ABSTRACT
There is much knowledge about business models (BMs) (Zott and Amit 2009; Zott et al. 2010, 2011; Fielt 2011; Teece 2010; Lindgren and Rasmussen 2013) but very little knowledge and research about business model ecosystems (BMESs) – those “ecosystems” where the BMs really operate and work as value-adding mechanisms, objects or “species”. How are these BMESs actually constructed? How do they function? What are their characteristics? And how can we really define a BMES?
There is until now not an accepted language developed for the BMES nor is the term “BMES” generally accepted in the BM literature. This chapter intends to commence the journey of building up such language based on case studies within the windmill, health, agriculture and fair business model ecosystems – the upperpart of the vertical butterfly (Rasmussen, Saghaug and Lindgren 2014; Lindgren 2016b). A preliminary study of “as-is” and “tobe” BMs related to these BMESs present our first findings and preliminary understanding of the BMES. The chapter attempts to define a BMES and its dimensions and components. Every business model is part of or offered to one or more business model ecosystems (BMESs) (Lindgren 2016b). The BMES is where the business BMs operate and “exchange” their value proposition but it is also where the “to-be” BM can be presented in an early stage version – a Beta version or a prototype. The BMES is therefore a different term than a market, an industry, a cluster or a sector, as we will verify in this chapter. In this context we build upon a comprehensive review of academic business and BM literature together with an analogy study to ecological ecosystems and ecosystem frameworks. We commence exploring the origin of the terms “business”, “BM” and “ecosystems” and then relate this to a proposed BMES framework (Lindgren 2016b) and the concept of the multi BM framework (Lindgren and Rasmussen 2013).
