Zott et al. The Business Model 1025 commercial transactions with their business partners and buyers over the Internet(e.g Mahadevan, 2000). We exclude those firms that merely make use of websites to display information for products or services Recent advances in communication and information technologies, such as the emergence nd swift expansion of the Internet and the rapid decline in computing and communication costs,have allowed the development of new ways to create and deliver value, which have offered scope for the creation of unconventional exchange mechanisms and transaction architectures(Amit Zott, 2001)and accentuated the possibilities for the design of new boundary-spanning organizational forms(Daft Lewin, 1993; Dunbar Starbuck, 2006) Indeed, these developments have opened new horizons for the design of business models by enabling firms to change fundamentally the way they organize and engage in economic exchanges, both within and across firm and industry boundaries(Mendelson, 2000). According to Brynjolfsson and Hitt(2004), this includes the ways in which firms interact with supplier as well as with customers The Internet is a principal driver of the surge of interest in business models and the con- equent emergence of a literature that revolves around the topic(e. g, see Ghaziani Ventresca, 2005; Magretta, 2002; Yip, 2004). Shafer et al.(2005)review 12 definitions established publications during the period 1998-2000, finding that 8 were related to e-business Our literature review confirms this trend. In a total of 49 conceptual studies in which the business model is clearly defined, almost one fourth of the studies are related to e-business Research on e-business models can be organized around two complementary streams: The first aims to describe generic e-business models and provide typologies; the second focuses on the components of e-business models Description of generic e-business models and typologies. Several scholars have attempted to classify e-business models by describing types. Timmers(1998)distinguishes among 11 generic e-business models, from e-shops and e-procurement to trust and other third-party services. Tapscott, Lowy, and Ticoll(2000) propose a network-and value-centered taxonomy that identifies five types of value networks that they call b-webs(business webs), which e fer in their degree of economic control and value integration. Rappa(2001)classifies com- panies according to the nature of their value propositions and their modes of generating revenues. Weill and Vitale(2001)describe eight so-called atomic business models, each of which describes a different way of conducting business electronically; e-business initiatives can be represented by pure atomic business models or by combining them. Applegate(2001 introduces the following six e-business models: focused distributors, portals, producers, infrastructure distributors, infrastructure portals, and infrastructure producers. And Dubosson Torbay et al. (2002)identify the following principal dimensions for classifying business models: user's role, interaction pattern, nature of the offering, pricing system, level of cus tomization, and economic control. What is common to all these approaches is an attempt to describe and organize around typologies and taxonomies the plethora of new perceived busi ness archetypes enabled mainly by Internet technologies Components of e-business models. In addition to developing typologies that enlist and describe various generic e-business models, scholars of e-business have also attempted to Downloadedfromjom.sagepub.comaFudaNUnivLibonMarch13,2012Zott et al. / The Business Model 1025 commercial transactions with their business partners and buyers over the Internet (e.g., Mahadevan, 2000). We exclude those firms that merely make use of websites to display information for products or services. Recent advances in communication and information technologies, such as the emergence and swift expansion of the Internet and the rapid decline in computing and communication costs, have allowed the development of new ways to create and deliver value, which have offered scope for the creation of unconventional exchange mechanisms and transaction architectures (Amit & Zott, 2001) and accentuated the possibilities for the design of new boundary-spanning organizational forms (Daft & Lewin, 1993; Dunbar & Starbuck, 2006). Indeed, these developments have opened new horizons for the design of business models by enabling firms to change fundamentally the way they organize and engage in economic exchanges, both within and across firm and industry boundaries (Mendelson, 2000). According to Brynjolfsson and Hitt (2004), this includes the ways in which firms interact with suppliers as well as with customers. The Internet is a principal driver of the surge of interest in business models and the con￾sequent emergence of a literature that revolves around the topic (e.g., see Ghaziani & Ventresca, 2005; Magretta, 2002; Yip, 2004). Shafer et al. (2005) review 12 definitions in established publications during the period 1998-2000, finding that 8 were related to e-business. Our literature review confirms this trend. In a total of 49 conceptual studies in which the business model is clearly defined, almost one fourth of the studies are related to e-business. Research on e-business models can be organized around two complementary streams: The first aims to describe generic e-business models and provide typologies; the second focuses on the components of e-business models. Description of generic e-business models and typologies. Several scholars have attempted to classify e-business models by describing types. Timmers (1998) distinguishes among 11 generic e-business models, from e-shops and e-procurement to trust and other third-party services. Tapscott, Lowy, and Ticoll (2000) propose a network- and value-centered taxonomy that identifies five types of value networks that they call b-webs (business webs), which dif￾fer in their degree of economic control and value integration. Rappa (2001) classifies com￾panies according to the nature of their value propositions and their modes of generating revenues. Weill and Vitale (2001) describe eight so-called atomic business models, each of which describes a different way of conducting business electronically; e-business initiatives can be represented by pure atomic business models or by combining them. Applegate (2001) introduces the following six e-business models: focused distributors, portals, producers, infrastructure distributors, infrastructure portals, and infrastructure producers. And Dubosson￾Torbay et al. (2002) identify the following principal dimensions for classifying business models: user’s role, interaction pattern, nature of the offering, pricing system, level of cus￾tomization, and economic control. What is common to all these approaches is an attempt to describe and organize around typologies and taxonomies the plethora of new perceived busi￾ness archetypes enabled mainly by Internet technologies. Components of e-business models. In addition to developing typologies that enlist and describe various generic e-business models, scholars of e-business have also attempted to Downloaded from jom.sagepub.com at FUDAN UNIV LIB on March 13, 2012