Defining a ‘business model’ in the construction context

ABSTRACT A Business Model (BM) is fundamental to the success of any business because it creates and captures value. BMs are widely known in several disciplines where it has been given idiosyncratic definitions to suit the respective disciplines. Because definitions can bring clarity to the terms they define, this study attempted to define the BM relevant to a construction business. The methodology followed included a structured literature review and content analysis. From 38 BM definitions, 10 themes were located using the keywords abstracted from each definition. From among the ten themes, eight construction business-specific ‘fundamental themes’ were selected. The ‘wordings’ extracted from the definitions associated with the eight themes were used to develop a BM definition for the construction business. The proposed definition will facilitate a better understanding of construction businesses. It, therefore, will promote the application of the BM concept in the construction industry.