Recent technological advances have enabled the emergence of novel business models based on digital platforms. Marketplace like Airbnb or Uber offer such digital platforms to connect previously unmatched demand-side and supply-side participants through innovative forms of value creation, delivery and capture. While countless firms claim to offer the next 'Airbnb for X' or 'Uber for Y', we lack knowledge about the defining business model characteristics of these marketplaces. To close the gap, this paper provides a conceptually and empirically grounded taxonomy of their business models. Applying a mixed methods approach, it first develops an integrative framework of marketplace business models. Guided by the framework, the research systematically analyzes 100 randomly selected marketplaces with content analysis and binary coding. The gathered data is analyzed with cluster analysis techniques to develop a taxonomy for marketplace business models. The clustering process reveals six clearly distinguishable types of marketplace business models and thus shows that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating, delivering, and capturing value with marketplaces and platforms in general. We characterize these distinctive types on basis of the qualitative and quantitative findings. Among others, we find that two of these types are highly aligned with business model characteristics associated with the so-called sharing economy. The findings are discussed against platform, marketplace, and sharing economy literature to contribute to a higher integration of different literature streams that are concerned with similar organizational types and phenomena.

To achieve sustainability, a firm has to transform its entire business logic. A business model for sustainability (BMfS) aims at creating value for various stakeholders and the natural environment. This article advances the current understanding of the basic functioning of BMfS by applying a systems perspective. Our BMfS understanding incorporates the natural environment as an essential element, but does not deal with sustainability from a broad perspective. The core logic of a BMfS is built upon the creation of a reinforcing feedback loop between the created value to the customers, the value captured by the firm, and the value to the natural environment. Consequently, we develop a graphical model based on system dynamics notation. First, we conceptualize the basic feedback loops. Then, we propose partial models for the firm, natural environment, entrepreneur/manager, and customer, and then integrate these partial models within a systemic, multilevel model. Finally, we generate propositions that combine insights from the model and extant literature.

Managers involved in business model innovation (BMI) encounter a series of cognitive challenges. Although cognition research provides important insights into how visual tools can reduce cognitive challenges, it does not address the effective design of business model tools. To advance our understanding in this area, this research applies a cognition-centered perspective to analyze different visual business model representations. It builds upon a systematic literature review that identifies a selection of 45 visual representations from the academic literature and a sample of 50 visualizations from outside the academic realm. A content analysis of the sample reveals that all visual business model representations can be classified into three complementary categories, leading to a novel framework for distinguishing business model understandings. After assigning each visual representation to the framework, we use findings from the cognition literature to derive recommendations on how to select suitable graphic forms for different phases of the BMI process. Thus, this research contributes to the broader understanding of how visual tools can support business model innovation at a cognitive level.

An increasing number of entrepreneurial ventures aim at developing viable business models for solving societal or ecological challenges. Such business models for sustainability (BMfS) build on reinforcing mechanisms of value creation and capture that allow to simultaneously achieve financial and sustainability objectives. To date, we do not know much about the successful design of such business models for new markets with highly uncertain dynamics. Hence, this research aims at advancing the understanding about two key characteristics of successful BMfSscalability and robustnessand their impact on performance of entrepreneurial BMfS in uncertain environments. Toward this aim, it uses simulation modelling of an entrepreneurial BMfS under different future scenarios. The simulation represents the case of Coursera, an entrepreneurial venture with the social mission of making high-quality education globally accessible through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Rooted in the literature on business models (for sustainability), innovation adoption and System Dynamics, the simulation model integrates the four value dimensions of BMfS and allows testing different hypotheses about its sustainable performance. The simulation experiments show that the business model is scalable, but not sustainable in a scenario of high competition. We discuss the implications of the simulation results for the effective design of entrepreneurial BMfS.