Redefining Business Models: Strategies for a Financialized World

The term "business model" was one of the great buzzwords of the dotcom era, but has subsequently fallen into disrepute after the boom and bust cycle of that era, and more recently with the failure of the banking and public sector business models. Rather than dispose of the concept, Redefining Business Models argues that they can be reworked to generate a useful investigative framework and a practical resource to make visible the context within which firms conduct business. A set of central questions govern the purpose of this text: How have the corporate and non-corporate landscapes in the advanced economies changed over the past few decades? What are the underlying/concurrent factors and mechanisms? How do business models emerge and evolve in different contexts? Have business models helped to deliver promised financial and economic performance at the organization and national economy levels? How do contradiction and ambiguity play out often leading to disillusion? This text employs a narrative and numbers framework of analysis to construct alternative critical dialogues that are employed to affirm or challenge claims about the capacity of business models to transform economic performance.