Business model literature Emergence of the Business Model Concept and Definitions Emergence of the business model concept. Although business models have been integral to trading and economic behavior since pre-classical times (Teece, 2010), the business model concept became prevalent with the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s, and it has been gathering momentum since then. From that time on, ideas revolving around the concept have resonated with scholars and business practitioners, as documented by the number of publications, including articles, books, and book chapters in the business press and scientific ournals. In a frame analysis of the use of the term business model in public talk, Ghaziani and Ventresca(2005) searched for the use of the term in general management articles from 1975 to 2000. Their search, conducted using the ABI/INFORM database, returned 1, 729 publications that contained the term business model. Of these, only 166 were published in the period 1975-1994; the remaining(1, 563) belonged to the period 1995-2000, revealing a dramatic increase in the incidence of the term We performed a similar search using the EBSCOhost database, distinguishing betweer academic and journalistic outlets and extending the analysis to 2009. We found that up to December 2009. the term business model had been included in 1.202 articles in academic journals. Nonacademic articles followed a similar trend. From 1975 to December 2009, the term had been mentioned in 8, 062 documents As Figure I suggests, interest in the concept virtually exploded in the 15-year period between 1995 and 2010, which is consistent with Ghaziani and Ventresca's(2005) findings. Figure 1 also indicates that academic research on business models seems to lag behind practice. Some scholars surmise that the emergence of the business model concept, and the exte Internet(e.g, Amit& Zott, 2001), rapid growth a y have been driven by the advent of the of-the-pyramid" issues(Prahalad Hart, 2002; Seelos Mair, 2007; Thompson MacMillan, 2010), and the expanding industries and organizations dependent on postindus trial technologies(Perkmann Spicer, 2010) Business model definitions. At a general level, the business model has been referred to a statement(Stewart Zhao, 2000), a description(Applegate, 2000; Weill Vitale, 2001) a representation(Morris, Schindehutte, Allen, 2005; Shafer, Smith, Linder, 2005),an architecture(Dubosson-Torbay, Osterwalder, Pigneur, 2002; Timmers, 1998), a concep- tual tool or model( George Bock, 2009; Osterwalder, 2004; Osterwalder, Pigneur, tucci, 2005), a structural template(Amit Zott, 2001), a method(Afuah tucci, 2001), a frame- work(Afuah, 2004), a pattern(Brousseau Penard, 2006), and a set(Seelos Mair, 2007) Surprisingly, however, the business model is often studied without an explicit definition of the concept Of the 103 business model publications reviewed, more than one third (37%)do not define the concept at all, taking its meaning more or less for granted. Fewer than half (44%)explicitly define or conceptualize the business model, for example, by enumerating its main components. The remaining publications(19%)refer to the work of other scholars in defining the concept. Moreover, existing definitions only partially overlap, giving rise to a multitude of possible interpretations Downloadedfromjom.sagepub.comaFudaNUnivLibonMarch13,20121022 Journal of Management / July 2011 Business Model Literature Emergence of the Business Model Concept and Definitions Emergence of the business model concept. Although business models have been integral to trading and economic behavior since pre-classical times (Teece, 2010), the business model concept became prevalent with the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s, and it has been gathering momentum since then. From that time on, ideas revolving around the concept have resonated with scholars and business practitioners, as documented by the number of publications, including articles, books, and book chapters in the business press and scientific journals. In a frame analysis of the use of the term business model in public talk, Ghaziani and Ventresca (2005) searched for the use of the term in general management articles from 1975 to 2000. Their search, conducted using the ABI/INFORM database, returned 1,729 publications that contained the term business model. Of these, only 166 were published in the period 1975-1994; the remaining (1,563) belonged to the period 1995-2000, revealing a dramatic increase in the incidence of the term. We performed a similar search using the EBSCOhost database, distinguishing between academic and journalistic outlets and extending the analysis to 2009. We found that up to December 2009, the term business model had been included in 1,202 articles in academic journals. Nonacademic articles followed a similar trend. From 1975 to December 2009, the term had been mentioned in 8,062 documents. As Figure 1 suggests, interest in the concept virtually exploded in the 15-year period between 1995 and 2010, which is consistent with Ghaziani and Ventresca’s (2005) findings. Figure 1 also indicates that academic research on business models seems to lag behind practice. Some scholars surmise that the emergence of the business model concept, and the exten￾sive use of the concept since the mid-1990s, may have been driven by the advent of the Internet (e.g., Amit & Zott, 2001), rapid growth in emerging markets and interest in “bottom￾of-the-pyramid” issues (Prahalad & Hart, 2002; Seelos & Mair, 2007; Thompson & MacMillan, 2010), and the expanding industries and organizations dependent on postindus￾trial technologies (Perkmann & Spicer, 2010). Business model definitions. At a general level, the business model has been referred to as a statement (Stewart & Zhao, 2000), a description (Applegate, 2000; Weill & Vitale, 2001), a representation (Morris, Schindehutte, & Allen, 2005; Shafer, Smith, & Linder, 2005), an architecture (Dubosson-Torbay, Osterwalder, & Pigneur, 2002; Timmers, 1998), a concep￾tual tool or model (George & Bock, 2009; Osterwalder, 2004; Osterwalder, Pigneur, & Tucci, 2005), a structural template (Amit & Zott, 2001), a method (Afuah & Tucci, 2001), a frame￾work (Afuah, 2004), a pattern (Brousseau & Penard, 2006), and a set (Seelos & Mair, 2007). Surprisingly, however, the business model is often studied without an explicit definition of the concept. Of the 103 business model publications reviewed, more than one third (37%) do not define the concept at all, taking its meaning more or less for granted. Fewer than half (44%) explicitly define or conceptualize the business model, for example, by enumerating its main components. The remaining publications (19%) refer to the work of other scholars in defining the concept. Moreover, existing definitions only partially overlap, giving rise to a multitude of possible interpretations. Downloaded from jom.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on March 13, 2012