ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL - UNDERSTANDING THE FRONT-END AND 1 BACK-END OF BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION Franziska Günzel Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University Bartholins Allé 10, 8000 Aarhus C Denmark E-mail:
[email protected] Anna B. Holm Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University Bartholins Allé 10, 8000 Aarhus C Denmark E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract: Business model innovation is becoming increasingly a central research topic in management. However, a lack of a common understanding of the nature of the business model leads to disregarding its multifaceted structure when analysing the business model innovation process. This article proposes a more detailed understanding of the business model innovation process by drawing on existing knowledge from new product development literature and examining the front-end and the back-end of business model innovation of three leading Danish newspapers. We studied how changes introduced during the development of digital news production and delivery have affected key components of these business models, namely value creation, proposition, delivery and capture in the period 2002- 2011. Our findings suggest the need to distinguish between front-end and back-end business 1 Preprint of the article published in International Journal of Innovation Management , Volume 17, Issue 1, 2013, DOI 10.1142/S1363919613400021, © Copyright World Scientific Publishing Company, Article URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919613400021 model innovation processes, and to recognise the importance of organizational learning and choice when incumbents are faced with disruptive technologies. Keywords: business model, business model innovation, innovation process, newspaper industry, new product development literature, online publication, disruptive technology, back-end innovation, front-end innovation.