A practical guide for understanding online business models
International Journal of Web Information Systems
ISSN: 1744-0084
Article publication date: 19 November 2018
Issue publication date: 7 March 2019
Abstract
Purpose
There is a lack of clarity about what online business models are. The top 20 Google search results on online business models are articles that explain online business models. However, each of them deals with just one or two elements of business strategies. The list of business models is also a mixture of business strategies. This paper aims to provide practical guide that puts these business models into proper perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
A business model includes all key elements of the business, marketing and operational strategies. There are many such elements. The author has reviewed the popular use of the term online business models and found that just five of the key elements can put almost all of them into proper perspective.
Findings
Five elements of the business and marketing strategies constitute a practical guide for understanding, discussing and even designing the first working draft of a business plan.
Practical implications
The practical guide will serve as a robust vehicle for understanding, discussing and even designing the first working draft of a business plan. The current haphazard use of the term online business models does not shed light on online business models.
Originality/value
The author has examined 20 top Google search results for “online business models” and “business models”. These are articles that talk about 3-17 “business models”. The author examined all of them and confirmed that the five key elements of the business and marketing strategies can put all of them into proper perspective.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the reviewers for offering many insightful and constructive comments which resulted in improving the contents and presentation of this paper. This research was supported by the Korean MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), under the National Program for Excellence in SW (2015-0-00932), supervised by the IITP (Institute for Information and communications Technology Promotion.
Citation
Kim, W. (2019), "A practical guide for understanding online business models", International Journal of Web Information Systems, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 71-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWIS-07-2018-0060
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited