Co-evolution: A New Perspective for Business Model Innovation

This paper combines the perspective of co-evolution with studies in the area of business model, reveals the phenomenon of business model co-evolution and explores the business model coevolution mechanism between firms through a case study. Findings and what other companies can learn from this study are as follows. Firstly, companies, be it leaders or not, can act as enablers for other party’s business model innovation. Secondly, companies can enable each other’s business model innovation by taking the perspective of business model co-evolution; Thirdly, the interdependence of the business model co-evolution process can be explained by the four levers named novelty, lock-in, complementarity and efficiency. Companies can select novelty, lock-in, complementarity, efficiency or the combination of the four as mediators to achieve business model co-evolution.