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Showing reviews 1-5 of 49
 A fascinating book on a simple idea: How to capture & communicate the essence of how an organization creates and captures value December 12, 2009
Anders Sundelin
34 out of 35 found this review helpful
The book, written by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, co-created by 470 practioners, is a fascinating book for several reasons and I recommend people interested in learning about business models to read it. It is a compilation of 10 years of work on a simple idea; on how to capture the essence of how an organization creates and captures value. It is a book that I believe many will read and keep handy for reference.
The book in three bullet points:
* It presents a business model framework, based on nine building blocks, that is widely used by business model practioners today and it summarizes many popular management theories using the same framework.
* It uses visual thinking and design in a way that is novel and refreshing in business literature, and provides several workshop ideas for companies that want to get their hands dirty applying the tools presented.
* It provides many interesting business model examples such as Lego, Google, Nintendo Wii, Apple, Metro, Flickr, Red Hat, Skype, and more.
At the core of the book is the business model canvas, developed by Alex during his PhD work, and it's included in one form or another, on almost every page of the book. It is a graphical representation of the 9 business model components that Alex argues describe the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It has created a shared language for describing, visualizing, assessing, and changing business models, and is widely used by business model innovation practioners.
The book is divided into five main sections that can be read on their own:
1. The business model canvas including definition and the nine building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customers Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships and Cost Structure.
2. Popular business model patterns including concepts from popular management literature such as Unbundling Business Models, The Long Tail, Multi-Sided Platforms, FREE as a Business Model and Open Business Models.
3. Business model design, using concepts such as customer insights, ideation, visual thinking, prototyping, storytelling and scenarios.
4. Strategy, including the business model environment, evaluating business models, business model perspective on blue ocean strategy and managing multiple business models.
5. Business model design process, including a 5 step process: mobilize, understand, design, implement and manage.
Alex and Yves covers a lot of management concepts in the book and use the business model canvas to illustrate key ideas from publications such as Unbundling the Corporation by John Hagel and Marc Singer (1999), The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (2006), Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (2008), Co-Opetition by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff (1996), Blue Ocean Strategy by Cahn Kim and Mauborgne, and Open Business Models by Henry Chesbrough (2006). The focus is very much to make complex things simple and understandable which is great for most readers! For readers that really want to understand the concepts I recommend reading the original books.
Another strong focus of the book is the visual thinking, the analogies to architecture and design, using concepts such as ideation, prototyping and storytelling. The best way, according to the writers, is to print out the canvas on a large surface, put it on a wall and let people jointly sketch or use post-it notes to discuss and analyze business models. Alex has for several years worked together with designers and the design of the book is very different from traditional management literature and share more similarities with books such as The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam.
The book contains several interesting examples from companies such as Lego, Google, Nintendo Wii, Apple, Metro, Flickr, Red Hat, Skype, Rega, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, GSK and Innocentive. It uses the business model canvas to explain the rationale of each company's business model and sometimes including the differences with traditional companies within the same industry.
Besides the business model canvas the book comprises several hands-on tools such as The Empathy Map developed by XPLANE, "What If" questions, The Silly Cow Exercise, Techniques to develop stories, and questions to perform a detailed SWOT analysis of each business model component. It has a very practical focus and it is easy for companies to pick up the book and do some workshops on their own.
A quick comparison with some other popular books on business models:
* The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continually Developing a More Profitable Business Model by Mitchel, Coles, Golisano and Knutson, has a heavier focus on marketing with some ideas and questions relating to one-sided business models, so if you are looking to "sell more" perhaps you like this book.
* The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits by Slywotzky, Morrison and Andelman, has a heavier focus on profitability and the changing areas in which high profit is possible to keep, it is a quick read and perhaps complementary to The Business Model Generation that focus less on profitability.
* Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape by Henry Chesbrough has a heavier focus on technological innovation in the context of business models and also covers the important area of Intellectual Property in relation to open business models.
* Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model by John Mullins and Randy Komisar, focus more on entrepreneurship and start-ups and on learning from experimentation and adjusting the business model, also with more focus on financials.
All in all, The Business Model Generation is a great book and everyone interested in the subject should have a copy of it.
//Anders, The Business Model Database
Full disclosure: I was one of the 470 practitioners contributing to the book but I get no compensation from the authors or from book sales.
A fascinating book on a simple idea: How to capture & communicate the essence of how an organization creates and captures value July 5, 2010
Anders Sundelin
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
The book, written by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, co-created by 470 practioners, is a fascinating book for several reasons and I recommend people interested in learning about business models to read it. It is a compilation of 10 years of work on a simple idea; on how to capture the essence of how an organization creates and captures value. It is a book that I believe many will read and keep handy for reference.
