Business model innovation: A comparative analysis

In the past, companies often maintained a business model (BM) for long periods. Today, this is no longer possible as changes in the business environment such as inter-industry competition, shifting patterns of demand, new products, production or distribution technologies erode the power of established BMs. As a consequence, companies are forced to systematically manage or reinvent their BMs and become able at doing so. Although companies believe that the management and innovation of BMs can significantly contribute to business success they are often not able to realize such transformation due to a lack of required abilities and knowledge as well as suited processes and mechanisms to support them. Against this background, the focus of this contribution is on current approaches and procedure for managing and innovating BMs. Based on a literature review within the BM discipline and further associated disciplines BMI approaches have been identified and are described, analysed and compared regarding a practical application. Thus, giving the reader an overview of current comprehensive approaches and thereby establishing a basis for further research and development is the aim of this paper.