The Business Model: Recent Developments and Future Research

This article provides a broad and multifaceted review of the received literature on business models in which the authors examine the business model concept through multiple subject-matter lenses. The review reveals that scholars do not agree on what a business model is and that the literature is developing largely in silos, according to the phenomena of interest of the respective researchers. However, the authors also found emerging common themes among scholars of business models. Specifically, (1) the business model is emerging as a new unit of analysis; (2) business models emphasize a system-level, holistic approach to explaining how firms “do business”; (3) firm activities play an important role in the various conceptualizations of business models that have been proposed; and (4) business models seek to explain how value is created, not just how it is captured. These emerging themes could serve as catalysts for a more unified study of business models

The role of Network Facilitators in fostering Trust within Strategic Alliances: A Longitudinal Case Study

The paper describes how the role of network facilitator played by a third party institution may substantially contribute to the development of trust among SMEs involved in a strategic alliance. In our work, empirical evidence is presented by a longitudinal analysis of a case history. The case study focuses on eight international-oriented SMEs located in an industrial district in Northern Italy that built up a formal network called \u2018I-Style Partners\u2019. Two rounds of in-depth interviews were carried out with firm leaders and facilitator\u2019s managers involved in the strategic alliance over a three-year period. This paper contribute to theory generation suggesting a three-stage process model in which a network facilitator may enhance interorganizational trust by constituting in turn a substitute of alliance members\u2019 perceptions of ability, integrity and benevolence

Creating a Business Case from a Business Model

Intuitively, business cases and business models are closely connected. However, a thorough literature review revealed no research on the combination of them. Besides that, little is written on the evaluation of business models at all. This makes it difficult to compare different business model alternatives and choose the best one. In this article, we develop a business case method to objectively compare business models. It is an eight-step method, starting with business drivers and ending with an implementation plan. We demonstrate the method with a case study for innovations at housing associations. The designed business case method can be used to compare and select the best business model successfully. In doing so, the business case method increases the quality of the decision making process when choosing from possible business model

Unique resources of corporate venture capitalists as a key to entry into rigid venture capital syndication networks

We investigate how corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) can rapidly attain central positions in venture capital syndication networks. Using data of CVC investments by U.S. corporations between 1996 and 2005, we complement prior research, which suggests that centrally positioned VCs predominantly invest together with other centrally positioned VCs. While we find clear support for the social network theory arguments that prior central positions in syndication networks significantly explain future network positions of CVCs, we also find a negative interaction effect between past centrality and corporate resources. This finding implies that resources of CVCs can substitute for their lack of prior centrality and allow them to gain rapidly central positions in rigid VC syndication networks