Abstract

The challenge of connecting an innovation with a market has been addressed in two, separate discussions on business models and commercialization. Business models and commercialization processes can be seen as dynamic practices that coexist and transform, when a firm is bringing an innovation to a market. However, their relationship has received little attention and particularly, mechanisms behind such transformation are not thoroughly understood, and therefore this study addresses that gap. What kind of evidence (if any) the extant research holds about the existence of their interplay, and how that interplay occurs? The study draws on the current understanding of how business models change or are changed and how evolvement or evolution of the commercialization process occurs. The overlapping and the differing conceptualizations of the concepts help to conclude, how the transformation of the business model is linked to the transformation of the commercialization process. The study suggests that by understanding the interplay in question, a business model can better serve as a dynamic managerial device for commercialization. Business model can be put to work by using it as a frame for action when commercializing.