Business Models As A Conceptual Framework For Designing Business Of Contemporary Firms

Business models are a known but insufficiently researched and defined concept in the economic literature. Modern approach to business models analyses a business model as a tool for better understanding, visualizing and communicating a firm’s business logic with various internal and external stakeholders. Business model is a useful tool because entrepreneurs and managers are usually not fully proficient in clearly explaining all the complexities of their business to the relevant stakeholders. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the most important theoretical antecedents and research streams on business models, to systematically depict business model building blocks, and finally to propose key business model building blocks and a joint definition of the business model concept. Paper elaborates on the distinction between strategy and business model, and highlights the importance of business model innovation whereby business model design refers to the process of creating a new business model, while business model reconfiguration refers to the modification of the existing business model.