Title: Interfunctional business models: map grid for an uncharted quadrant of the blue ocean

Authors: Steffen Roth; Artak Melkonyan; Jari Kaivo-oja; Birte Manke; Léo-Paul Dana

Addresses: La Rochelle Business School, 102 Rue de Coureilles, 17000 La Rochelle, France ' United Nations Development Programme Armenia, Petros Adamyan Street 14, Yerevan 0010, Armenia ' Turku School of Economics, Rehtorinpellonkatu 3, 20500 Turku, Finland ' Institute of Corporate Development, Leuphana University, Scharnhorststraße 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany ' Montpellier Business School, 34185 Montpellier Cedex 4, France; Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA

Abstract: This article makes a case for the significance that borders have for new venture discovery. Since markets are social phenomena, new venture discoveries necessarily refer to the crossing of social borders. We draw on social systems theory and theories of social differentiation to understand how social borders are drawn. We demonstrate how this knowledge may be used to create and unfold a comprehensive market map that is useful for both the tracking of past and the anticipation of new venture discoveries. We use this map combined with illustrative cases to provide evidence that an entire quadrant of entrepreneurial opportunities is still uncharted in traditional maps for new venture discovery. We conclude that the future of new venture discovery is about the strategic transgression of social borders not only between traditional market segments or strata, but also between the function systems of society such as the political system, economy, science, art, religion, or the mass media system.

Keywords: business model innovation; social systems theory; social differentiation; functional differentiation; blue ocean strategy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2018.094628

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2018 Vol.10 No.5, pp.581 - 595

Received: 13 Jun 2016
Accepted: 06 Nov 2016
Published online: 10 Sep 2018 *

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