Choice Of Business Model Research Articles

ФОРМУВАННЯ МЕРЕЖЕВОЇ БІЗНЕС-МОДЕЛІ В ПРОЦЕСІ ІНТЕГРОВАНОГО РОЗВИТКУ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

The purpose of the current research is formation of the methodical approach for definition of optimum network business model of the enterprise taking into account possibilities of its integrated functioning. Essential filling of network business model is defined. Network business models are identified in accordance with their features. The developed classification of business models can be updated, supplemented and transformed with participation of new models. The choice of business model is considered as a strategic decision, which requires an adequate methodological basis and automation in the context of the functional module of intelligent systems to support strategic decision-making. The substantiation of a certain management decision is proposed to be considered as an engineering process. It is determined that key competencies and innovative potential of the enterprise are the main factors in the choice of network business model. Factors that hinder the implementation of the selected business model, which are determined at an early stage before making a management decision, have an impact in the form of risks. The structure of components of the network business model in the process of enterprise integrated development is formed and the methodology of its formation is justified. The proposed economic and mathematical model can be used to create an intellectual system designed for integrated development of network enterprises. The approach to business model identification is based on the similarity theory, which is widely used in data analysis systems, but in contrast to these systems, decision-making in the process of integration is not based on combinatorial methods, and is implemented through the production model. Features of this method are the use of meta-ontological classification templates, quality characteristics for evaluation and rules of fuzzy logic. The offered methodical approach allows to choose optimum network business model taking into account possibilities of integrated enterprise development. The proposed intelligent decision support tools are designed to implement effective strategic planning, support flexible organizational and economic mechanisms and optimal business process management.

Інноваційно-інвестиційні основи прийняття управлінських рішень у підприємництві

The essence, main tendencies of asymmetries and disproportions of development of territorial communities are considered. The basic mechanisms of activation of the internal potential of their revival are outlined. The purpose of the study is to substantiate management decisions regarding choice of business model that provides socio-ecological and economic development in its location. As a result of the research the following tasks were solved: 1) determination of social and ecological problems of the territory and the main priority life needs of its population; 2) justification of the mechanism for implementing the goals of entrepreneurship bases on the creative approach activation to innovation management decisions under the condition of balanced development of territories with appropriate motivation of both managers and employees and increasing their potential. The object of the study is the process of managerial decision making by business leaders on an innovation and investment bases. The research was conducted inductively (by collecting and analyzing qualitative data) and deductively (through generalization of theoretical questions based on a systems approach), which was made possible by analyzing of synergetic transformations of nonlinear self-organized dynamical systems such as society, economy and ecology. Measurement of variables was performed on the basis of sociological survey data. In 2013–2017, 15 small and medium-sized businesses in the northern, central and southern regions of Ukraine were surveyed in order to identify factors of their socio-economic development. The cluster sampling method was used to select the settlement. Socio-economic data was collected using verbal socio and psychological methods using unstructured and semi-structured approaches. The great flexibility of the method allows to obtain comprehensive information about the socio-psychological causes of behavior (for example, methods of management, motivation). Studies of the theory and practice of business management, development of social and industrial infrastructure are illustrated from the standpoint of their impact on small businesses and could be implemented in to the educational process and development strategy of the region. It is generally recognized accepted that the key factors for success in business are trend analysis, market research, long-term goals, business modeling, resource management, team building, and marketing planning, subject to appropriate staffing of business processes. The UN's proclaimed strategy for sustainable development outlined seventeen priority goals for the formation of society, which were reflected in the formation of corporate social responsibility of business entities. It needs to coordinate all activities of society with the surrounding space as a whole determine the level of organization of the business structure as components of smart-organization. Ensuring the sustainable development of the organization is based on the concentration of efforts of participants on the practical goals of the organization and the practice of understanding by management and employees of companies of the tasks facing it. People, their activities, enthusiasm and development is the basis of success of the organization. As a result of the introduction of the system of resource exchange, mainly due to the activation of human capital and attraction of innovation and investment potential in the form of technologies generated by individuals for communities, in particular in rural areas, the mechanism of internal institutionalization becomes involved. It is most active now in ancestral homesteads and ancestral settlements, which are founded by initiative educated youth (the average age of initiators of reverse urbanization is 35 years, 82 % of whom have higher education and activate the average investment flow to rural areas in the amount of 4 thousand US dollars annually per hectare). Thus, the entrepreneurial potential of the territory, estimated by the share of national wealth per capita for poor countries is 59 %, its activation through innovation, creativity and creative technologies can increase the share of human capital in national wealth to 80 %. The corresponding increase in human capital due to the development of tribal settlements will encourage an increase in the capitalization of the territory annually (in the case of revival in each region of one settlement with adjacent territories with an average area of 500 hectares, where 250 families will live) by 3.28 million dollars of United States, which is the source of the development of the newly formed united territorial communities.

