Business Model Analysis from the Activity System Perspective: A Design Science Research

Marina Gaspareto,Éder Henriqson

doi:10.1590/1807-7692bar2020190049

Abstract

Abstract Understanding a business model is at the core of organizational strategy, competitiveness, and business sustainability. Descriptive approaches to understand business models are often based on the analysis of their components by looking at organizational assets, resources, plans, and competencies. Although there are numerous contributions in the literature, few guidelines are offered regarding an Activity System perspective, in a prescriptive rather than a descriptive way. In this study, we propose a pragmatic solution to help cover this literature gap and to extend on previous studies. A Design Science Research approach was adopted including a multicase study of four business companies we examined in order to create a method for business model analysis from an Activity System perspective. The resulting artefact of the study is illustrated with data from the empirical cases. Three analytical movements are described as well as prescribed: dimensions analysis (i.e., business definition, customer segment, value proposition, profit logic, critical factors of value proposition, and Activity System); visual representation including illustrations of its Activity System; and competitive analysis including prospection for changes and innovations. Finally, the artefact is discussed in relation to its quality, utility, and usability.

Highlights

A business model (BM) is a set of activities articulated to promote value, and the perspective of Activity System (AS) in literature is a promising way for describing and understanding it
The article is structured as follows: firstly, we present the perspective of BM based on AS concepts; secondly, we engage the issues of strategy and competitiveness in BM and AS; thirdly, the Design Science Research (DSR) approach adopted is explained, followed by the presentation of the artefact developed along the research; we conclude with a discussion on further developments and use of our artefact
DSR offered a valuable course of work in order to generate a possible solution for a theoretical problem: literature on BM has worth stressing the need to adopt an Activity System perspective, but without providing guidelines on how to operationalize such analysis from a methodological stand point

Summary

Introduction

A business model (BM) is a set of activities articulated to promote value, and the perspective of Activity System (AS) in literature is a promising way for describing and understanding it (see Amit & Zott, 2001; Zott & Amit, 2010). Amit and Zott (2012, 2015) and Zott and Amit (2010, 2013) suggest that the use of the AS perspective on BM analysis offers a promising way to explain value creation with important effects for organizational strategy, competitiveness, and even for understanding business sustainability. They do not offer any prescriptive solutions about how to do that in a systematic manner. Literature on BM is mostly descriptive and it is often difficult to connect empirical data and assumptions made in BM analyses

Methods

Results

Conclusion