Business Model Analysis from the Activity System Perspective: A Design Science Research

Abstract

Understanding a business model is at the core of organizational strategy, competitiveness, and business sustainability. Descriptive approaches to understand business models are often based on the analysis of their components by looking at organizational assets, resources, plans, and competencies. Although there are numerous contributions in the literature, few guidelines are offered regarding an Activity System perspective, in a prescriptive rather than a descriptive way. In this study, we propose a pragmatic solution to help cover this literature gap and to extend on previous studies. A Design Science Research approach was adopted including a multicase study of four business companies we examined in order to create a method for business model analysis from an Activity System perspective. The resulting artefact of the study is illustrated with data from the empirical cases. Three analytical movements are described as well as prescribed: dimensions analysis (i.e., business definition, customer segment, value proposition, profit logic, critical factors of value proposition, and Activity System); visual representation including illustrations of its Activity System; and competitive analysis including prospection for changes and innovations. Finally, the artefact is discussed in relation to its quality, utility, and usability.

Blockchain Technology in Renewable Energy Certificates in Brazil

“…In case studies via DSR, either in the sustainability field (França et al, 2020;Stiel et al, 2016) or in other areas (Bianchi & Ferraz, 2020;Debastiani et al, 2020;Gaspareto & Henriqson, 2020), there is a clear rationalization between the problem to be solved and the solution proposed or analyzed, always in a direction in which the problem induces the solution. However, in the case analyzed the ways in which organizations justify the implementation of their solutions and the resolution of their problems are built in a different way: organizations, whether leaders or challengers, choose the blockchain as a panacea and apply it to the resolution of several problems by trial and error in an attempt to justify the resolution of problems that are not actually solved, such as the traditional forms of auditing that remain without internal changes, that are intrinsic and dependent on the policy and regulatory context (Burer et al, 2019).…”

“…Even beginning to be widely used in solution development, especially in the field of sustainability, the theoretical development of DSR was built from the artifact perspective and evaluation, in contrast with the delimitation of the problem that the artifact is trying to solve. Finally, other authors are already applying DSR in studies beyond the field of technology(Bianchi & Ferraz, 2020;Debastiani, Alperstedt, Santos, & Koerich, 2020;Gaspareto & Henriqson, 2020) Maedche, Gregor, Morana and Feine (2019). found three types of problem formulation in design science based onKuechler and Vaisnhavi (2012), Peffers, Tuunanen, Rothenberger andChatterjee (2007), andSein, Henfridsson, Purao, Rossi and Lindgren (2011).…”

Innovación y sustentabilidad empresarial en turismo. Una revisión sistemática de literatura

“…Cabe hacer mención que los modelos de negocio sustentables exitosos se basan en la introducción de formas innovadoras para la reducción de costos y el incremento de la eficiencia de operaciones (Angeli and Jaiswal, 2016). De ahí que implementar estrategias de innovación permite la adecuada prestación de servicios porque denotan cursos de acción, actividades y elecciones organizativas deliberadas destinadas a establecer y mantener la ventaja competitiva (Angeli and Jaiswal, 2016;Gaspareto and Henriqson, 2020). Además estas estrategias de innovación utilizan las redes empresariales para superar las limitaciones territoriales, mejorando el rendimiento y el desarrollo de nuevos productos; elementos que sirven para reconocer y reducir las tensiones que se dan en el mercado .…”

“…La adopción de innovaciones orientadas a la sustentabilidad permite que las empresas logren una gestión estratégica que va más allá de la mejora continua como, por ejemplo, más crecimiento, competitividad, desempeño, rendimiento y reputación (Gaspareto and Henriqson, 2020).…”