Business model innovation: Identifying foundations and trajectories

Business model innovation is an emerging hot topic in management research. It has been developing steadily for 20 years and has gained enormous momentum in recent years. A solid basis has been created, and the first literature reviews summarize the topic. However, an analysis of the core literature and the general foundation of business model innovation literature is missing. This gap is closed with this bibliometric. It analyzes 30 core articles referenced in 380 business model innovation publications. From this, a total of four research clusters can be delineated. This foundation of the research area is supplemented with a trend analysis of recent publications, which identifies three trends for the future of this research stream. The analysis highlights that sustainability, dynamic capabilities, and small- and medium-sized enterprises are the most promising trends in business model innovation. Based on the results, we present a general model for business model innovation.

Automated summary

Business model innovation is a hot topic in management research, with a solid foundation established over the past 20 years. A bibliometric analysis of core literature and research clusters has identified three future trends in the field, focusing on sustainability, dynamic capabilities, and small- and medium-sized enterprises.