Extending business model development tools with design-integrated assessment: An illustration using service business models

Assessing the effects of novel business model (BM) ideas affects current and future design decisions for implementing service systems and their ecosystems. While various methods have been proposed to support the creative task of BM design, the continuous assessment of BMs remains challenging. The emerging software class of business model development tools (BMDT) is among the promising ones for overcoming those challenges by enabling the representation, assessment, and improvement of BMs in a digital environment. Despite their great potential to shorten feedback cycles between design and assessment, only a few approaches exist for integrating both activities in BMDTs. Following design science research, we propose “factor refinement” as a mechanism in BMDTs for linking BM designs with assessment information. This allows users, particularly during the explorative stages, to investigate new BM ideas quickly and make more informed decisions in the BM design process. Our solution is instantiated in a software prototype for service business models and evaluated through think-aloud sessions and expert workshops. Based on our findings, we derived guidelines on both the use of factor refinement and its integration into BMDTs.