← Library

Sources: Business Models — Conceptual Grounding

Seed list from the 2026-08-18 OpenAlex pass (see search-log.md). Every item

links to a DOI or an OpenAlex record so it resolves. Annotations are one line:

what the work contributes to a business-models-in-the-townships thesis.

Groups:

A. Business model foundations

B. Business model canvas: building blocks, critiques, adaptations

C. Business model innovation

D. Revenue models

E. What makes business models work (value creation + capture)

F. Digital and platform business models (latest thinking)

G. Sustainability and circular business models

H. Informal economy (the conceptual anchor)

I. SA townships, spaza, informal retail (the empirical context)

---

A. Business model foundations

• Teece, D. J. (2009). Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.003 — The canonical statement: a business model defines how value is created and captured; links BM to strategy.
• Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business Model Generation. Wiley. https://openalex.org/W279724836 — The Canvas book; the framing your thesis will cite and critique.
• Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., & Tucci, C. L. (2005). Clarifying Business Models: Origins, Present, and Future of the Concept. CAIS. https://doi.org/10.17705/1cais.01601 — Origins of the concept; the 9 building blocks that became the Canvas.
• Zott, C., Amit, R., & Massa, L. (2011). The Business Model: Recent Developments and Future Research. Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311406265 — The definitive review; frames BM as an activity system.
• Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2007). Business Model Design and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms. Organization Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1060.0232 — Activity-system view; BM design affects venture performance.
• Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2009). Business Model Design: An Activity System Perspective. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.004 — Design themes (novelty, efficiency) of activity systems.
• Chesbrough, H. (2002). The role of the business model in capturing value from innovation: evidence from Xerox. Industrial and Corporate Change. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/11.3.529 — The BM decides whether technology value is captured.
• Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open Business Models. Harvard Business School Press. https://openalex.org/W1542405687 — Open models; the boundary between value capture and open innovation.
• Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. E. (2010). From Strategy to Business Models and onto Tactics. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2010.01.004 — Strategy, business model, and tactics as distinct levels.
• Demil, B., & Lecocq, X. (2010). Business Model Evolution: In Search of Dynamic Consistency. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2010.02.004 — A BM evolves; dynamic consistency, not a fixed blueprint.
• Baden-Fuller, C., & Morgan, M. S. (2010). Business Models as Models. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2010.02.005 — BMs as scale models and role models (recipes).
• Magretta, J. (2002). Why Business Models Matter. Harvard Business Review. https://openalex.org/W1700208790 — The BM as the story that explains who pays whom and why.
• Johnson, M. W., Christensen, C. M., & Kagermann, H. (2008). Reinventing Your Business Model. Harvard Business Review. https://openalex.org/W111650437 — Customer value proposition + profit formula + resources + processes.
• Teece, D. J. (2018). Business models and dynamic capabilities. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2017.06.007 — The microfoundations of adapting a BM.
• Massa, L., Tucci, C. L., & Afuah, A. (2017). A Critical Assessment of Business Model Research. Academy of Management Annals. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2014.0072 — The three research streams and their blind spots.
• Morris, M., Schindehutte, M., & Allen, J. (2005). The entrepreneur's business model: toward a unified perspective. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2003.11.001 — An integrative BM framework for entrepreneurship.

B. Business model canvas: building blocks, critiques, adaptations

• Coes, D. H. (2014). Critically assessing the strengths and limitations of the Business Model Canvas. University of Twente. https://openalex.org/W4413792 — The critique: what the Canvas cannot see.
• Sparviero, S. (2019). The Case for a Socially Oriented Business Model Canvas: The Social Enterprise Model Canvas. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2018.1541011 — A social-value adaptation of the Canvas.
• Joyce, A., & Paquin, R. L. (2016). The triple layered business model canvas: A tool to design more sustainable business models. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.067 — Adds environmental and social layers to the Canvas.
• Ojasalo, K., & Ojasalo, J. (2018). Service Logic Business Model Canvas. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrme-06-2016-0015 — Service-dominant adaptation.
• Sparviero / Coes / adaptations (2018). Business Model Canvas as a Solution for Competing Strategy of Small Business in Indonesia. https://openalex.org/W2770989859 — An emerging-market Canvas application (precedent for a developing context).
• Does the business model canvas drive venture success? (2018). Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrme-11-2016-0046 — Empirical question on whether the Canvas works.
• Using the business model canvas to improve investment processes (2018). JRME. https://doi.org/10.1108/jrme-11-2016-0048 — Canvas in investor evaluation.
• Comparing how entrepreneurs and managers represent the elements of the business model canvas (2018). JBVI. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2018.02.004 — How practitioners actually use the blocks.

