Learning while (re)configuring: Business model innovation processes in established firms

This study addresses the question of how established organizations develop new business models over time, using a process research approach to trace how four business model innovation trajectories unfold. With organizational learning as analytical lens, we discern two process patterns: ‘drifting’ starts with an emphasis on experiential learning and shifts later to cognitive search; ‘leaping’, in contrast, starts with an emphasis on cognitive search and shifts later to experiential learning. Both drifting and leaping can result in radical business model innovations, while their occurrence depends on whether a new business model takes off from an existing model and when it goes into operation. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory on business models and organizational learning.

KEYWORDS: Business model; cognitive search; experiential learning; innovation; organizational learning; process research.