This is the multiple business models session from the IRG100 program, led by Maaike Doyer. It teaches the business model canvas, works one example through it, and then asks participants to apply it to their own organization.
The evidence behind the session is a gap in the growth study. Willingness to accept new business models splits 71 percent of overperformers against 39 percent of underperformers, which the study frames as playing chess and checkers simultaneously.
Key findings
- The session’s three take-outs are that business acumen is not a PhD in econometrics, that companies should play chess and checkers simultaneously, and that business models should be discussed more often, with different people, at an earlier stage.
- The prescription about conversation is stated three ways: talk about business models more often, with different people, and earlier in the process.
- Participants already believed the market definition needed widening. In the poll, 47 percent and 37 percent landed on the top two positions for the statement that the opportunity is to move to a human needs-based definition and become more innovative.
- Fewer said they already work that way. On using a human needs-based definition of the market today, the top two positions drew 45 percent and 13 percent.
- The canvas itself is widely established, with more than 3 million copies sold and more than 35 translations.
How the session runs
Ninety minutes are split five ways: an introduction, the canvas explained through an example, a group exercise, a plenary discussion, and evaluation and close.
The session sits in the what module of the IRG100 roadmap, between abundant markets and evolving experiences, and it ends with an individual reflection on next steps.
The nine blocks
The canvas is built up one block at a time: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners, and cost structure.
The finished canvas puts key partners, key activities, and key resources on the left, value propositions in the middle, customer relationships, channels, and customer segments on the right, with cost structure and revenue streams along the bottom.
The worked example
The example is Michael Dubin, who was frustrated about expensive razor blades and asked what would happen if he eliminated the expense and the hassle.
The proposition was a dollar a month for high-quality razors delivered to the door. By 2014 the stated ambition had widened to owning the men’s bathroom.
Where the session points next
The closing material names digital sameness as a risk and asks marketers to lead the cross-silo discussion. It also links to an excerpt from the Humanizing Growth Series with Hans Ploos van Amstel, then CFO of Adecco.
Two upcoming sessions are announced: Alex Weller and Evelyn Doyle on 12 February hosted by Frank van den Driest, and Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, assistant secretary general, on 26 February hosted by Marc de Swaan Arons.
Scope and limitations
The poll results come from the participants in this one session rather than from the study sample, and the deck reports them as percentage distributions without a base size.
Source
This page summarises Multiple Business Models, by Maaike Doyer, November 2020.