C. Business model innovation

• Chesbrough, H. (2010). Business Model Innovation: Opportunities and Barriers. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.010 — Why firms resist changing a failing BM.
• Foss, N. J., & Saebi, T. (2017). Fifteen Years of Research on Business Model Innovation. Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316675927 — The state-of-the-field review and agenda.
• Schneider, S., & Spieth, P. (2013). Business Model Innovation: Towards an Integrated Future Research Agenda. International Journal of Innovation Management. https://doi.org/10.1142/s136391961340001x — Integrative agenda.
• Spieth, P., Schneckenberg, D., & Ricart, J. E. (2014). Business Model Innovation — State of the Art and Future Challenges for the Field. R&D Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12071 — The field's achievements and open questions.
• Ghezzi, A., & Cavallo, A. (2018). Agile Business Model Innovation in Digital Entrepreneurship: Lean Startup Approaches. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.06.013 — Lean/agile BM experimentation.
• Bocken, N., & Geradts, T. (2020). Barriers and drivers to sustainable business model innovation. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101950 — Organisation design as the barrier.
• Wirtz, B. W., et al. (2016). Business Models: Origin, Development and Future Research Perspectives. Long Range Planning. (add via citation snowball) — the systematic Wirtz review.

D. Revenue models

• Get rich or die trying… finding revenue model fit using machine learning and multiple case studies (2020). Strategic Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3142 — Revenue model fit as a performance driver; current method.
• Revenue Models for Digital Servitization: A Value Capture Framework (2021). IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. https://doi.org/10.1109/tem.2021.3053386 — How revenue models operationalise value capture.
• Capturing Value from Data: Revenue Models for Data-Driven Services (2017). HICSS. https://doi.org/10.24251/hicss.2017.648 — Data-service revenue models.
• Revenue models for integrated customer solutions (2010). Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management. https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2010.7 — Solution-based pricing models.
• The future of pricing and revenue models (2010). JRPM. https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2010.11 — Trajectory of revenue models.
• Online Grocery Retail: Revenue Models and Environmental Impact (2016). Management Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2430 — Retail revenue models compared.
• Implications of Revenue Models and Technology for Content Moderation (2022). Marketing Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2022.1361 — Revenue model shapes platform behaviour.
• Optimal distinctiveness across revenue models (2022). Strategic Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3394 — Revenue model and positioning.
• Revenue models, in-app purchase, and app performance (2016). Electronic Commerce Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2016.04.007 — Freemium/app revenue evidence.
• Software-as-a-Service Revenue Models (2012). IT Professional. https://doi.org/10.1109/mitp.2012.73 — Subscription mechanics.
• Virtual item sales as a revenue model (2009). Electronic Commerce Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-009-9028-2 — Micropayment revenue logic.
• Revenue Models for digital services in the railway industry (2023). Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114041 — A recent revenue-model choice framework.

E. What makes business models work (value creation + capture)

• Teece (2009) — see A: capture must be designed, not assumed.
• Zott & Amit (2007/2009) — see A: activity-system coherence and design themes.
• Chesbrough (2002) — see A: value capture failure (Xerox).
• Value Creation and Value Capture Alignment in Business Model Innovation (2019). Journal of Product Innovation Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12516 — Alignment as the success condition.
• Value capture and value creation: the role of information technology in business models (2017). Technological Forecasting and Social Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.09.030 — IT's role in the value logic.
• Value creation and value capture for AI business model innovation (2022). Review of Managerial Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-022-00521-z — Current three-phase value logic.

