The term business model was not widely used and spread until the 1990s, but there is no authoritative version of its definition. There are various theoretical explanations for business models.

System theory believes that the business model is a system composed of many factors, a system, and three types of flows that are crucial to the enterprise. It is the only mixture of value flow, revenue flow and logistics.

Value creation model theory believes that the business model is the model for enterprises to create value. For example, Amit and Zuote believe that the business model is the focus of enterprise innovation and the decisive source of enterprise value creation for itself, suppliers, partners and customers.

The famous management guru Peter Drucker said that the competition between enterprises today is not the competition of products but the competition between business models.

The brush business model is always in the process of continuous development. The most basic and oldest business model is the "store model", that is, opening stores for sales in places with potential consumer groups.

This model was very popular before the 20th century. In the 1960s, Wal-Mart supermarkets combined warehouse-style sales into a hybrid supermarket, which innovated the original business model. In the 1980s, many new brush sales business models were successful. In the 1990s, with the rise of the Internet, Amazon bookstores, eBay, etc., created a new network business model. Generally speaking, the business model of the service industry is more complex than that of industries such as manufacturing, and the emergence of each new business model has brought huge wealth to society.