Crafting digital business models: an ongoing process of innovation and imitation

Stephan von Delft and Yang Zhao

Chapter 3 in Research Handbook on Digital Strategy, 2023, pp 60-82 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter explores how digital business models come into being and how they develop over time. A focus on how digital business models form is important for theory and practice because managers and entrepreneurs cannot stop at identifying a particular digital business model design but must inevitably deliver digital strategy by creating and constantly developing digital business models. The chapter opens with a review of the two principal ways to design digital business models identified in prior literature: business model innovation and imitation. Both business model innovation and imitation are viable ways to form business models in the digital economy, and they are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they may be conceived as two ends of a continuum along which real-world strategies to design digital business models lie. This chapter integrates emerging and established research to develop this notion and explores strategies along the spectrum. These include pioneer, architect, blender, adapter, and copycat. The chapter also discusses some basic principles and underlying mechanisms behind these strategies. Finally, an agenda for future research on strategies to design digital business models is proposed.

Keywords: Asian Studies; Business and Management; Innovations and Technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781800378902/9781800378902.00009.xml (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:20348_3

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Darrel McCalla ().