Description

"On Business Model Innovation" (HBR's 10 Must Reads)

I. Core Theme: The Significance and Components of Business Model Innovation

This collection of articles emphasizes the critical role of business model innovation in achieving competitive advantage and reshaping industries. It distinguishes between strategy and business model and outlines a framework for understanding, analyzing, and reinventing business models. The document argues that while a good business model is essential, it is not always enough; a well-defined strategy is also crucial for success.

II. Key Ideas and Concepts:

• Business Model vs. Strategy: The document stresses the difference between a company's strategy and its business model. Wal-Mart is cited as an example of a company with a unique strategy (focusing on underserved rural markets, everyday low prices) built upon a fairly standard retail business model. Dell is presented as an example of a company with a groundbreaking business model.
• "When Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart in 1962 in the hamlet of Rogers, Arkansas… his model was the same as Kmart’s, but his strategy was unique."
• "In this case, Dell’s business model functioned much like a strategy: It made Dell different in ways that were hard to copy."

1. Four Components of a Successful Business Model:Customer Value Proposition (CVP): This is the most critical component, focusing on fulfilling a specific "job" for customers that other offerings don't address adequately. MinuteClinics, for example, provide accessible healthcare for minor issues without appointments. Hilti sells 'tool use' instead of the tools themselves.

• "The model helps customers perform a specific “job” that alternative offerings don’t address."

1. Profit Formula: This defines how the company creates value for itself while delivering value to the customer. It includes the revenue model (price x volume), cost structure (direct, indirect, economies of scale), and margin model. Tata's Nano is profitable through cost reductions, lower margins, and high volume.

• "The profit formula is the blueprint that defines how the company creates value for itself while providing value to the customer."

1. Key Resources and Processes: These are the assets (people, technology, facilities, brand) and processes (training, manufacturing, service) required to deliver the value proposition.
2. Rules, Norms and Metrics: What parameters do you put in place to measure success?

• When a New Business Model May Be Needed: Several circumstances might call for business model change including:
• Fending off low-end disruptors.
• Responding to shifts in competition.
• Need to address underserved customers.
• The Importance of Understanding the Customer's "Job to Be Done": Business model innovation should begin with a deep understanding of the customer's needs and what job they are trying to accomplish. Tata Nano's focus on providing a safer alternative for scooter families is a good example.
• "It starts with thinking about the opportunity to satisfy a real customer who needs a real job done."
• Reinventing Existing Business Models:"Those where the customer buys something once and is done."
• "Those where the customer buys something once and is done. Also—and this is a bigger problem than you’d think—make sure you have a revenue model!"
• The Lean Startup Approach: The article touches upon the lean start-up methodology, emphasizing testing hypotheses through customer development, using minimum viable products, and iterating based on feedback.
• "They go out and ask potential users, purchasers, and partners for feedback on all elements of the business model, including product features, pricing, distribution channels, and affordable customer acquisition strategies."
• The Threat of Free Offerings: The document analyzes the impact of free products or services on existing businesses, outlining strategies for incumbents to assess and respond to such threats.
• "The seriousness of the threat posed by a new entrant hinges on three factors: the entrant’s ability to cover its costs quickly enough, the rate at which the number of users of the free offering grows, and the rate at which the incumbent’s customers defect to the free offering."
• Multisided Platforms: The document introduces multisided platforms (MSPs), highlighting their characteristics, how they generate value, and the strategic considerations for managing them.
• "consumers and producers can swap roles in ways that generate value for the platform. Users can ride with Uber today and drive for it tomorrow; travelers can stay with Airbnb one night and serve as hosts for other customers the next."
• Multiple Business Models Within a Company: The document explores the complexities and potential benefits of operating multiple business models simultaneously, using LAN Airlines as a successful example. It emphasizes the importance of understanding whether the models are complements or substitutes.
• "LAN has integrated a full-service international passenger-airline business model with a premium air-cargo business model while separately operating a no-frills passenger model for domestic ights."
• "LAN’s competitive advantage in international passenger service would vanish if the company did not have a thriving cargo business; likewise, its advantages in cargo would not exist without a blooming passenger business."
• Social Business Models: This model has various hidden payoffs. There is also a discussion of corporate reputation and the overall concept of social business models.
• "Focused business models are most effective when they appeal to distinct market segments with clearly differentiated needs. So if your business currently serves multiple segments, it may be best to subdivide into focused units rather than try to apply one."
• Selecting the Decision Maker: Key decisions are to be made by the party with the most to gain or lose, for example customers.

III. Examples Used:

The excerpts cite numerous examples to illustrate the concepts, including:

• Wal-Mart: As a company with a standard business model but a unique strategy.
• Dell: As a pioneer in direct sales business model.
• Apple (iPod/iTunes): As a company that revolutionized an industry through business model innovation.
• Tata Nano: As an example of a radical customer value proposition and profit formula targeting a new market.
• Hilti: As an example of shifting from selling products to selling a "tool-use" service.
• MinuteClinics: As an example of an innovative CVP.
• LAN Airlines: As a company successfully operating multiple (complementary) business models.
• Uber/Airbnb: As examples of platform businesses that leverage user contributions and network effects.
• Dow Corning: Embraced low-end margins by creating a separate business unit.

IV. Conclusion:

The "On Business Model Innovation" excerpts provide a framework for understanding the critical role of business model innovation in today's competitive landscape. It highlights the importance of focusing on customer needs, designing a robust profit formula, leveraging key resources and processes, and understanding the dynamics of competition and disruption. The document encourages companies to be proactive in evaluating and reinventing their business models to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and long-term success.

RYT Podcast is a passion product of Tyler Smith, an EOS Implementer (more at IssueSolving.com). All Podcasts are derivative works created by AI from publicly available sources. Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved.