Using Design Science Research to Develop a Framework for Effective Business Model Design

The ever-changing and increasingly complex business world makes new successful business models a key challenge for entrepreneurs. Accordingly, business model design is an essential task for startups to explore, define and communicate new business opportunities. Simultaneously, there has been insufficient knowledge, either in theory or in practice, on how to realize an effective business model design process.
Therefore, this dissertation's approach was to develop a framework with the support of which startups can effectively design their business model. For this purpose, the thesis identified content and process steps necessary for an effective business model design. Furthermore, based on a literature review, the business model concept, as well as the basic steps of an effective process for designing a business model, were defined. Furthermore, through the analysis of existing frameworks and the examination of entrepreneurial practice in the context of a quantitative survey, insights were gained into how startups currently design their business models, and for which reasons the existing frameworks have so far been assessed as not effective enough. ... mehr
Methodologically, the work was guided by a design science research approach. In all steps of this work, the Design Science research framework and guidelines found on the principle that new knowledge and understanding are derived from the design, application, and evaluation of an artifact, were strictly followed.
Based on the theoretical findings of the literature and the study's practical insights, the requirements for the design of the framework were derived. Its initial design was developed with the help of a group of experts. It was then tested in two iterative evaluation cycles with 42 startups in seven multi-day workshops in different accelerator programs. After each application, the framework was evaluated through interviews and questionnaires and adapted based on the lessons learned. This iteration was conducted until the previously defined requirements for the artifact were fully met. Within the work scope, it was thus possible to develop an artifact that contains significant structural and content-related enhancements com-pared to existing approaches to business model design. The developed framework can sup-port startups, regardless of their development stage and economic background, in effectively designing their business model.