Merger Analysis in the App Economy: An Empirical Model of Ad-Sponsored Media

In the mobile app market, multiple monetizing policies such as paid and free ad-sponsored models co-exist. This paper proposes a novel model of ad-sponsored media with endogenous business model choice, that is applicable to the mobile app industry. The model defines an equilibrium over consumers’ downloads and usage decisions and app developers’ pricing and advertising decisions. The cost for a consumer to use an app is well defined regardless of the monetizing policy, enabling a Small, Non-transitory but Significant Increase in Cost (SSNIC) test for defining an antitrust relevant market. We estimate the model using mobile app data from Japan from 2015 to 2017. The SSNIC test shows that few non-game categories are relevant markets, whereas so are many game categories. The relevant market definition based on a full equilibrium simulation is aligned with this result. Furthermore, merger simulations show that the welfare damage is more pronounced in categories where the hypothetical monopolist's profit increases more in the SSNIC test, validating the use of SSNIC test as a convenient screening tool. Merger simulations suggest the importance of endogenous business model choice, because price increase is often caused by the shift from free to paid model. The endogenous business model choice also affects the implication of the platform transaction fee reduction. Contrary to the standard vertical relation, in the app economy, we find that a reduction in the transaction fee increases the price, because apps find it more profitable to charge price rather than show advertisements to consumers.

Freemium competition among ad-sponsored platforms

This paper studies competition between ad-sponsored platforms that strategically determine business models. In addition to basic services including annoying advertisements, each platform decides whether to introduce an ad-free premium service (i.e., a freemium business model). Freemium platforms encounter a trade-off between increasing the number of premium users for the subscription-based revenues and increasing the number of basic users for the ad-sponsored revenues. I characterize how the freemium platforms should segment their users into basic and premium services. Moreover, I show that the equilibrium business model choice depends on the extent of fixed costs for introducing a premium service. When the fixed cost is at an intermediate level, asymmetric equilibria may arise: i.e., only one platform introduces the premium service. Competing platforms may have an incentive to coordinate their choices toward asymmetric market structures; however, these structures can be harmful to both consumers and advertisers.

Urban manufacturing and temporary spatial proximity in production processes

This article argues that temporary spatial proximity between economic agents can also have a productionrelated purpose besides knowledge generation. At the same time, due to new technological developments and trends, consumer goods are generated by temporary spatial proximity between end customers and producers. The purpose of the temporary exchange is to create material goods meeting the individual demands of the respective customer in real time. The aim of this paper is to analyse production-related temporary spatial proximity of urban manufacturing to show how production sites and locations as well as the relationship with customers are altered. Based on a literature analysis and case studies, production-related temporary spatial proximity in large companies, factories, makerspaces and festivals is examined. The results show that customers are intensively involved in the production process. Changes in the production method and location are the consequence, since it is about the production of individual pieces. In addition, production locations change, as they need to be in retail locations or housing areas, i.e. close to the market where the end consumers are. Production-oriented temporal spatial proximity between producers and consumers and associated inner-city production will not replace mass production of consumer goods. However, it is an important factor influencing the choice of business models and business locations for entrepreneurs given the current trend in the individualisation of consumer goods.

How Does Leasing Affect Green Product Design?

