Value Creation from E-Business Models

4

An ontology for e-Business models

Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur

4.1 Introduction

The terms ‘business models’ and ‘new business models’ probably belong to the most misinterpreted terms in e-Business. Nevertheless, innovative business models are constantly emerging in electronic commerce and can become a major stake in the e-Business game (Bloch et al., 1996; Maître and Aladjidi, 1999; Robinson et al., 2000). It is even possible to patent them in some countries. Understanding new business models and helping to design them are important research issues, not so well covered until now.

Business models have become more complex with the emergence of new and affordable information and communication technologies (ICTs). Companies increasingly ...