The concept of business models has reached global impact, both for company s competitive success and in management science. Its application by authors from diverse areas has led to a previously very heterogeneous comprehension of the concept. Yet, by means of investigating its origin and theoretical development, we state a recently converging business model view. Further, based on analyzing business model definitions, perspectives and components in the literature, we newly define the concept and portray its essential components in an integrated framework. Finally, the compilation of the current state of business model research yields the article s main findings. In this regard, via database search we quantitatively identify 681 peer-reviewed articles. Further, we qualitatively analyze them according to individual research areas that we adopt from an appropriate heuristic frame of reference. In this way, we identify four essential research foci: innovation, change & evolution, performance & controlling and design. In triangulation with assessing future research perspectives through a survey of twenty-one international experts, they also consider the areas of innovation, change & evolution, and design to be significant for the future development of the business model research field.