Workshop on Business Models in Australia

I was invited to Australia by La Trobe University to give a talk to business people in Melbourne on the topic of business models. The talk took place within the context of a research program I am involved in.

Below you can find the slides of the 40 minutes talk. I included some new and interesting examples, which I prepared explicitly for this presentation. To get a good viewing of the animated slides you must download the slides first rather than just view them (download here from Slideshare.net)



I'm in Melbourne until the 2nd if somebody wants to meet me there. Despite a full agenda, I'm sure I can get a free slot for a chat.

Conference Talk on Business Model Design and Innovation

Last month I spoke about business models and innovation in Melbourne at an event for business people hosted by La Trobe University. During the trip to Australia through Dubai I realized at how many places I would still like to speak. Top on my list are Dubai, India and China. Maybe that is to come when the topic becomes more popular in management circles and business literature.

You can find a video capture of the event in Melbourne with about 120 people of regional industry below:

Interested organizations can contact me at alex@arvetica.com

Course (in German) on Modeling Business Models - Day 1 of 4 half-days

Last Saturday I started teaching a Masters class on "Modeling Business Models" at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hochschule für Wirtschaft HSW Luzern). It was the first half day in a series of 4 half day lectures. (NOTE: The course and all the following slides are in German).

The lecture is designed as an extension to a previous course which the class had on the topic of business process management. To me this is a perfect fit, because I see the modeling of business models as the next step after the wave of business process modeling that we now more or less master in most companies. I hope the students will like it...

Here the slides I used during class:







Here the group work the class will pursue during the next few lectures and which will count 50% of the final evaluation:

Course (in German) on Modeling Business Models - Day 2 of 4 half-days

This Friday I continued teaching a Masters class on "Modeling Business Models" at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hochschule für Wirtschaft HSW Luzern). Apologies to all those whore are less interested in this content that is in German. However, there are some new example as to distribution channel design and new reflections on customer segmentation.

Here the slides I used during class:




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Course (in German) on Modeling Business Models - Day 3 of 4 half-days

Here day Nr.3 of a course I am teaching at a Masters class on "Modeling Business Models" at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hochschule für Wirtschaft HSW Luzern). Apologies again for those who don't read German. On the 21. September I will be presenting the last set of slides in German.



Group Project

The students will also deliver a project. Each group has designed a business model over the last 3 courses. I am quite curious to see their final presentations. Here is what I asked for:

Course (in German) on Modeling Business Models - Day 4 of 4 half-days

Here day Nr.4 (last day) of a course I was teaching at a Masters class on "Modeling Business Models" at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hochschule Luzern).

At the end of the class lecture the students presented their group projects. I had asked each group to model the business model of a start-up business they should come up with. I told them that part of their grades would come from the way they presented the story of their start-up. The groups did a fantastic job in their presentations and really integrated the story telling factor. It was a quite a fun experience for all in the classroom.

Apologies a last time for those who don't read German. We're back to English from the next postings onwards ;-)

Here the slides of the last lecture:

Conference Talk: Innovating the Business Model (Dublin, Ireland)

I will be speaking at the "Innovating the Business Model" conference organized by Enterprise Ireland, tomorrow, Wednesday 24th of October.

I'm quite excited to be the closing speaker of the conference, since the opening speaker is Professor Henry Chesbrough, author of the books "Open Business Models" and "Open Innovation". I had a chance to meet Henry this evening and he is a really great guy. It's wonderful to meet one of the mentors of the open enterprise concept which we apply day after day at our consulting firm Arvetica.

So in the spirit of open knowledge, please find below the set of slides that I will be presenting tomorrow:

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Victor Lombardi and Jess McMullin speaking in Europe

Two people who are at the forefront of thinking on the intersection between business and design will be speaking in Europe this November. Though this is not 100% related to business model design, I believe they promote the kind of tools & techniques that are necessary to come up with sound business models. I very much value their contributions of bringing design thinking to business.

Victor and Jess will be first speaking at the IA Konferenz 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany (9./10. November).

Jess will also speak at the Italian IA Summit 2007 in Trento, Italy (16./17. November)

Professor Henry Chesbrough on Open Innovation and Open Business Models

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had the great pleasure to speak at the same conference as Professor Henry Chesbrough. The event took place in Dublin and was organized by Enterprise Ireland. It was great to follow Henry's talk on Open Innovation and Open Business Models, two terms he coined in two different books.

I used the opportunity to interview Henry for a webcast for Arvetica's Private Banking Innovation Blog. As loyal readers you can of course enjoy the interview on this blog:

Draft Business Model Innovation Manual (beta version)

Yesterday I finished a draft for a simple business model innovation manual co-financed by La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia and DOTARS. In the spirit of open innovation I am sharing this "beta version" online to trigger your feedback.

