Business Models
Even today the business model concept
still defies easy conceptualization. With-
out a proper, theory-based conceptual-
ization and formalization, however, ad-
equate IT support for developing and
managing business models can hardly be
provided (Teece 2010). The following ap-
proaches have been employed for repre-
senting business model knowledge: Infor-
mal text (e.g., Kshetri 2007), structured
text (e.g., Sosna et al. 2010), morpholog-
ical representation (Kley et al. 2011), ad
hoc graphical representation (e.g., Kinder
2002), conceptual models with defined se-
mantics and dedicated graphical repre-
sentations (e.g., Gordijn and Akkermans
2003), also called business model repre-
sentations (BMRs) (Zott et al. 2011).
Morphological and dedicated graphi-
cal representations allow for a consis-
tent and traceable representation of busi-
ness models and have been character-
ized as one major theme in digital busi-
ness model research (Zott et al. 2011).
Anumberofdiverseapproacheshave
been proposed (Kundisch et al. 2012)
to which several advantages have been
attributed, including facilitating tasks
such as understanding and communicat-
ing about a business model (Osterwalder
et al. 2005), innovating a business model
(Chesbrough 2010), and deducting re-
quirements for the IS that support the
business model (Penker and Eriksson
2000). However, existing BMRs greatly
differ and to some extent contradict each
other. Hence, synthesizing and further
developing BMRs could lead to business
model research becoming more cumula-
tive in nature, and to effect a more ef-
ficient transfer of research results into
practice, as a result of more successful
business models in general.
Furthermore, morphological represen-
tations and BMRs are needed to enable
computer-aided business design tools
(Osterwalder et al. 2005). The tools cur-
rently available are still in their infancy
and largely restricted to facilitating the
visualization of a business model and at
most provide rudimentary support for
financial calculations (e.g., e3-value ed-
itor,2Business Model Toolbox3). A no-
table exception is the Business Model
Wizard,4which is intended to comprise
functionality for integrating market data
to evaluate a business model and de-
ducing process models from a developed
business model (Di Valentin et al. 2012).
Results to be expected in this stream of
research include the validation of concep-
tual models comprising graphical repre-
sentations (generic as well as domain-
specific ones) that help industry prac-
titioners to capture and innovate their
business models. In the long run, the
corresponding business modeling tools
should clearly go beyond simple design
tools (see above) and evolve into an own
class of high-level decision support tools
(also called “Design Support Systems”,
Osterwalder and Pigneur 2013) that draw
upon empirical results to improve the
business model design process. More-
over, using these ontologies and nota-
tions it is not unreasonable to expect that
one of the outcomes could be the au-
tomatic translation of designed business
models into consistent processes, services
and enterprise models.
4 A Research Agenda for BISE
Based on the Three Pillars
We propo s e t h e fol l o w ing a g e n da
for business model research in BISE
(Tabl e 1). For each of the three per-
spectives identified above, we outline
(a) relevant and open research ques-
tions, (b) theoretical foundations and
(c) possible methodological approaches
for solving these research questions. Fur-
thermore, we outline opportunities for
interdisciplinary research.
In relation to business models in the
IT industries the following research ques-
tions emerge as particularly promising:
What do optimal and future revenue
models and pricing strategies look like?
What represents an optimal degree of
vertical integration for IT vendors? How
do business models change if we consider
the transition from ‘on premise’ to ‘on
demand’ usage? Which kind of cooper-
ation as well as M&A strategies seem to
be profitable in the IT industry? How can
customer data be included into business
models of IT vendors? These research
questions could be addressed for example
in the form of cases, laboratory and/or
field experiments in order to test the rel-
ative importance of different character-
istics or elements of/in business models
such as pricing schemes, scalability, or
customization.
In the area of digital business models,
promising research questions could for
example relate to the proactive role of
consumers as providers of contents, ideas
and social recommendations. How can
2http://www.e3value.com/.
3http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/toolbox/.
4http://www.software-business-model.com/.
Business & Information Systems Engineering 1|2014 49
BISE – RESEARCH NOTES
Table 1 Research agenda for business model research in BISE
Business models in IT industries Digital business models IT support for business models
Research questions !Elements and types/classes of
IT business models
!Formation and adoption of IT
business models
!Performance implications
!Monetization of proactive
(social) consumers
!Mobile business models
!New product and service
models: hybrid bundles
!Industrialization of business
models
!Semantic foundation and
appropriate syntax for business
model representations
!Use of graphical
representations in the business
model development process
Theories !Adoption and diffusion
theories
!Entrepreneurship/innovation
theories
!Organizational behavior
!New institutional and
behavioral economics
!Consumer behavior
!Microeconomics
!Organizational behavior
!Cognitive fit theory (for the
syntax)
!Bunge-Wand-Weber ontology
(for the semantics)
!Boundary object theory (for
the pragmatics)
Exemplary research
methods
!Empirical (quant. and qual.)
