James Downs, Vivek K. Velamuri

• For knowledge-intensive industries, a need remains to increase clarity on the dynamics through which business model innovation occurs. Progress has been limited owing to complexities in these industries and to the underlying ontology of the business model concept itself. Through a conceptual methodology, our findings expose impediments to current business model theory and propose economic evolutionary theory as a useful alternative lens through which to address these limitations. This research contributes to the literature by broadening the traditional scope of the economic evolutionary view as relevant for business model innovation research and by offering a corresponding framework for future research.