F. Digital and platform business models (latest thinking)

• Verhoef, P. C., et al. (2019). Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.022 — The digital-transformation research agenda.
• de Reuver, M., Sørensen, C., & Basole, R. C. (2017). The Digital Platform: A Research Agenda. Journal of Information Technology. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41265-016-0033-3 — Platform research agenda.
• Bharadwaj, A., et al. (2013). Digital Business Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights. MIS Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.25300/misq/2013/37:2.3 — Digital business strategy framing.
• Teece, D. J. (2018). Profiting from innovation in the digital economy. Research Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.01.015 — Value capture in the digital economy.
• Täuscher, K., & Laudien, S. M. (2018). Understanding platform business models: A mixed methods study of marketplaces. European Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.06.005 — Marketplace platform BM types.
• Digital platforms and SMEs' business model innovation (2022). International Journal of Information Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102513 — Platforms and SME BM innovation.
• Toward a new era of cooperation: How industrial digital platforms transform business models (2022). Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.062 — Industrial platforms.
• Digital platform-based business models — critical success factors (2021). Journal of Engineering and Technology Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jengtecman.2021.101625 — What makes platform BMs succeed.
• Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa (2020). MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12453.001.0001 — African digital ventures (context-adjacent).
• Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M., & Choudary, S. P. (2016). Platform Revolution. W. W. Norton. — the practitioner platform canon.

G. Sustainability and circular business models

• Bocken, N. M. P., Short, S. W., Rana, P., & Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.039 — The archetypes framework.
• Geissdoerfer, M., Vladimirova, D., & Evans, S. (2018). Sustainable business model innovation: A review. JCP. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.240 — The SBM innovation review.
• Lewandowski, M. (2016). Designing the Business Models for Circular Economy. Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8010043 — Circular BM canvas.
• Evans, S., et al. (2017). Business Model Innovation for Sustainability: Towards a Unified Perspective. Business Strategy and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1939 — Unified sustainable-BMI view.
• Schaltegger, S., Hansen, E. G., & Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2016). Business Models for Sustainability. Organization & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026615599806 — The SBM research stream.
• Lüdeke-Freund, F., et al. (2018). The sustainable business model pattern taxonomy — 45 patterns. Sustainable Production and Consumption. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2018.06.004 — A pattern library (method precedent for building BM taxonomies).
• Nosratabadi, S., et al. (2019). Sustainable Business Models: A Review. Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061663 — Recent SBM review.

H. Informal economy (the conceptual anchor)

• La Porta, R., & Shleifer, A. (2014). Informality and Development. Journal of Economic Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.28.3.109 — The two views of informality (parasite vs survival).
• Perry, G., et al. (2007). Informality: Exit and Exclusion. World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-7092-6 — The exit-and-exclusion framing.
• Chen, M. A. (2007). Rethinking the informal economy: linkages with the formal economy and the formal regulatory environment. UNU-WIDER. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199204764.003.0005 — Informal-formal linkages.
• ILO (2002). Decent Work and the Informal Economy. https://openalex.org/ (report) — the ILO framing of the informal economy.
• Cassim, A., Lilenstein, K., Oosthuizen, M., & Steenkamp, F. (2016). Informality and Inclusive Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. https://openalex.org/ (working paper) — SSA informality data and growth.
• Informalizing the Economy: The Return of the Social Question at a Global Level (2014). Development and Change. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12115 — The informalization debate.
• Building a circular plastics economy with informal waste pickers (2020). Resources, Conservation and Recycling. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104685 — Informal enterprise and value chains (method + context precedent).
• Reardon, T., Timmer, C. P., Barrett, C. B., & Berdegué, J. (2003). The Rise of Supermarkets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. AJAE. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0092-5853.2003.00520.x — Retail transformation pressure on informal trade.

