Factors influencing business model change: a case study for the European crop protection industry

This paper propose a theoretical framework for the comprehensive study of business model (BM) change by taking different types of influencing factors and different levels of analysis into account (business, industry and macro-environment).
Evaluation of the added value of using the combination of three existing frameworks (the business model canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010), Porter’s five forces framework (Porter, 1980) and PESTEL (Johnson et al., 2017) based on semi-structured interviews with eight companies active in the European crop protection industry. The proposed theoretical framework was used to analyse several BM change situations as presented by the companies.
Our findings reveal that study of BM change is improved when a third type of influencing factors is considered besides drivers and facilitating/hindering factors. This third type includes factors that shape cohesion between BM components or between the BM and its environment. Second, the interaction of different types of influencing factors at different levels of analysis should be considered, as this generates a comprehensive view of the BM change situation.
This paper meets the demand for a theoretical handle that results in improved and more comprehensive analysis of BM change. The proposed theoretical framework combines different types of internal (business) and external (industry and macro-environment) factors that shape a BM change and considers their interaction.