Unlashing the Next Wave of Business Models in the Internet of Things Era: New Directions for a Research Agenda based on a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Pervasive digitization of products and services open additional avenues for the next wave of business model opportunities. Most of firms are aware of the monetization potentials that the Internet of Things (IoT) has to offer, however, they still struggle to create a compelling value propositions. Despite the attention of both research and practice onto business models and the IoT, only few concepts and research endeavors regarding their intersections exist. This paper tends to unleash the specificity of the business models within the IoT technologies, and motivate new, ecosystem, perspective for upcoming research. Following a rigorous methodology for a comprehensive and systematic literature review, we develop five literature clusters related to the Internet of Things-driven business model research, evaluate and analyze the papers within clusters, and finally identify the gaps and propose directions for future research.

Clarifying the Business Model Construct: A Theory-Driven Review through the Lenses of Ecosystem and Open System

“…Unfortunately, to this day, there is no consensus on the definition of the "business model" (Bigelow and Barney 2021;Sanasi 2023). Questions persist about the scope condition in terms of the evolving landscape of value creation and capture within business models (Foss and Saebi 2018;Omerovic et al 2020;Snihur and Eisenhardt 2022). Scholars continue to grapple with distinguishing the "business model" concept from related concepts such as "strategy" (Prescott and Filatotchev 2020;Bigelow and Barney 2021).…”