I. SA townships, spaza, informal retail (the empirical context)

• Charman, A., Petersen, L., & Piper, L. (2012). From local survivalism to foreign entrepreneurship: the transformation of the spaza sector in Delft, Cape Town. Transformation. https://doi.org/10.1353/trn.2012.0035 — The flagship spaza paper; the competitive-restructuring story.
• Terblanché, N. S. (1991). The Spaza Shop: South Africa's First Own Black Retailing Institution. IJR&DM. https://doi.org/10.1108/eum0000000002949 — The origin study of the spaza format.
• Ligthelm, A. A. (2005). Informal retailing through home-based micro-enterprises: The role of spaza shops. Development Southern Africa. https://doi.org/10.1080/03768350500163030 — Spaza scale and role in home-based retail.
• Ligthelm, A. A. (2008). The impact of shopping mall development on small township retailers. SAJEMS. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v11i1.376 — Formal retail pressure on township retailers.
• Petersen, L. M., & Charman, A. (2017). The scope and scale of the informal food economy of South African urban residential townships: small-area micro-enterprise census. Development Southern Africa. https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835x.2017.1363643 — The census method and numbers for the informal food economy.
• Charman, A., Petersen, L., Piper, L., & Liedeman, R. (2015). Small Area Census Approach to Measure the Township Informal Economy in South Africa. Journal of Mixed Methods Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689815572024 — A method precedent for measuring informal township enterprises.
• Mahajan, S. (ed.) (2014). Economics of South African Townships: Special Focus on Diepsloot. World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0301-7 — The canonical township-economy overview.
• Wegerif, M. (2020). "Informal" food traders and food security: experiences from the Covid-19 response in South Africa. Food Security. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01078-z — Informal traders under shock; policy response.
• Thompson, D. K. (2015). Risky business and geographies of refugee capitalism in the Somali migrant economy of Gauteng. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2015.1073580 — Migrant-run township enterprises.
• Sustaining Immigrant Entrepreneurship in South Africa: The Role of Informal Financial Associations (2017). Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081396 — Stokvel-type finance for immigrant entrepreneurs.
• Gendered Spaces of Informal Entrepreneurship in Soweto (2013). Urban Geography. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2013.778640 — Gender and informal enterprise space.
• Xenophobia, Price Competition and Violence in the Spaza Sector (2016). African Human Mobility Review. https://doi.org/10.14426/ahmr.v2i1.755 — Competition and conflict dynamics.
• A qualitative study of the attitudes of South African spaza shop owners to coopetitive relationships (2019). SAJBM. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v50i1.1295 — Coopetition among spaza owners.
• Exploring the management abilities of spaza shop owners (2010). SAJEMS. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v13i4.98 — Management capability in spazas.
• African immigrants in South Africa: Job takers or job creators? (2010). SAJEMS. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v13i4.91 — Migrant enterprise effects.
• The potential impact of formal retail chains' expansion strategies on retail township development (2006). Southern African Business Review. https://openalex.org/ — Formal retail vs township retail.
• Mobile application supported urban-township e-grocery distribution (2019). IJPDLM. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpdlm-10-2018-0358 — A township digital-retail experiment.
• Mbembé, A., & Nuttall, S. (2004). Writing the World from an African Metropolis. Public Culture. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-16-3-347 — The conceptual framing of the township as a site of theory.

---

Working synthesis note (BMC lessons: what makes business models work)

The Canvas' nine blocks reduce to two questions: what value for whom, and

how is value captured (revenue) and delivered (cost). The canon says a

working business model aligns value creation with value capture (Teece 2009;

Zott & Amit 2007/2009) and keeps the blocks coherent: the revenue stream must

match the value proposition and the customer segment. Success conditions in the

literature: (1) a value proposition matched to a real segment; (2) an activity

system with coherent content, structure, and governance; (3) a revenue model

that fits how customers actually pay; (4) complementarities between blocks;

(5) dynamic capability to adapt the model as conditions change (Teece 2018;

Demil & Lecocq 2010); (6) explicit design of value capture, not an assumption

(Chesbrough 2002).

Observed gaps (candidates for the gap statement)

1. Business-model theory and the Canvas are built on formal, registered,

growth-oriented ventures. Applications to informal township micro-enterprises

are rare and mostly practitioner, not scholarly.

2. The revenue-stream block presumes formal payment channels and price-setting;

cash-based, credit-trust township trade is a mismatch the theory has not

addressed.

3. No work formally applies the Canvas or BM frameworks to spaza, street-vendor,

or township-enterprise business models. SA township research is descriptive

(Charman, Ligthelm) rather than business-model-theoretic.

4. Recent BM innovation strands (digital, platform, sustainability) have not been

connected to the township informal economy.

5. Methodologically, the small-area census approach (Charman et al. 2015) offers

a precedent for sampling informal township ventures, but no BM-level

measurement exists.

These are seed observations, not the final gap statement. They must be tested

against the full screened corpus in the review matrix before the proposal claims

them.