Status of business model and electronic market research:An interview with Paul Timmers

This interview with Paul Timmers reflects on how the domain of business models has emerged since the publication of the first business model article in Electronic Markets in 1998. The interview provides insights in how his seminal article on business models for electronic markets originated and on the role of government bodies, in particular the European Commission. Among the opinions shared are that electronic markets should be conceived as a broad concept and that interdisciplinary views are key for shaping future developments, especially in the area of ubiquitous data in many industries

Towards a business model for cellular network and telecommunication operators: a theoretical framework

Cellular networks and telecommunications bring major change to the way businesses are conducted. Mobility has become one of the main priorities for users and this has impacted on cellular networks and telecommunication operators (CNTOs). However, entrants into the cellular industry have been confounded primarily by inexistent or weak Business Models (BMs). Designing a BM for a CNTO is complex and requires multiple actors to balance different and often conflicting design requirements. Nevertheless, most research about CNTOs has been technically oriented and has mainly addressed the technological and engineering issues related to their infrastructure. Less attention has been given to the business model of CNTOs. Hence, there is a need to enhance our ability to determine what constitutes the optimal and most viable business model to meet the various strategic objectives and goals for these CNTOs. In this paper an overview of research into the cellular business model and the main issues to be resolved is provided. In particular, the authors propose guidelines as a basis on which to develop a more comprehensive definition which may lead to a consensus. Moreover, a generic model (V4 Model) is proposed for the BM of these companies based on value proposition, value architecture, value network and value finance

Goal-Oriented RE for E-Services

Current research in service-oriented computing (SoC) is mainly\ud about technology standards for SoC and the design of software components that\ud implement these standards. In this paper we investigate the problem of\ud requirements engineering (RE) for SoC. We propose a framework for goaloriented\ud RE for e-services that identifies patterns in service provisioning and\ud shows how to compose business models from them. Based on an analysis of 19\ud business models for e-intermediaries we identified 10 intermediation service\ud patterns and their goals, and show how we can compose new business models\ud from those patterns in a goal-oriented way. We represent the service patterns\ud using value models, which are models that show which value exchanges\ud business patterns engage in. We conclude the paper with a discussion of how\ud this approach can be extended to include business process patterns to perform\ud the services, and software components that support these processes

Business models to support content commons

The application of conventional, 'scarce resource' economics to content has been mistaken and harmful. More appropriate forms of economic analysis highlight the critical role that accessibility to information plays in the process of innovation. Meanwhile, down at the micro-economic level, there is an all-too-common perception that open content approaches are unsustainable and bad for business, and reflect naïve idealism on the part of their proponents. This paper identifies a range of suitable business models, and thereby demonstrates that the content commons is sustainable and appropriate for profit-oriented business enterprises

Towards business model and technical platform for the service oriented context-aware mobile virtual communities

The focus of existing virtual communities is centered on a particular product or social interaction and the role of mobile devices is restricted to exchange a limited amount of contents. Herewith we envisage that the upcoming virtual communities will exploit the potential of social interaction and context information to offer personalized services to its members and mobile devices will play a significant role in this process. As a step towards this direction, in this paper we propose a business model for the mobile virtual communities in which the mobile device takes on the role of a content producer and content consumer. Though there are a number of research issues which need to be addressed to realize such virtual communities, in this paper we focus on the service requirements, architecture and open source software implementation of a technical platform for the content producer and consumer mobile devices

Defining the business model in the new world of digital business

Recent rapid advances in ICTs, specifically in Internet and mobile technologies, have highlighted the rising importance of the Business Model (BM) in Information Systems (IS). Despite agreement on its importance to an organization’s success, the concept is still fuzzy and vague, and there is no consensus regarding its definition. Furthermore, understanding the BM domain by identifying its meaning, fundamental pillars, and its relevance to other business concepts is by no means complete. In this paper we aim to provide further clarification by first presenting a classification of definitions found in the IS literature; second, proposing guidelines on which to develop a more comprehensive definition in order to reach consensus;and third, identifying the four main business model concepts and values and their interaction, and thus place the business model within the world of digital business. Based on this discussion, we propose a new definition for the business model that we argue is more appropriate to this new world

An engineering approach to business model experimentation – an online investment research startup case study

Every organization needs a viable business model. Strikingly, most of current literature is focused on business model design, whereas there is almost no attention for business model validation and implementation and related business model experimentation. The goal of the research as described in this paper is to develop a business model engineering tool for supporting business model management as a continuous design, validation and implementation cycle. The tool is applied to an online investment research startup in roll out and market phase. This paper describes the research as performed in a case study setting by focusing on the design, implementation and evaluation of the business model engineering tool. We also analyze the actual implementation and usage of the business model tool by the online investment research startup by focusing on the most critical actions related to actual business model implementation – i.e. actions with so-called ‘Lollapalooza tendencies’

eClusters and the Role of Intermediaries in Enabling Digital Enterprise Communities of SMEs

The potential for the emergence of digital enterprise communities enabled by one or more intermediaries, termed eClusters, has been predicted from empirical research in business communities of SMEs in the UK. The role of intermediaries, which will be pivotal to the formation of eClusters, is examined in this paper and forms part of a wider research project into the nature of digital enterprise communities. One conceptualisation of the role of intermediaries is the provision of a Trust Platform. As with IT outsourcing generally it is large companies that have been early adopter of application service providers (ASPs) services with little penetration in the SME sector. It is the notion of community and emergent properties of an eCluster that could provide the ‘key’ to this market and lead to the formation of community-centric ASPs