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Business models are crucial for explaining firm performance. In practice, managers apply business models to increase firm’s advantage. Particularly, innovative business models solve many economic and social problems in emerging economies. To show the knowledge development in the field, we explored the knowledge network and identified the role of business models in emerging economies.

To examine the primary topics in business model studies, we reviewed the academic literature and applied main path analysis (MPA) to explain the development in this field since 2000. The valid sample of this study comprised 665 papers, and citation information was used in the MPA. We further investigated the role of business models in emerging economies through keyword analysis and case analysis.

The results for the main path indicate that the development of business model studies proceeded in three stages. In general, the literature in business model studies has transitioned from discussing internal and external value to framing business model structures. Specifically, in the latest stage, sustainability in a business model was conceptualized, and studies focused on how a business model can function as a structured model for explaining how various businesses operate. Moreover, studies on emerging economies have noted the importance of sustainable business models and model adaptations for firms in developing countries.

E-commerce platforms are digital marketplaces for selling goods and services online. Operational research (OR) models support business model innovation in e-commerce platforms. This issue covers eight papers that utilize OR models to examine business model innovation in e-commerce platforms. They all introduce new research problems and concepts, develop novel and rigorous OR methodologies to tackle them, and present innovative OR applications according to the real problems in e-commerce platforms. Based on the eight papers’ discussions, we propose future research directions.

A technique for creating analysis models of a web application from a business model is proposed for easy and effective development. Moreover, a technique for generating test cases from the sequence diagrams for a web application is proposed. The use case diagram and web page list are generated from the business model which is depicted using the notations of the UML (Unified Modeling Language) activity diagram. The page diagram and logical/physical database models are created based on the web page list and extracted data fields. Test cases for the web application are generated from call messages (including self-call messages) of the UML sequence diagram. The effectiveness of these techniques is shown using a practical case study which is a development project of a web application for RMS (Research material Management System).

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to analyse how a company's business model needs to be adjusted if it is expanded into another cultural context. For this, we use the example of changes in the business model of a Danish IT-company opening a new office in the U.S. Using a single case study, we integrate the concepts of business models (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2005) and national culture (Hofstede, 1980). Our findings explain why and how adjustments in the business model are necessary regarding the company's communication, team composition, and customer involvement in projects. As to implications, we construct a matrix combining business models and national culture that other multinational companies can use to achieve better understanding of their business model in different national contexts.

In recent years, the automation of business processes has become one of the most prominent and promising uses of Web service technology. Consequently several languages have been created for the execution of business processes, making it possible to define new and more complex services or business processes which are implemented for example by means of Web service composition. Nevertheless, these kinds of languages are not suitable for use in the early stages of the development process of information systems. Special methodologies or techniques are therefore necessary to allow systems analysts to understand services from a business point of view, while facilitating the design and development of Web service composition. In this paper, we present a service-oriented approach to information system development that starts by identifying, through business modeling, the services required by the customers of a business, to make it possible to create a Web service composition model. This model will facilitate the transformation to specific languages for business process execution, thereby reducing the development efforts made in service-oriented applications. The method proposed is illustrated by means of a Web application for the management of medical images, which we have taken as a case study.

Web 2.0 as a contemporary phenomenon receives considerable attention by IS scholars due to its perceived transformational impact on businesses. This paper critically elaborates on the value creation potential of Web 2.0 for small and medium enterprises (SME). By conducting an inductive study we reveal that SMEs can effectively use Web 2.0 as a means to support customer acquisition, alleviate resource limitations and to maintain customer enthusiasm associated with the customer purchasing process. In case that a high customer convenience is required which is based on the involvement of different parties or on personal service support, there is hardly any Web 2.0 value creation potential. This research contributes to the domain of business modeling by assessing the notion of value in a Web 2.0 setting. It also contributes to IS research on Web 2.0 adoption.

IoT in Healthcare

THE J750: The World's First Full-Colour Multi-material 3D PRINTER

Sony Expanding Footprint in Medical Field

High Performance Computing Cluster (HPC), Pearcey, a Result of CSIRO-Dell Partnership

This paper explores the closed source/open source software model dialectic and presents a conceptual framework of an emerging "both source" software business model useful for formulating firm technology strategy. The author reviews the academic literature and popular business press, extracting definitions and concepts underlying these software models; explains the concept of a business model and makes the case for the knowledge-based view of the firm as the approach to software industry business model development; describes, in detail, the proprietary, open source and "both source" software models; identifies the primary motivations behind the managerial development and adoption of the "both source" business software model (cost containment) and the implementation challenges firm's face (an upsurge in copyright and patent infringement suits concerning adoption of open source code); and concludes with a series of research questions pertaining to the economic viability of open source license business models, the effectiveness of indemnification strategies against copyright and patent infringement, and the managerial motivations behind choosing patent over copyright protection of software inventions.