!Experimental (field and lab)
incl. prototype testing
!OR/simulation studies
!Hierarchical linear modeling
(HLM)
!Empirical (quant. and qual.)
!Experimental (field and lab)
incl. prototype testing
!Reference/meta modeling
!Experimental, field and case
studies
!Design science
!Heuristic and mathematical
programming methods
the proactive role of consumers be mon-
etized via business models? Which com-
ponents of social media (e.g., support-
ing the social activities of consumers)
should form the core of a successful so-
cial commerce business model? How can
ICT enable value creation for all stake-
holders along the lines of business model
content, governance and structure? How
could one best exploit the opportuni-
ties created by mobile internet access
and location-based services in mobile
business models? These questions could
be addressed for example using theories
of consumer behavior (from marketing,
psychology and economics) as well as or-
ganizational behavior theories. To study
such questions, researchers may draw on
empirical research methods such as case
studies and surveys, or they may un-
dertake experimental evaluations of pro-
totypes that test hypotheses on specific
components of digital business models.
The combination of these theories and
methods provides promising opportuni-
ties for interdisciplinary research from an
IT perspective.
In the field of IT support for busi-
ness models, promising research ques-
tions concern the semantic foundation
and appropriate syntax for BMRs as well
as their effective pragmatic use in the
business model development process. For
instance, the syntax of a specific BMR
could be evaluated with reference to the
cognitive fit theory, using experimen-
tal studies as an appropriate research
method. Regarding morphological anal-
ysis there is a lack of established meth-
ods to identify relevant parameters and
values and evaluate the resulting frame-
works. Furthermore, one avenue for fu-
ture research would be to develop soft-
ware tools that can meaningfully support
the use of graphical and morphological
representations (e.g., for brainstorming,
design, economic analysis, process model
generation, simulation) and integrate re-
search results regarding the performance
of business models (e.g., knowledge of
business model patterns or success fac-
tors). Finally, regarding the interface with
adjacent disciplines such as process mod-
eling or enterprise modeling, more work
is needed to extend the preliminary con-
tributions in this field (vom Brocke et al.
2011;Burkhartetal.2012;Iacobetal.
2012).
The business model concept thus pro-
vides the missing link between strat-
egy and business process implementa-
tion, and its relationship to IT is key to
understanding, designing and leveraging
the business models and organizations of
the future. It provides a new field of re-
search for the BISE community that can
serve as a promising anchor term to clus-
ter future research in the BISE field. Al-
though other research disciplines such
as strategic management, entrepreneur-
ship and marketing have started to take
up this topic, we believe that BISE re-
searchers offer distinct and unique com-
petencies for translating business models
into IT, for identifying potentials of IT
in order to create new business models
and for designing and operating IT-based
business processes. Nevertheless, inter-
disciplinary cooperation with other re-
search disciplines such as strategy, inno-
vation management, entrepreneurship or
marketing would be highly appreciated.
Through joint workshops and tracks at
national and international conferences
(e.g., MKWI 2012, WI 2013, ECIS 2013,
MKWI 2014, ECIS 2014) and special is-
sues in journals, (e.g., ISJ Special Is-
sue on Digitization in Business Mod-
els and Entrepreneurship, Clemons et al.
2013)theauthorshaveinfactalready
started to foster cooperation beyond dis-
ciplines and across national borders (e.g.,
Adamantia Pateli, Jonas Hedman, Eric
Clemons and Christoph Zott) as sug-
gested in recent research (e.g., Oster-
walder and Pigneur 2013). This prepares
the path for significant theoretical con-
tributions in understanding underlying
mechanisms and phenomena of business
model success and failure as well as the
discovery of novel coherences between
influencing factors on business model
performance contingencies. Understand-
ing, explaining, predicting and design-
ing IT-based business models holds im-
mense contributions to both research
and the business community. The BISE
community is predestined to accompany
the all-encompassing digitization in en-
terprises and society and to disseminate
their insights to an interested public.
50 Business & Information Systems Engineering 1|2014
BISE – RESEARCH NOTES
Acknowledgements
We send o u r s i ncere t h a n ks ou t t o t h e fol-
lowing persons who supported the devel-
opment of this article: Miglena Amirpur
(M.Sc.), Stephan Daurer (MBA, MBR),
Tob i as G o ld b a c h ( M. S c . ) , T h om a s Jo h n
(Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Inf.), Anton Pussep
(Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Inf.), Amelie Sach
(M.Sc.), Dennis Steininger (Dipl.-Kfm.),
Christina Di Valentin (Dipl.-Kffr.).
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Agenda
The business model concept, although
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in IT industries, IT enabled or digital
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developing and managing business
models. For these streams, the cur-
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search questions, and suitable research
methodologies are outlined.
Keywords: Business model, Research
agenda, Information systems, Business
process, Strategy
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