Understanding business model development through the lens of complexity theory: enablers and barriers

A winning business model is the key to business success in today’s fragmented market environment. However, businesses need to develop their business models over time to meet the requirements of environmental uncertainties and shifts surrounding the business. Drawing on complexity theory and its related concept of hierarchy, this study advances a systematic approach to theoretically investigate the factors that favourably or adversely affect business model development (BMD), in a hierarchical order. In particular, multiple fuzzy multicriteria decision making techniques were applied to develop the list of enablers of and barriers to BMD, to determine the priorities among enablers, and to determine the significance of barriers with respect to the main enablers of BMD. The results reveal that organizational form is the most salient enablers of BMD, while type II barriers are the most significant barriers, challenging the development of business models. Implications and future research directions are also provided.