Decoding the Business Model: A Comparative Analysis with Strategy and Planning, and a New Seven-Keys Framework to Formulate A Business Idea

The article studies business models and their essence, comparing them to business plans and strategies. Various definitions and characteristics of business models are examined to be better understood and applied, both from a theoretical and a practical point of view. The aim is not to deny existing theoretical positions regarding business models but to suggest a new perspective where it is permissible, adapt existing knowledge to new business realities and opportunities and present an effective process for developing a business model. Through an in-depth content analysis of articles and reports published in renowned journals and conferences, multiple definitions of different researchers are given, and weaknesses in the interpretations are sought, but without challenging the existing paradigms. The systematic literature review found that the business model is applied with a much higher priority in practice than the business plan and strategy and enjoys significant interest from researchers. A major credit for this is its comprehensiveness in describing the design, structure and management of creating value by exploiting business opportunities. Our findings show that in academic and business circles, there is no clear enough distinction between business model, business plan and business strategy. Based on these findings, we present theoretical and applied guidelines and an innovative seven-keys framework for elaborating a business model.