A Business Model Research Schema

This paper suggests a schema for business model research that has the potential to progress the research, in a structured manner, from conceptual to theoretical. It draws on the scientific and business research literature to identify the types of research necessary to further knowledge and promotes the inductive-deductive model of research. The importance of conducting empirical research to evaluate current conceptualisations of business models and developing a theory of business models is stressed. An important aspect of any research agenda is the creation of a general classification of domain objects that can serve a wide range of current and future uses. Classification literature relating to the biological, behavioural, organisational and social sciences has been referenced in this paper in support of this claim. Existing classifications of business models are evaluated, determining that the only classifications that have been proposed to date are typologies and that no general taxonomy of business models currently exists. 1 Current Business Model Research Consistent with the objectives of scientific research, the overall objective of business model research is to develop a theory of business models that can aid researchers and practitioners in explaining phenomena and making predictions. Theory development is an ongoing process that occurs over long periods of time, however business model research is in its very early days. The term itself only emerged towards the end of the twentieth century and the focus has been on defining business models and identifying the elements of business models (Pateli 2002; Pateli and Giaglis 2004; Osterwalder, Pigneur et al. 2005). What has emerged is an array of conceptualisations of business models that have been conceived from differing views of the problem domain and that are rarely grounded in existing theory (Porter 2001; Hedman and Kalling 2003). Some definitions are quite abstract and outward looking (Timmers 1998; Hamel 2000; Weill and Vitale 2001; Hawkins 2002; Rappa 2006) whilst others are detailed and all encompassing of business functions (Chesbrough and Rosenbloom 2000; Mahadevan 2000; Dubosson-Torbay, Osterwalder et al. 2002). One of the explanations for this is that the definitions and the attributes of the business model are established according to the