Wikipedia 里关于 Business model 的定义

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value - economic, social, or other forms of value. The process of business model design is part of business strategy.

In theory and practice the term business model is used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions to represent core aspects of a business, including purpose, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies.

Whenever a business is established, it either explicitly or implicitly employs a particular business model that describes the design or architecture of the value creation, delivery, and capture mechanisms employed by the business enterprise. The essence of a business model is that it defines the manner by which the business enterprise delivers value to customers, entices customers to pay for value, and converts those payments to profit: it thus reflects management’s hypothesis about what customers want, how they want it, and how an enterprise can organize to best meet those needs, get paid for doing so, and make a profit.

Business models are used to describe and classify businesses (especially in an entrepreneurial setting), but they are also used by managers inside companies to explore possibilities for future development, and finally well known business models operate as recipes for creative managers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model