The Antecedents of Business Model Innovation: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Wu Xiaobo, Zhao Ziyi

Foreign Economics & Management Vol. 39, Issue 01, pp. 114 - 127 (2017)  DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.2017.01.009

Abstract

Business model innovation helps firms to create new competitive advantages, obtain new market resources, discover new economic growth points, and thereby increase performance. Under the backdrop of slowing down global economic growth, business model innovation is of great significance to firms. Previous studies mainly focus on the positive outcomes brought by business model innovation. However, the antecedents that drive firms to achieve business model innovation still remain ambiguous, and the formation mechanism of business model innovation is still a black box. This paper first makes a review of current research on business model innovation and sorts out the positive role of business model innovation in firms. Then from a function perspective it analyzes factors restricting and driving business model innovation, and portrays the formation mechanism of business model innovation from the point of view of three core schools of strategy field. Finally, it argues that business model innovation is a process of internally and externally crafting. Through a literature review, it finds that the antecedents of business model innovation consist of internal factors such as management cognition, resources capabilities, organization activities and profit model, and external factors such as technology innovation, context factors, market opportunities and firm value networks. And it differentiates the antecedents of business model innovation of start-ups and incumbent firms. It analyzes the antecedents and formation mechanism of business model innovation in detail, extends the research scope of business model innovation, and is of certain theoretical value. In addition, the research of antecedents of business model innovation can help firms to precisely carry out self-positioning, and trace the success of business model innovation back.

Keywords

business model innovation; business model; antecedent