Draft Business Model Manual (beta version): How to Describe and Improve your Business Model to Compete Better (pdf)

The manual shall help business people describe their business model step by step, assess its strengths and weaknesses in order to then improve it. I'm not yet happy with the document, but it's start. The final document will be posted here later.

Acknowledgments: A special thanks goes to Dr Vijaya Thyil and Professor Geoffrey Durden of La Trobe University, who enabled this manual. A particular thank you goes to Professor Yves Pigneur of HEC Business School in Switzerland who has been the driving force with whom I have developed the underlying business model concept.

Speaking Engagements and Workshops 2008

I am currently allocating some time for speaking engagements in 2008, based on strong demand from companies and business schools around the world during Q4 of last year.

The areas I cover in my talks and workshops are:

* business model abc
* business model innovation 101
* achieving competitive advantage through business modeling
* business model assessment
* rapid business model prototyping
* from business model to business plan and project roadmap
* business models in private banking (adaptable to other industries, e.g. telecom)
* the private banking industry landscape (Arvetica's core focus)
* design and business

Last year I have completed engagements running from 45 minute talks to 2 day tailor-made workshops. Please contact me if you are interested or would like to get a price quote. Write to alex@arvetica.com

For references about my work you can follow this blog or ask me to put you in contact with one of my former clients. You may also check out:

* a video of a 45 minute talk on business models (watch video)
* a draft business model manual (download pdf)

Speaking engagements are offered through Arvetica, the consulting firm I am partner of. Please note that I only allocate a limited amount of time to speaking engagements due to my consulting work.

Podcast with John Hagel, Co-Chairman of the Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation

In the context of my company, Arvetica, I recently recorded a podcast with one my favorite thinkers, John Hagel, who is Co-Chairman of the Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation, based in Silicon Valley. I am cross-posting the podcast on this blog because it would be a waste to miss John's interesting thoughts.

The podcast is about three distinct topics John has worked on: first, his approach to strategy, second, a concept he developed called "unbundling the corporation", and third, "IT as a tool for strategic differentiation". Enjoy the listening:

speaker-image

Strategy approach: John emphasizes that all organizations should reassess their approach to strategy. He outlines an approach that departs from the traditional view of strategic planning which has a time horizon of 1-5 years. John proposes a strategy approach that operates in parallel on a long term time horizon of 5-10 years and on a short term time horizon of 6-12 months, with continuous iterations between them. He notes that this is the only way to avoid risks in high uncertainty environments.

Unbundling the corporation: This concept highlights that most companies today are an unnatural bundle of three very different types of businesses: infrastructure management businesses, customer relationship businesses, product innovation and commercialization. Each of theses businesses has very different economics, skill-sets and cultures. Hence, companies should unbundle them.

IT as a differentiator: John points out that IT is today becoming even more strategically important as a foundation for rapid incremental business innovation than previously. He explains this through new and flexible architectures which allow companies to continuously achieve IT innovation and keep a constant head start. This contrasts with the past, when companies made heavy punctual investments in IT innovations every few years, but were then copied. Finally, John also refers to the innovation potential of newer technologies that help people come together, collaborate and create value rather than just create savings through automation.

If you are interested in John Hagel's work and thinking, you should imperatively consult his blog where he writes on various topics related to business and technology. You may also want to consult his latest book "The Only Sustainable Edge", which he wrote together with John Seely Brown.

Ad-hoc Business Model Stage Fight (LIFT'08 Geneva)

Arvetica is organizing an Ad-hoc Business Model Stage Fight at LIFT'08 in Geneva, Switzerland. Just like last year we thought we would contribute to the workshop program of the conference...

In this half day workshop participants will learn about a method to rapidly prototype business models. Then they will form ad-hoc teams that compete against each other. Each team will come up with an innovative business model based on a given scenario. The attendees will jointly vote the winner by evaluating creativity, realism and story.

Images and take-aways will be available on this blog soon. I'm curious to see how participants will perform with "rapid business model prototyping" (RaBMoPro ;-)

For the attendees: Here the plan to get from Unimail (venue of other LIFT'08 workshops) to Arvetica, where the workshop "Ad-hoc Business Model Stage Fight" is taking place...



Directions to Arvetica (stage fight) from Unimail (other LIFT'08 workshops):

walk out of the main entrance of the Unimail building

turn right

walk straight (along the tram line)

cross the bridge

continue approx. 600m (street = route des Acacias)

Arvetica is just across the street from the Shell station

Address: route des Acacias 24

go inside the building and take the elevator to the 6th floor

WELCOME!