Managerial cognition, action and the business model of the firm

The purpose of the paper was to outline a generic framework for the business model and illuminate its linkages to managerial cognition.

The paper reviewed the focal literature focusing on the actions and evolution of a firm and built a synthesis that describes the different components of a business model.

The main finding was that a business model is essentially both a cognitive phenomenon as well as being built on the material aspects of a firm.

The paper proposes that the business model can be scrutinized in future studies, especially from the viewpoints of cognition, thus creating new avenues for intra‐firm evolutionary studies.

The paper found several implications for practising managers. First, the concept itself creates possibilities for self‐analysis and scenario building. Second, the understanding that a business model is systemic helps managers to evaluate their actions vis‐à‐vis the evolutionary path of the business model. Third, the outlined business model is useful in executive education as it creates a cognitive map of the various aspects of business activities.

The paper offers new insights into the functions and evolution of firms and will be of interest to both researchers and practising managers.