The book in three bullet points:
* It presents a business model framework, based on nine building blocks, that is widely used by business model practioners today and it summarizes many popular management theories using the same framework.
* It uses visual thinking and design in a way that is novel and refreshing in business literature, and provides several workshop ideas for companies that want to get their hands dirty applying the tools presented.
* It provides many interesting business model examples such as Lego, Google, Nintendo Wii, Apple, Metro, Flickr, Red Hat, Skype, and more.
At the core of the book is the business model canvas, developed by Alex during his PhD work, and it's included in one form or another, on almost every page of the book. It is a graphical representation of the 9 business model components that Alex argues describe the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It has created a shared language for describing, visualizing, assessing, and changing business models, and is widely used by business model innovation practioners.
The book is divided into five main sections that can be read on their own:
1. The business model canvas including definition and the nine building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customers Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships and Cost Structure.
2. Popular business model patterns including concepts from popular management literature such as Unbundling Business Models, The Long Tail, Multi-Sided Platforms, FREE as a Business Model and Open Business Models.
3. Business model design, using concepts such as customer insights, ideation, visual thinking, prototyping, storytelling and scenarios.
4. Strategy, including the business model environment, evaluating business models, business model perspective on blue ocean strategy and managing multiple business models.
5. Business model design process, including a 5 step process: mobilize, understand, design, implement and manage.
Alex and Yves covers a lot of management concepts in the book and use the business model canvas to illustrate key ideas from publications such as Unbundling the Corporation by John Hagel and Marc Singer (1999), The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (2006), Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (2008), Co-Opetition by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff (1996), Blue Ocean Strategy by Cahn Kim and Mauborgne, and Open Business Models by Henry Chesbrough (2006). The focus is very much to make complex things simple and understandable which is great for most readers! For readers that really want to understand the concepts I recommend reading the original books.
Another strong focus of the book is the visual thinking, the analogies to architecture and design, using concepts such as ideation, prototyping and storytelling. The best way, according to the writers, is to print out the canvas on a large surface, put it on a wall and let people jointly sketch or use post-it notes to discuss and analyze business models. Alex has for several years worked together with designers and the design of the book is very different from traditional management literature and share more similarities with books such as The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam.
The book contains several interesting examples from companies such as Lego, Google, Nintendo Wii, Apple, Metro, Flickr, Red Hat, Skype, Rega, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, GSK and Innocentive. It uses the business model canvas to explain the rationale of each company's business model and sometimes including the differences with traditional companies within the same industry.
Besides the business model canvas the book comprises several hands-on tools such as The Empathy Map developed by XPLANE, "What If" questions, The Silly Cow Exercise, Techniques to develop stories, and questions to perform a detailed SWOT analysis of each business model component. It has a very practical focus and it is easy for companies to pick up the book and do some workshops on their own.
A quick comparison with some other popular books on business models:
* Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model by John Mullins and Randy Komisar, focus more on entrepreneurship and start-ups and on learning from experimentation and adjusting the business model, also with more focus on financials. A good complementary book to Business Model Generation. (see separate review/summary)
* The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Roger Martin, explores design thinking, and advocates using intuition combined with analytical thinking to innovate business models. It is a great complementary to Business Model Generation. (see separate review/summary)
* Seizing the White Space: Business Model Innovation for Growth and Renewal by Mark W. Johnson, explores the circumstances when a new business model might be needed with some interesting cases. Not as innovative and content rich as the Business Model Generation, but explores the concept of "White Space". (see separate review/summary)
* Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape by Henry Chesbrough has a heavier focus on technological innovation in the context of business models and also covers the important area of Intellectual Property in relation to open business models.
* The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continually Developing a More Profitable Business Model by Mitchel, Coles, Golisano and Knutson, has a heavier focus on marketing with some ideas and questions relating to one-sided business models, so if you are looking to "sell more" perhaps you like this book.
* The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits by Slywotzky, Morrison and Andelman, has a heavier focus on profitability and the changing areas in which high profit is possible to keep, it is a quick read and perhaps complementary to The Business Model Generation that focus less on profitability.
All in all, The Business Model Generation is a great book and everyone interested in the subject should have a copy of it.
//Anders, The Business Model Database
Full disclosure: I was one of the 470 practitioners contributing to the book but I get no compensation from the authors or from book sales.
