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The digital transformation of the economy has fundamentally altered the logic of business models, shifting the focus from linear, firm-centric value chains to complex, networked architectures. This narrative review synthesizes contemporary literature to conceptualize digital business models, framing the interplay between digitalization and business model design. We explore how platforms, data, and ecosystem-based value creation have become the central pillars of modern business strategy. The review identifies three core architectural shifts: the emergence of platform-based models that orchestrate value exchange, the rise of data as a primary resource for value propositions and monetization, and the transition from dyadic firm-customer relationships to multi-actor ecosystems. We analyze inherent tensions in these models, such as balancing openness with control and scalability with value capture, which present novel strategic challenges. By integrating findings from key references, this article clarifies the conceptual landscape of digital business models and highlights a departure from traditional configurations. We conclude by outlining implications for strategic management and proposing future research directions to address conceptual fragmentation and dynamic governance issues in digital business model innovation.

Platform-based business models have become central to digital competition because they reorganise how firms create, coordinate, and appropriate value across multi-sided ecosystems. Unlike traditional pipeline models, platforms depend on interactions among users, complementors, developers, advertisers, and other external actors. This shift has made platform competitiveness a strategic phenomenon that cannot be explained only by internal resources or product-market positioning. This systematic review examines how platform-based business models generate and sustain firm competitiveness through three interrelated mechanisms: network effects, ecosystem governance, and value capture. The objective is to synthesise fragmented evidence from strategy, information systems, innovation, and management research. The review focuses on how these mechanisms operate individually and how their interaction shapes platform performance and durability. The findings show that platform competitiveness is supported by architectural design, multi-sided participation, network effects, ecosystem orchestration, and monetization choices. However, the evidence also reveals tensions between openness and control, growth and quality, value creation and value capture, and network expansion and strategic vulnerability. Five tables summarise the review method, platform typology, network effects, governance mechanisms, and value capture models. The review concludes that platform competitiveness should be understood as a dynamic system rather than as the automatic result of scale. Network effects require governance, governance shapes value capture, and value capture can either strengthen or weaken ecosystem health. Future research should therefore examine platform success and failure through longitudinal, comparative, and context-sensitive designs.