The Relation Between Dynamic Business Models and Business Cases

This paper analyses the relation between two well-known business concepts. It clarifies how business models, as an implementation of a company’s strategy, can be aligned with business cases, as an abstraction of a company’s operations. The relations are analyzed from a static as well as a dynamic point of view by means of inductive reasoning and literature review. Based on the understanding of the relations, a continuous business model-business case alignment approach is proposed. Further, managerial guidelines are presented supporting the approach. Finally, two software tools, business case framework and business model composer, are presented indicating how the proposed conceptual alignment could be implemented. This paper contributes to research and practice. Both can benefit from the conceptual relation between two well-known concepts that have hardly been linked so far. Practitioners can apply the proposed alignment approach and the managerial guidelines to review their business. For research, we contribute to the body of knowledge of business model concepts. Researchers can build upon this fruitful ground by validating the proposed concept in empirical settings or by implementing software solutions supporting this approach. Consequently, the agility of companies can be increased when implementing merged or changed business models in the organization and when using business cases to determine if it is time to change the business model.