Leasing has been increasingly seen as a viable alternative to traditional business models. In this paper, we consider a manufacturer making decisions on green product design by accounting for the trade-off between traditional and environmental qualities under three business models, including a pure selling, a pure leasing, and a hybrid model with both selling and leasing. Under leasing, there exists the pooling effect that allows a manufacturer to meet consumer needs with fewer products. Since the pooling effect decreases the marginal cost of production, leasing produces positive incentives to increase product quality. However, the cannibalization effect within the product line distorts the incentives so that the pooling effect only increases the traditional quality rather than the environmental quality. As a result, leasing may have a negative impact on the average environmental quality of products. The manufacturer should make business model choices depending on some factors, including the types of markets, the usage cost, and the pooling effect. In general, when the pooling effect is strong, the manufacturer prefers a leasing or hybrid model to selling but designs products with lower environmental quality than selling. When the pooling effect is weak, the optimal decision should be made depending on the types of markets and the usage cost: in the high-end (low-end) market, the manufacturer should adopt a leasing or hybrid model only when the usage cost is high (low); the adoption of leasing or hybrid model can improve the average environmental quality.

Development of banking ecosystems: risks and prospects

Purpose. The aim of the article is determination of peculiarities of development of financial (banking) ecosystems, and first of all, assessment of threats and opportunities of their creation in domestic practice in the conditions of rapid development of financial technologies. Methodology of research. The theoretical basis of the research is the scientific works of foreign and domestic scientists on the problem under study. The following methods are used in the writing of the article: analysis and synthesis – in the study of foreign and domestic experience of creating ecosystems in banks; settlement and analytical – in the analysis of investments in financial technology; abstract and logical – in substantiation of theoretical generalizations and conclusions. Findings. The problems of banks' activities in the form of ecosystems are investigated, because today the banks are faced with the choice to work according to the traditional scheme or to choose a new way of functioning as an ecosystem, the effectiveness of which depends on the correct choice of innovative business model and platform. The concepts of “portal”, “platform” and “ecosystem” have been delineated and the main components on which the bank's ecosystem should be based are characterized, which will enable the bank to be competitive among other financial and non-financial organizations. The risks and opportunities of banking ecosystems functioning, as well as new key tasks and skills in the field of ecosystem organization, are identified. Originality. It is substantiated that the key competitive advantage of banks is the development of digital ecosystems and the proper positioning of themselves in them, with banks focusing on their three strengths: the use of know-how to present even complex financial products and processes; offers new services in the field of safe storage of money (personal and behavioural data); use of considerable experience in the field of regulation. Practical value. The results of the study can be taken into account by banking institutions, as the new ecosystem puts the end consumer at the first place, which necessitates a redevelopment of their internal processes and services to be more customer-centric in the digital ecosystem. Key words: bank; ecosystem; financial technologies; financial supermarket; FinTech (Financial technology) of the company; bank ecosystem; business model; portal; platform.

Business model design and performance in nascent markets

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nascent market settings from a business model innovation perspective with the research questions: How do incumbents and start-ups make sense of an emerging technology through business model design in a nascent market setting, and how does business model choice influence firm performance? Design/methodology/approach The authors have tracked the development of four case companies in the nascent electric vehicle market from 2009 to 2018 and have conducted interviews and analyzed the archival data. Findings The authors propose a typology of business model choices and performance where the four types of business models distinguish themselves by how the companies innovate or imitate the value proposition of the current industry as well as how they innovate or imitate the business model archetype. In accordance with these different business model choices, the actors express different logics behind their new to the product market space business model choice. These logics represent different understandings of technology potential, customer needs as well as potential for value capture and contribute to and limit the translation of emerging technologies into dominant designs in diverse ways. Originality/value The business model is conceived as a focusing device that can be used to identify market applications for emerging technologies. As new disruptive technologies often require a new to the product market space business model, literature has in recent years put a premium on business model innovation. However, the linkages between emergent technologies and the choice of a novel business model are under investigated especially in relation to how business model choice affects business performance in nascent market settings. This paper aims at filling this gap.

Promotional pricing and online business model choice in the presence of retail competition

Online promotional channels provided by competitive conventional reselling or novel agency selling e-tailers are widely used by firms to stimulate significant sales in retail. Compared with reselling, agency selling gives firms the power to directly control prices, but it involves costly platform fees. Given the unique features of the reselling and agency selling business models, we develop game theoretic models to explore how the firm and e-tailers, under consideration of retail competition, should strategically use these two business models in promotion. Our analysis generates several insights. We demonstrate that the agency selling model might lead to a higher price than the reselling model, a result contrary to the double marginalization. We also present that without retail competition, there exists a “win-win” promotional strategy, which is also a Pareto-optimal situation for the firm and e-tailer. Specifically, this situation occurs when the e-tailer is in the reselling model under a moderate inventory level or in the agency selling model with a moderate platform fee under a high inventory level. However, under conditions of competitive e-tailers, both e-tailers being in the reselling model is no longer a “win-win” promotional strategy, while the hybrid selling model, i.e., one in the reselling model and the other in the agency selling model, can generate a Pareto improvement. In addition, low platform fees, customers’ high price sensitivities, increased selling costs or decreased competitive intensities will drive supply chain participants to seek direct pricing power in the agency selling model.

