I’m writing a book on business model innovation. This brings together my thoughts on innovation, disruption and entrepreneurship gathered over the last 30+ years.
The premise of the book is that business model innovation offers the last great frontier for competitive advantage. Product and service innovations can be copied too quickly and easily. Quality, customer service and digitalisation are now so prevalent that they are a requirement, not a route to success.
What is it about?
In the book, I take a lot of the academic work that has been done over the last 15 years on business model innovation and put it into a larger framework that makes the why, what and how of business model innovation explicity.
I share the tools and techniques that I have polished through the analysis of thousands of business models and the design methodologies that I use to make business models far more effective.
Finally, I will show you a set of ideas that will help you with the key timing issues of business model innovation and how you can use new types of business models to crack open old markets and develop entirely new ones – without your strategy emerging as you go along!
Who is it for?
It’s primarily aimed at entrepreneurs and small business owners. I come from an entrepreneurial background and a book like this would have been amazing as I built small scrappy startups trying to change the world.
It’s also aimed at SME business owners, like my Dad, who are feeling trapped as the old ways of doing things get harder and harder. Everything in the book is designed to help them plan a way out. A way that makes more sense than stale business advice that doesn’t work any longer.
It’s not aimed at people working at big companies. It’s too irreverent and I sweat too much. Plus I focus on the more radical approaches to transformation that shareholders tend to shy away from. Still, you are welcome to take what ideas you can from it.
Academics… it’s not for you. This book is fundamentally qualitative. Where I can, I reference the sources of ideas or provide examples. It is not rigorously documented or footnoted. First, that’s pretty boring to do. Second, this book does not make an empirical argument, the focus is to get the reader to change the way that they see the world. Finally, to a very large extent, there is a huge lack of empirical data on business models. if you find any value in this I hope it will be to see new research opportunities to provide that empirical base so that future books can be better.
Finally, consultants. Take, use, abuse and credit me where you can.
Why is it Here?
I’m making it freely available on the blog as I write to get feedback. Like every first draft it can be better, the ideas more polished, the examples more memorable.
That’s the bargain we’re making. You get early access to my thoughts, and maybe a mention! I get feedback that will make the book better
Business Model Innovation Book
I don’t have a good title for the book as yet – it’s just BMIB – Business Model Innovation Book. The draft structure is laid out below. I am sure that this will change and certainly comments on this are welcome.
There is lots still to be done, so do sign up for weekly updates using the form, comment on posts or send me an email with feedback
Part 1 – Why Your Company is Doomed
Introduction – Growing Up in Birmingham
Introduction – Birmingham, Workshop of the World
Introduction – Finding the Golden Path
Why do Some Entrepreneurs Succeed? – Their Ideas
Why do Some Entrepreneurs Succeed? – Their Execution
Pain and the Business Owner
Change & Kondratieff Waves
Competition
New Opportunities
My Story – University
My Story – Consulting
My Story – Entrepreneurship
My Story – Business Model Innovation
My Story – Exploration
Part 2 – What is a Business Model
Business Model Definitions
How Do You Delight a Customer?
Desirability
Feasability
The Importance of Why, What and How
Viability
Price, Quality and Speed
The Triangle
Pyramids are Better
A Way of Navigating
Business Model Depreciation
Acccounting, Slavery and Opium
Kodak
Guns, Bombs and Kodak
Valves, Duralumin and Friendster
Bankruptcy in Two Flavours – Slow and Fast
And The Gold in the Shit Heap
Zombies and Corpses
Part 3 – When To change Your Company
The Business Model Lifecycle
Cars Drive Over the Hill
Academics Weigh in on Businesss Model Innovation
Here’s a Useful Definition of Business Model Innovation
Why BMI is not Product Innovation
Or Digitisation
Or Digitalisation
Business Model Innovation Seen Through the Ages
Choising the Steps or the Wheelchair Ramp
Playing with Percentages or Muscling Magnitude
Tripping up – Fossilisation as Strategy
Tripping Up – Buying a Microscope
Sailing a Blue Ocean
Weltanschauung
What’s in a new view
World views and business models
Changing Worldviews
Thomas Kuhn…
…And Wot ‘E Sed
Business as Usual
Business Revolutions
The Business Model as Sir Lancelot
Backing the Anomalies
What BMI Needs to Achieve for You
Force Multiplication wthout MIRV
Football Pitch Hit by Gravity Wave!
Super Sparkly Silver Bullet. All Your Answers are Here. Not
