The intersection between business model and modularity: an overview of the literature

Abstract

Goal: To analyse the intersection between the constructs of modularity and business model in the literature. Design/Methodology/Approach: Quantitative and Qualitative approaches were utilized through bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review. A bibliometric analysis incorporates keywords, co-citation, and country co-authorship networks generated using VosViewer Software. The research in the databases was carried out in June 2018. Results: The intersection of modularity and business model is a rather recent study topic in the literature with a small number of articles published up to 2018. Although the concept of modularity has been widely discussed in terms of product, process and organizational levels, recent developments point to the application of this concept to services and business models. Limitations: The main limitation refers to the sampling process that incorporated articles extracted from ISI Web of Science Core Collection only. Practical implications: For practice, it provides companies with insights on how business model and modularity may be applied to multiple domains and can eventually contribute to firm performance and business model innovation. Originality/Value: The originality of the article lies in providing a panorama of the literature on the intersection of business model and modularity in order to identify the main research trends.