Financial derivatives and bank risk: evidence from eighteen developed markets

We examine the relationship between equity risk and the use of financial derivatives with a sample of 555 banks from eighteen developed markets from 2006 to 2015. Our main findings suggest that banks’ use of financial derivatives increased their risk. This increase in risk can be driven by banks’ use of derivatives for speculative purposes, by suboptimal hedging to obtain hedge accounting status, or from accounting mismatches that generate volatility in earnings. We also show that this relationship is nonlinear. Too-Big-To-Fail banks and those that employ a traditional retail banking business model are subject to lower idiosyncratic risk. We address endogeneity concerns using instrumental variables capturing the use of derivatives with portfolio ranking. Overall, our study contributes to understanding the impact of derivatives use on bank risk and the risk consequences of a bank’s business model choice.

An innovative business model for rural sub-Saharan Africa electrification

Despite a significant progress in electrification over the last decade, more than 1 billion people have no access to electricity, and about 3 billion use solid fuel or kerosene for cooking and heating purposes. More than 95 % of them live in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia, and around 80 % are situated in rural areas. Conventional approach to power supply such as transmission grid extension is not economical due to high investment and connection costs. Technological progress has shifted down capital costs of renewable off-grid solutions. However, in the most cases, it is not enough to reach feasibility of these solutions due to weak investment conditions and weak purchasing power of the local population in these areas. The choice of business model can have a vital role in bringing electrification and connectivity to rural areas, providing flexibility and adaptability of the technology to the market conditions. Analysis of existing literature on business models for off-grid solutions concludes that the model for rural areas in developing countries should be more service oriented, be scalable to various use case scenarios, should provide good risk balance between customer and provider, and should enable transparency and quality of service. This paper analyses recent developments in off-grid system solutions for sub-Saharan Africa and provides classification of business model innovations. Based on the analysis, the paper proposes an innovative business model for Fusion Grid project, scalable mini-grid integrated with connectivity solution. Feasibility of the project is tested for three different cases, depending on the type of the rural community. Results suggests that combining micro-grid based power supply and internet connection as one service can contribute to a viability of the project, and, furthermore, can contribute to achieving global electrification goal.

NEW APPROACHES TO BANKING BUSINESS MODELS IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

The factors of the post-crisis development of the world banking system, the strengthening of the role of information technology in all industries, the increasing role of innovative Fintech intermediaries in the banking market encourage the management of banks to revise traditional business models and to form new approaches to managing the modern bank. In the article the authors aimed to investigate the impact of digitization on the choice of banking business model and the development of algorithm for estimating a bank’s business model. Traditionally banks choose one of five business models: lending, high leverage, investment, fee, margin. Most operating banks opt for traditional models because the business environment requires it. However, maintaining the bank’s competitiveness, enhancing its efficiency and resilience to financial imbalances is possible by building an innovative business model that takes into account the modern diffusion of information technology and the functioning of FinTech companies as an alternative to traditional banking business. Although nobody knows yet what will replace the current business model, there are currently three approaches to assimilating FinTech in banking: the Financial Control Center, Banking-as-a-Service, the Niche Bank. The choice of the banking business model and its transformation should be accompanied by an assessment of the bank’s business model. Thus, an important component of banking management in an unstable environment is the analysis of the business model of the bank and its transformation in order to minimize the impact of possible negative effects of financial crises on the performance of the bank. The proposed algorithm for estimating a bank’s business model includes 6 stages: preliminary assessment of the main components of the bank’s business model; assessment of the business environment of the bank; stress testing of the viability of the bank’s business model; evaluation of the bank’s strategy; identification of key vulnerabilities to which the bank’s business model is prone or likely to be vulnerable; and justification of the results and formation of effective conclusions. Keywords: banks, banking business model, banking management, digital economy, business model innovation.

