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Business Model Design from an ANT Perspective: Contributions and Insights of an Open and Living Theory

  • Conference paper
Value Creation in E-Business Management (AMCIS 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 36))

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Abstract

The way the Internet has connected millions of users at negligible costs has changed playing field for companies. Several stakeholders can now come together in virtual networks to create innovative business models that would be unfeasible in the physical world. However, the more radical the departure from the established models of value creation, the bigger the complexity in ensuring the sustained interest of the involved parties and the stability of the bonds. To address this problem, we sought inspiration in the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which is capable of providing insights into socio-technical settings where human and non-human agents interact. We describe how several of its principles, ideas, and concepts were adapted and embedded in our approach for complex business model design or analysis. A simple illustration is provided. Our iterative approach helps systematically scrutinize and tune the contributions and returns of the various actors, ensuring that all end up with an attractive value proposal, thus promoting the robustness of the network. Guidelines for the services that an underlying information system must provide are also derived from the results.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISEC, Department of Systems and Informatics Engineering, Polytechnic of Coimbra, CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Portugal

    Cristina Chuva Costa

  2. CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Portugal

    Paulo Rupino da Cunha

Authors
  1. Cristina Chuva Costa
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  2. Paulo Rupino da Cunha
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, Illinois State University, IL 61790, Normal, USA

    Matthew L. Nelson

  2. College of Business, University of Illinois, IL, 61820, Champaign, USA

    Michael J. Shaw

  3. College of Business and Public Administration, Drake University, IA 50311, Des Moines, USA

    Troy J. Strader

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Costa, C.C., da Cunha, P.R. (2009). Business Model Design from an ANT Perspective: Contributions and Insights of an Open and Living Theory. In: Nelson, M.L., Shaw, M.J., Strader, T.J. (eds) Value Creation in E-Business Management. AMCIS 2009. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 36. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03132-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03132-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03131-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03132-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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