From Static Canvas to Dynamic Flow: A Grounded Theory–Based Integration of Literary Evidence with Process-Oriented Business Models

Abstract

Business model research over the past two decades has generated a fragmented landscape of component-based taxonomies. While these taxonomies document static structural elements of business models, including value creation, customer segments, key resources, revenue streams, and partner ecosystems, the dynamic interaction between components remains conceptually underdetermined. This article pursues a Grounded Theory-based literature analysis through selective coding to identify a core category—Flow—that relationally integrates all previously identified components. The analysis examined 927 publications and six thematic research clusters, demonstrating that business models are implicitly operationalized as processes yet visually represented as static boxes. The resulting Business Model Flow Chart is presented not as a conceptual innovation but as a deliberate explication of latent logics present in existing literature. The article accomplishes a methodically grounded synthesis of two separate literature analyses through selective coding and establishes foundations for subsequent empirical validation.