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The Business Model: Nature and Benefits

John Heilbron (Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA)

Business Models and Modelling

ISBN: 978-1-78560-463-8, eISBN: 978-1-78560-462-1

Publication date: 27 October 2015

Abstract

This paper considers the nature of the business model and its strategic relevance to negotiations. We elaborate a substantive definition of the business model as decisions enforced by the authority of the firm; this definition enables the analysis of business models through the analysis of individual firm choices. We situate negotiation outcomes within the strategy literature by considering “ambivalent value” – value produced by the interaction of partner firms that does not necessarily accrue to any of them. The extent of “ambivalent value” is unclear, but its persistence, despite changing structural market features, promises to help sustain superior profits in the long run. We conclude with an exploration of some ways in which firms’ business models may impact their negotiation outcomes. Several of the proposed pathways work intuitively through the intrinsic characteristics (motivation, personality, etc.) of agents negotiating on behalf of the firm; others operate independently of those characteristics.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We thank Charles Baden-Fuller and Vincent Mangematin for the invitation to contribute to this Special Issue and for their feedback on our early drafts. We also thank Jon Morgan of Paraphrase for editing later drafts.

Citation

Casadesus-Masanell, R. and Heilbron, J. (2015), "The Business Model: Nature and Benefits", Business Models and Modelling (Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 33), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 3-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-332220150000033002

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015 Emerald Group Publishing Limited