Towards Conceptual Enhancements of the Business Model Canvas: The Case of Health Information Technology

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Business models (BM) describe mechanisms of value creation, delivery and capture. Business Model Representation (BMRs) in terms of conceptual models systematically and formally visualize BMs. The field of BMRs is characterized by conceptual inconsistencies such as heterogeneous notations and insufficiently described semantics. Describing and constructing structured and comparable BMs capturing concrete business cases is hampered. Even the success of the most prominent BMR approach - the business model canvas (BMC) - could only lead to slight advances. So, we aim to mature research on BMRs by enhancing the BMC with further conceptual modeling's concepts. We will focus on Health Information Technology (HIT) initiatives that are prone to fail. Analyses showed that the domain's networked nature of value creation requires to link and interrelate the BM's building blocks. Current BMR approaches, including the BMC, can only hardly provide such. For addressing BMC's conceptual weaknesses, we propose to substantiate the BMC by means of a layered concept making use of conceptual modeling's principles and considering the domain's specifics to a greater extent. Systematic and HITspecific BM(R) approaches are worthwhile as these identify and map all relevant stakeholders as well as their interrelations for value creation. That is a primary prerequisite for sustainable HIT solutions. So, we aim at bringing necessary complex information into a structured concept that allows to make profound managerial decisions. In turn, this provides more profound guidance for the implementation of HIT solutions that may lead to a higher success rates of such.