ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the business model innovation research boundaries forward through two successive steps: the development of a business model innovation typology, and the introduction of a business model configurations taxonomy. Typologies are “complex theoretical statements that should be subjected to quantitative modeling and rigorous empirical testing” and, if applied successfully, are able to predict variance in dependent variables. In all areas of social science and management engineering research, typologies have been proposed, including decision science, organization design, and strategy. The ideal type “is not a description of reality but it aims to give unambiguous means of expression to such a description”. The line of reasoning behind our choice of constructs, generally accepted in, for example, production management, is “organization/management follows technology/process follows product/service”. Organization and innovation theory propose a range of strategies to cope with these characteristics, which fall into few main categories.
