Business model

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value^[1] - 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^[2]. 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 ^[3].

History

Over the years, business models have become much more sophisticated. The bait and hook business model (also referred to as the "razor and blades business model" or the "tied products business model") was introduced in the early 20th century. This involves offering a basic product at a very low cost, often at a loss (the "bait"), then charging compensatory recurring amounts for refills or associated products or services (the "hook"). Examples include: razor (bait) and blades (hook); cell phones (bait) and air time (hook); computer printers (bait) and ink cartridge refills (hook); and cameras (bait) and prints (hook). An interesting variant of this model is a software developer that gives away its word processor reader free of charge but charges several hundred dollars for its word processor writer.

In the 1950s, new business models came from McDonald's Restaurants and Toyota. In the 1960s, the innovators were Wal-Mart and Hypermarkets. The 1970s saw new business models from FedEx and Toys R Us; the 1980s from Blockbuster, Home Depot, Intel, and Dell Computer; the 1990s from Southwest Airlines, Netflix, eBay, Amazon.com, and Starbucks. Poorly thought out business models were a problem with many dot-coms.

Today, the type of business models might depend on how technology is used. For example, entrepreneurs on the internet have also created entirely new models that depend entirely on existing or emergent technology. Using technology, businesses can reach a large number of customers with minimal costs.

Examples

• Auction business model
• Bricks and clicks business model
• Collective business models
• Component business model
• Cutting out the middleman model
• Direct sales model
• Distribution business models, various
• Fee in, free out
• Franchise
• Freemium business model
• Industrialization of services business model
• Internet business model
• Low-cost carrier business model
• Loyalty business models
• Monopolistic business model
• Multi-level marketing business model
• Network effects business model
• Online auction business model
• Online content business model
• Premium business model
• Professional open-source model
• Pyramid scheme business model
• Razor and blades business model (bait and hook)
• Servitization of products business model
• Subscription business model
• All-in-one business model

Business model design template

Formal descriptions of the business become the building blocks for its activities. Many different business conceptualizations exist; Osterwalder's work and thesis (2010^[1], 2004^[4]) propose a single reference model based on the similarities of a wide range of business model conceptualizations. With his business model design template, an enterprise can easily describe their business model

• Infrastructure
  • Key Activities: The activities necessary to execute a company's business model.
  • Key Resources: The resources that are necessary to create value for the customer.
  • Partner Network: The business alliances which complement other aspects of the business model.
• Offering
  • Value Proposition: The products and services a business offers. Quoting Osterwalder (2004), a value proposition "is an overall view of .. products and services that together represent value for a specific customer segment. It describes the way a firm differentiates itself from its competitors and is the reason why customers buy from a certain firm and not from another."
• Customers
  

  Business Model Canvas: Nine business model building blocks, Osterwalder, Pigneur, & al. 2010^[1]
  • Customer Segments: The target audience for a business' products and services.
  • Channels: The means by which a company delivers products and services to customers. This includes the company's marketing and distribution strategy.
  • Customer Relationship: The links a company establishes between itself and its different customer segments. The process of managing customer relationships is referred to as customer relationship management.
• Finances
  • Cost Structure: The monetary consequences of the means employed in the business model. A company's DOC.
  • Revenue Streams: The way a company makes money through a variety of revenue flows. A company's income.

Applications

Malone et al.^[5] at MIT find that some business models, as defined by them, indeed performed better than others in a dataset consisting of the largest U.S. firms, in the period 1998 through 2002, while they did not prove whether the existence of a business model mattered.

Related concepts

The process of business model design is part of business strategy. The implementation of a company's business model into organisational structures (e.g. organigrams, workflows, human resources) and systems (e.g. information technology architecture, production lines) is part of a company's business operations.

It is important to understand that business modeling commonly refers to business process design at the operational level, whereas business models and business model design refer to defining the business logic of a company at the strategic level.

The brand is a consequence of and has a symbiotic relationship with the business model since the business model determines the brand promise and the brand equity becomes a feature of the model. Managing this is a task of integrated marketing.

See also

• Business model design
• Business plan
• Business process modeling
• Business reference model
• Business rule
• Competitive advantage
• Core competency
• Growth Platforms
• Market forms
• Marketing
• Marketing plan
• Strategic management
• Strategic planning
• Strategy dynamics
• Value migration

Further reading

• "Special Issue on Business Models" Long Range Planning, vol 43 april 2010, that includes 19 pieces by leading scholars on the nature of business models
• The Role of the Business Model in capturing value from Innovation: Evidence from XEROX Corporation’s Technology Spinoff Companies., H. Chesbrough and R. S. Rosenbloom , Boston, Massachusetts, Harvard Business School, 2002.
• Leading the revolution., G. Hamel, Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 2000.
• Changing Business Models: Surveying the Landscape, J. Linder and S. Cantrell, Accenture Institute for Strategic Change, 2000.
• Developing Business Models for eBusiness., O. Peterovic and C. Kittl et al., International Conference on Electronic Commerce 2001, 2001.
• Place to space: Migrating to eBusiness Models., P. Weill and M. R. Vitale, Boston,Harvard Business School Press, 2001.
• Value-based Requirements Engineering - Exploring Innovative e-Commerce Ideas, J. Gordijn, Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit, 2002.
• Internet Business Models and Strategies, A. Afuah and C. Tucci, Boston, McGraw Hill, 2003.
• Focus Theme Articles: Business Models for Content Delivery: An Empirical Analysis of the Newspaper and Magazine Industry, Marc Fetscherin and Gerhard Knolmayer, International Journal on Media Management, Volume 6, Issue 1 & 2 September 2004 , pages 4 – 11, September 2004.
• Business Model Generation, A. Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self published, 2009

References