How Have Banks Been Managing the Composition of High-Quality Liquid Assets?

Banks? liquidity management practices are fundamental to understanding the implementation and transmission of monetary policy. Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09, these practices have been shaped importantly by the liquidity coverage ratio requirement. Given the lack of public data on how banks have been meeting this requirement, we construct estimates of U.S. banks? high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) and examine how banks have managed these assets since the crisis. We find that banks have adopted a wide range of HQLA compositions and show that this empirical finding is consistent with a risk-return framework that hinges on banks? aversion to liquidity and interest rate risks. We discuss how various regulations and business model choices can drive HQLA compositions in general, and connect many of the specific compositions we see to banks? own public statements regarding their liquidity strategies. Finally, we highlight how banks? preferences for the share of HQLA met with reserves affect the Fed?s monetary policy implementation framework.

Consumer preferences for business models in electric vehicle adoption

Successful market penetration of electric vehicles may not only rely on the characteristics of the technology but also on the business models available on the market. This study aims to assess and quantify consumer preferences for business models in the context of Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption. In particular, we explore the impact of attitudes on preferences and choices regarding business models. We examine three business models in the present study: battery leasing, vehicle leasing and mobility guarantee. We design a stated choice experiment to disentangle the effect of business models from other factors and estimate a hybrid choice model. According to the results, the preferences for business models depend on the vehicle type: for battery electric vehicle (BEV), vehicle leasing is the most preferred option and battery leasing is the least preferred, while for conventional cars (CV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) the traditional business model of full purchase remains more popular. The attitudes of pro-convenience, pro-ownership and pro-EV leasing are all significantly associated with the choice of business models. As for mobility guarantee, we do not find any significant effect on utility. Finally, we discuss the implications for business strategy and government policy derived from our results.

Leasing, Modularity, and the Circular Economy

We investigate the economic and environmental implications of jointly implementing leasing and modularity, two prominent circular economy strategies, and their interaction. We develop a durable goods model to obtain insights for firms considering the use of these strategies. We first analyze the effect of adopting leasing on a firm's product architecture choice. We find that a modular product architecture is more attractive under leasing only if off-lease products depreciate to a greater extent. We next analyze the effect of adopting a modular product architecture on the firm's business model choice. We find that adopting a modular architecture can cause a leasing firm to switch to selling, but will not lead a selling firm to switch to leasing. Building on these results, we show that leasing a modular product is preferred by the firm only under limited conditions, i.e., when production costs are low, off-lease products are in relatively better condition, and when there is a large difference between depreciation levels of different modules. Finally, we show that jointly implementing leasing and modularity can also lead to higher environmental impact than only adopting leasing or modularity in isolation.

How leaders manage their business models using information

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the information leaders keep their organisations competitive by determining if their business model is under threat and/or needs changing and whether business model innovation is needed.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a grounded theory approach to probe an area which has been so far researched very little.FindingsThe paper identifies that while quality of management information affects leaders’ decisions about whether their business model is under threat or needs changing, leaders may or may not choose to use it.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was carried out with large firms in six sectors in the UK. Research in other sectors, in smaller firms and in other countries, should be carried out to test generalisability.Practical implicationsAlthough many large firms have made very large investments into areas such as customer insight in the past few years, there may be resistance to using this information even if it indicates that a firm’s current business model is under threat, because of straightforward denial or because of the inertia associated with factors such as difficulties in changing business models or the extent to which the firm’s financial situation is based upon exploiting its current business model, no matter how much that model is under threat from firms with other business models. Therefore, in strategic reviews, firms should factor in these risks and seek to mitigate them.Social implicationsIn public sector organisations, these risks of denial or inertia may be stronger because of conservatism and lack of willingness to take the risks of change, so public sector decision makers need to be particularly aware of these risks and seek to mitigate them.Originality/valueThe theoretical contribution of this research is to add to business model and strategic management literature by explaining the role that information plays in business model choice and how its role depends on whether and how the information is used by senior management.