Too many enterprise innovation efforts, including those focused on enterprise process innovation (EPI), have led to underwhelming results. The growing list of ingredients for EPI are well known, well studied, and widely practiced. What is less often the topic of scholarly research is the question of how to mix these ingredients into a customized recipe for a specific enterprise. Further research into the variables that correlate with effective EPI recipes is called for, with an emphasis on meta-tool creation to enable managers to make informed decisions about the right ingredient mixture for their specific EPI challenges.

This review paper initially explains that the commercialization of an innovative new technology needs to be underpinned by an appropriate business model. The paper summarizes what has been previously proposed to be the components of a business model and makes the case that an extra one needs to be added and that two of them need interpreting in a special way in order to be appropriate for innovative technology commercialization. It is argued that the decision on what market to target may be crucial to the commercialization process as, often, initial failure may allow no second chances. A way of determining the most appropriate initial market is discussed as this market choice is a determinant of business model choice. Finally, conclusions are drawn on defining and devising business models for commercializing new technologies.

A changing industry structure in the media and ICT industries requires not only new collaborative organizational forms but also new resources and capabilities to manage the new business. The objective of this paper is to create and test a framework for assessing the robustness of the firm's business model enabled by its resources in future scenarios. We have used a media delivery service as a case service platform. The framework includes building industry scenarios, defining the market environments in the different scenarios, business concept and resource mapping and connecting the business concepts and resources to the scenarios.

Small technology firms are currently facing increasingly severe competition in a dynamic business environment where an effective commercialization process may secure the survival of a venture and provide key benefits such as increases in turnover, profits and market share. However, technology firms have to be able to create the suitable business model for a new product commercialization in order to realize the economical potential and value. Therefore, it is important to increase our knowledge about the utilized business models in high technology sectors and their role as a part of new product commercialization and innovation management. Using data from 12 small technology firms, this study shows that business model creates an operational level of commercialization process and it can help managers to plan the value delivery through the process phases. Despite the trend toward opening up research and development and commercialization processes in the high technology fields, small high technology firms in this study seems to pursue more closed approaches to R&D than in other business functions such as marketing and sales.

Innovation scholars have long studied how and why new products and services diffuse into the market following trajectories such as the S-curve and in accordance with epidemic, social, and information cascade models. However, we see today many new products and services, especially those enabled by digital technologies, which do not seem to fit the above-mentioned trajectories and models due to the incredibly high speed and virulence at which they diffuse. Moreover, the diffusion of these innovations does not seem to depend, contrary to what the previous patterns of innovation diffusion argue, on their technological characteristics or on demand-side factors, such as the word-of-mouth effect or the feedback they receive from their early adopters. Rather, their diffusion seems to be affected by the characteristics of the business model adopted by the companies that have created and commercialized them into the market. Accordingly, our study analyzes through the historical research methodology the business model of a sample of 50 Unicorn tech-companies, which have experienced incredibly fast diffusion rates and business growth and are disrupting entire industries. The outcome of our study is a framework that maps two business model configurations that explain the role of different business model design and innovation choices in the diffusion of new products and services enabled by digital technologies.

Digital technologies are bringing a wide spectrum of business opportunities as well as significant organizational challenges for incumbent companies operating in traditional industries such as the energy one. The diffusion of new technologies is changing the way energy solutions are consumed and experienced, while consumers increasingly take ownership of their consumption, acting as “prosumers”. In this evolving scenario, incumbents are urged to reshape their business models, explore new opportunities and change their organizational structures accordingly. Still, the required organizational re-design process that enables companies to undergo business model innovation (BMI) while exploiting digital technologies is partially neglected in literature. Hence, this study explores how established companies embrace organizational re-design process to innovate their business model. To this end, we leverage a single case study methodology focused on an incumbent energy company. Our findings show how the establishment of a business unit dedicated to digital technologies exploitation has enabled the company’s BMI. More specifically, we point at the critical role played by the know-how and the industrial capabilities to sustain not only the innovation activities of the new business unit, but also the overall company performance and the shift towards a renewed business model.

