Internet commerce has changed traditional business
models and has given rise to new kinds of business models. However, there is no
commonly acceptable definition of the business model's concept. Business models
have been defined and categorized in many different ways.
The probably best known definition and classification
of electronic models is the one of Timmers (1998). According to him, a business
model is an architecture for the product, service and information flows, a
description of the various business actors and of their roles, as well as a
description of the potential benefits of these actors and finally a description
of the sources of revenue. In addition, he acknowledges the necessity of
providing a marketing strategy, in order to accomplish a business mission.
Timmers classifies the eleven generic e-business models he outlines, according
to their degree of innovation and their functional integration.
For Rappa (2001) a business model spells out how a
company makes money by specifying where it is positioned in the value chain.
His taxonomy consists of nine generic e-business models, which classify
companies among the nature of their value proposition or their mode of
generating revenues. A very interesting framework is described by Rayport &
Jaworski (2001). They divide an e-business model into four main pillars, which
are the value cluster, the marketspace offering, the resource system and the
financial model.
Osterwalder & Pigneur (2002) approached a business model as the conceptual and
architectural implementation of a business strategy and as the foundation for
the implementation of business processes. Three elements make up a business
model: Revenue and product aspects; business actor and network aspects; and
marketing specific aspects.
Obviously, the e-business models are implemented in a variety of ways
and continue to evolve. Moreover, a company may combine different models as
part of its overall Internet business strategy.
It would seem that a framework is more useful than a definition in
contributing to the analysis of a business model’s structure and in determining
the critical success factors in e-commerce. Osterwalder & Pigneur (2002) formulated and proposed an e-business
model ontology (e.g. rigorous framework) that highlights the relevant e-business
issues and elements firms have to consider in order to operate
successfully. This framework is founded
on four main pillars, which are product innovation, customer relationship,
infrastructure management and financial aspects, as presented briefly in Table
1. According to these authors, a business model is nothing else than the value
a company offers to one or several segments of customers and the firm’s
architecture and network of partners for creating, marketing and delivering
this value and relationship capital, in order to generate sustainable revenue
streams.
