Samenvatting

An overview of innovations in a particular area, for example retail developments in the fashion sector (Van Vliet, 2014), and a subsequent discussion about the probability as to whether these innovations will realise a ‘breakthrough’, has to be supplemented with the question of what the added value is for the customer of such a new service or product. The added value for the customer must not only be clear as to its direct (instrumental or hedonic) incentives but it must also be tested on its merits from a business point of view. This requires a methodology. Working with business models is a method for describing the added value of products/services for customers in a systematic and structured manner. The fact that this is not always simple is evident from the discussions about retail developments, which do not excel in well-grounded business models. If there is talk about business models at all, it is more likely to concern strategic positioning in the market or value chain, or the discussion is about specifics like earning- and distribution-models (see Molenaar, 2011; Shopping 2020, 2014). Here we shall deal with two aspects of business models. First of all we shall look at the different perspectives in the use of business models, ultimately arriving at four distinctive perspectives or methods of use. Secondly, we shall outline the context within which business models operate. As a conclusion we shall distil a research framework from these discussions by presenting an integrated model as the basis for further research into new services and product.