Selling through referrals

AbstractWe endogenize intermediaries' choice to operate as agents or merchants in a market where there are frictions due to asymmetric information about consumption values. A seller has an object for sale and can reach buyers only through intermediaries. Intermediaries can either mediate the transaction by buying and reselling—the merchant mode—or refer buyers to the seller for a fee—the referral mode. When the seller has a strong bargaining position and can condition the asking price to the intermediaries' business model choice, all intermediaries specialize in agency. The seller's and intermediaries' joint profits equal the seller's profits when he has access to all buyers. When the seller does not have such bargaining power, the level of the referral fee and the degree of competition among intermediaries determine the business mode adoption. A hybrid agency–merchant mode may be adopted in equilibrium. Banning the referral mode can decrease welfare because the merchant mode is associated with additional allocative distortions due to asymmetric information.

Two professors' experience with competency‐based education

In the autumn of 2015, to extend its leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and to reach a wider range of lifelong learners, Worcester Polytechnic Institute embarked upon a pilot program to assess the value of a competency‐based education (CBE) pedagogy. The authors converted two graduate‐level Systems Engineering courses to a CBE format and delivered them to students in late 2016 and 2017. Preliminary results suggest that CBE offers increased flexibility for working professionals and can extend the reach of educational institutions; that the choice of a learning management system is critical in facilitating CBE delivery; that some students adapt to a CBE format very well while others (who do not have good self‐discipline) do not, so that identifying the correct target demographic is important; that working in project teams is difficult in a CBE context; that synchronous activities (such as Discussion Board postings requiring synchronous debate) are challenging; that (in the version of CBE offered) most students did not avail themselves of the substantial flexibility provided in selecting course topics and alternative assessments; and that unless incentivized to move quickly, students tend to procrastinate. Lastly, for CBE to be financially beneficial to both student and university, it is our opinion that careful attention must be paid to the choice of students, the selection of courses, and the choice of business model, all of which are intimately tied together. These preliminary observations must be corroborated or refuted in future pilots, which are currently planned to develop improved versions of CBE at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

�Business model thinking�, business ecosystems and platforms: The new perspective on the environment of the organization

Business model has allowed strategic management to depart from the “one best way” of traditional approaches, integrating the various ways to deploy resources, to create and capture value. Hence, the “business model thinking” has induced major change in strategic management over the last ten years. In this essay, we take a pragmatist approach to tentatively detail the main features of the environment of the organization introduced by business model thinking. We advance that adopting a business model perspective does not mean that the environment is neglected in the strategy process. However, the environment is not considered as deterministic, and the organization does not have to fit with it or to try to change it. Through a pragmatist lens, the business model is conceived as performing the ecosystem of an organization within a broader environment. Therefore, we argue that the business model selects the relevant competitive landscape. This view has three main consequences. First, the environment is not the same for every organization in a given industry and the traditional concepts of strategy (entry barriers, competition intensity, bargaining power with suppliers or customers...) should be applied after the choice of business model has been made and not ex ante at the industry level. Second, the ability to implement a business model relies essentially on the negotiations and interactions with the stakeholders selected through the choice or design of the business model. Third, business models and ecosystems are not static but co-evolve. Once defined, ecosystems progressively constrain the business models. But ecosystems also change through mutual interaction and therefore offer new opportunities for the evolution of the business models.

New venture creation in academia: preconditions and drivers for the emergence of academic spin-offs

Purpose of the paper : This study aims to explore determinants for the emergence of academic spin-offs (ASOs). We analyzed individual, institutional and infrastructural factors that lead to the emergence of ASOs and their influence on the business model choice of firms in their start-up phase. Methodology : The analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative methods; the field of research is the life sciences faculty of the University of Siena. Findings : Consultancy by researchers is a positive predictor of the propensity to create a business. Quality and quantity of scientific production are associated positively but only up to a certain threshold, beyond which academics have less inclination for entrepreneurship. University department size plays a decisive role: scarcity of resources may limit the emergence and growth of ASOs. Science parks and university-industry liaison structures play a crucial role in the emergence and survival of new businesses. The resources, competence and motivation of the founders are the main determinants of the choice of business model of ASOs during the start-up phase. Research limitations : The analysis regarded one medium-sized university and a single (albeit large) scientific field, i.e. life sciences. Managerial implications: The results can help managers assess ex ante which university careers potentially lead to the emergence of ASOs. Originality of the paper : Few prior studies have considered qualitative and quantitative empirical evidence on factors influencing the emergence of ASOs and the choice of business model during the start-up phase.