Open banking has recently been advanced as a measure to foster competition and innovation in the retail banking sector. Since its introduction in the UK, a number of banks have created new digital business models (BMs) that offer individuals and businesses access to more personalized financial services. Yet, it is still unclear what new entrants (smaller and newer banks) have done to potentially disrupt incumbents (larger and well-established banks). To shed light on the innovations in BMs that have been initiated by digital banks to move away from traditional retail banking BM, seven digital BMs operating in the UK financial sector were examined using the BM innovation analysis framework. Our findings suggest that innovation in the new digital BMs has been achieved by building on the existing retail banking activities, developing new digitally enabled activities, and leveraging open innovation activities. Implications of our findings for researchers, managers and policy makers will be outlined.

Researching business models (BM) and in specific business model innovation recently received growing attention by academics and practitioners due to increasing global competition and the constant need for adjustment to changing environments among others. Therefore, the main objective of our study is to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art of research on business model innovation by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR). Our review provides a deeper understanding and breakdown of key components of BMI. Likewise, our study identifies organizational, environmental, and societal factors influencing BMI and proposes avenues for future research.

The sharing economy gives rise to numerous new business models. A prominent novel one relates to coworking-spaces, where independent individuals and teams share spaces and amenities and engage in social interaction and information exchange. Yet the business models of such spaces are not well known. Our qualitative study identifies four types of business models design of coworking-spaces in China, where coworking-spaces have sharply increased in number and importance. We find four types of coworking-space business model configurations: efficiency-centered business model, user-centered business model, development-centered business model, and platform-centered business model, which exceed the prior conceptualization of business model themes. Especially, the platform-centered business model relates to innovation policy in China, facilitating mini-spatial innovation ecosystems.

As the number of mobile and Internet users increases around the world, the consumption of video content continues to grow exponentially among people, as well as businesses. However, for these platforms to offer their services at a low to no cost, they have to experiment with different business models, looking for profitability and economic balance without charging their users. In this paper, we will describe and discuss the business model of a video sharing platform that became a worldwide phenomenon only three years after its launch, from raising billions of dollars from notorious investors — e.g. SoftBank Group, Tiger Global Management — to generating exorbitant revenues, this video application was very innovative and versatile at making money and generating revenues. The main goal of this study is to understand how video sharing platforms monetize their business, especially if most of its services are free for its users. The paper highlights all the steps of a business model, using the “TikTok” application as the case study of a successful model. We found that video-sharing applications need to incorporate new ways of monetizing their businesses that they are very versatile, they do not rely solely on advertising and that they are experimenting with various models, e.g. paid subscriptions and in-app purchases.

This study explores the relationship between business models, dynamic capabilities, and industry 4.0. Based on the literature of these constructs, a framework was created and four organizations were analyzed. Three of them are classified as providers of industry 4.0, and one is classified as a user of industry 4.0. The results demonstrate that the organizations classified as providers managed to develop dynamic capabilities that assisted them to digitally transform themselves and innovate their business model. For these organizations, network contacts and the organizational ecosystem are considered two fundamental aspects to allow industry 4.0 development. At the same time, organizational culture was pointed out as one of its greatest barriers for innovations and digital transformation development, considered a barrier even greater than the technology itself.

Sustainability is becoming an emerging issue since it attempts to fulfill current needs without sacrificing future generations. The role of the private sector is considered necessary in supporting sustainability, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Implementation of a sustainable business model (SBM) has the potential to enable support for sustainability. Many business organizations have claimed to produce an SBM, but many have failed or are insufficient to provide sustainability benefits due to complexity. Therefore, available concepts regarding principles in SBM innovation need to be improved to have greater capacity in dealing with complexity. This paper explores principles for SBM innovation and the relationships between the elements based on empirical evidence through a longitudinal case study in a technology-based organization in Indonesia’s agriculture sector. The results show that seven principles, so-called “ecosystem-centric principles,” are a building block to successful SBM innovation. One principle determined the success of the other principles, and as a whole, work simultaneously and systemically in creating SBM innovation. The business model combines several basic SBMs and develops as an accelerator type of business model and, in a particular phase, combines the model with the crisispreneur. Compared to other SBM principles, the ‘ecosystem-centric principles’ is superior to dealing with a complex environment.