Business model innovation by design: a review of design’s role in business model innovation

In recent years, design research has increasingly focused on its use in the business model and innovation space. Despite this increased, little clarity exists surrounding the contribution of design in facilitating business model innovation outcomes. A literature review was conducted to answer the question: how does design contribute to business model innovation outcomes? 316 design and business model innovation (BMI) focused papers were reviewed, identifying five categories of design and BMI: functional design, outcome-based design, design as a methodology, design-logic orientation, and non-design. Reflection upon these 316 papers also highlighted a lack of repeatability and standardization amongst papers using design approaches to achieve BMI. This suggested a need to develop a clear, replicable design approach to achieving BMI outcomes in order to allow for the research field to build a consistent and rigorous evidence-base. Therefore, four meta-archetypes were identified for use as a first step toward building a consistent body of evidence for the contribution of design to BMI outcomes. The process describes the role of design in BMI processes, linking abstract and often external concepts, to tangible alternative business models – all in pursuit of better serving end-user needs and providing practitioners with replicable, transparent approaches to design and BMI.近年来，设计研究愈发聚焦于其在商业模式与创新领域的应用。尽管该领域的研究热度不断提升，但目前学界对于设计在推动商业模式创新成果落地方面的具体作用仍缺乏清晰认知。为此本研究开展了一项文献综述，旨在解答“设计如何推动商业模式创新成果落地”这一核心问题。本次综述共筛选纳入316篇聚焦设计与商业模式创新（Business Model Innovation, BMI）的学术论文，归纳出五类设计与商业模式创新的研究维度：功能型设计、结果导向型设计、作为方法论的设计、设计逻辑导向型研究，以及非设计类研究。通过对这316篇论文的复盘分析，本研究还发现，采用设计方法开展商业模式创新的相关研究普遍缺乏可复制性与标准化规范。这一现状凸显了开发一套清晰且可复制的设计方法以实现商业模式创新成果的必要性，从而助力该研究领域构建起一套严谨且统一的实证基础。基于此，本研究归纳出四类元原型，作为构建设计对商业模式创新成果贡献度相关统一实证体系的第一步。该系列元原型阐释了设计在商业模式创新流程中的作用：它将抽象且常为外部的概念转化为切实可行的替代性商业模式，最终目标是更好地满足终端用户需求，并为从业者提供可复制、透明化的设计与商业模式创新实施路径。