A fascinating book on a simple idea: How to capture & communicate the essence of how an organization creates and captures value February 4, 2010
Anders Sundelin
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
The book, written by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, co-created by 470 practioners, is a fascinating book for several reasons and I recommend people interested in learning about business models to read it. It is a compilation of 10 years of work on a simple idea; on how to capture the essence of how an organization creates and captures value. It is a book that I believe many will read and keep handy for reference.
The book in three bullet points:
* It presents a business model framework, based on nine building blocks, that is widely used by business model practioners today and it summarizes many popular management theories using the same framework.
* It uses visual thinking and design in a way that is novel and refreshing in business literature, and provides several workshop ideas for companies that want to get their hands dirty applying the tools presented.
* It provides many interesting business model examples such as Lego, Google, Nintendo Wii, Apple, Metro, Flickr, Red Hat, Skype, and more.
At the core of the book is the business model canvas, developed by Alex during his PhD work, and it's included in one form or another, on almost every page of the book. It is a graphical representation of the 9 business model components that Alex argues describe the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It has created a shared language for describing, visualizing, assessing, and changing business models, and is widely used by business model innovation practioners.
The book is divided into five main sections that can be read on their own:
1. The business model canvas including definition and the nine building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customers Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships and Cost Structure.
2. Popular business model patterns including concepts from popular management literature such as Unbundling Business Models, The Long Tail, Multi-Sided Platforms, FREE as a Business Model and Open Business Models.
3. Business model design, using concepts such as customer insights, ideation, visual thinking, prototyping, storytelling and scenarios.
4. Strategy, including the business model environment, evaluating business models, business model perspective on blue ocean strategy and managing multiple business models.
5. Business model design process, including a 5 step process: mobilize, understand, design, implement and manage.
Alex and Yves covers a lot of management concepts in the book and use the business model canvas to illustrate key ideas from publications such as Unbundling the Corporation by John Hagel and Marc Singer (1999), The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (2006), Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (2008), Co-Opetition by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff (1996), Blue Ocean Strategy by Cahn Kim and Mauborgne, and Open Business Models by Henry Chesbrough (2006). The focus is very much to make complex things simple and understandable which is great for most readers! For readers that really want to understand the concepts I recommend reading the original books.
Another strong focus of the book is the visual thinking, the analogies to architecture and design, using concepts such as ideation, prototyping and storytelling. The best way, according to the writers, is to print out the canvas on a large surface, put it on a wall and let people jointly sketch or use post-it notes to discuss and analyze business models. Alex has for several years worked together with designers and the design of the book is very different from traditional management literature and share more similarities with books such as The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam.
The book contains several interesting examples from companies such as Lego, Google, Nintendo Wii, Apple, Metro, Flickr, Red Hat, Skype, Rega, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, GSK and Innocentive. It uses the business model canvas to explain the rationale of each company's business model and sometimes including the differences with traditional companies within the same industry.
Besides the business model canvas the book comprises several hands-on tools such as The Empathy Map developed by XPLANE, "What If" questions, The Silly Cow Exercise, Techniques to develop stories, and questions to perform a detailed SWOT analysis of each business model component. It has a very practical focus and it is easy for companies to pick up the book and do some workshops on their own.
A quick comparison with some other popular books on business models:
* The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continually Developing a More Profitable Business Model by Mitchel, Coles, Golisano and Knutson, has a heavier focus on marketing with some ideas and questions relating to one-sided business models, so if you are looking to "sell more" perhaps you like this book.
* The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits by Slywotzky, Morrison and Andelman, has a heavier focus on profitability and the changing areas in which high profit is possible to keep, it is a quick read and perhaps complementary to The Business Model Generation that focus less on profitability.
* Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape by Henry Chesbrough has a heavier focus on technological innovation in the context of business models and also covers the important area of Intellectual Property in relation to open business models.
* Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model by John Mullins and Randy Komisar, focus more on entrepreneurship and start-ups and on learning from experimentation and adjusting the business model, also with more focus on financials.
All in all, The Business Model Generation is a great book and everyone interested in the subject should have a copy of it.
//Anders, The Business Model Database
Full disclosure: I was one of the 470 practitioners contributing to the book but I get no compensation from the authors or from book sales.
A Brilliant Book: easy and fun to read December 15, 2009
Michael Uschold (Seattle, WA USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is an absolutely superb book and my first and only book on business models. It is so up to date and filled with gems that I feel no need to read another anytime soon.
The book is aptly titled, being all about how to generate business models. However, you have to know what it is before you can generate it. To this end, the first section of the book is devoted to introducing a standard language and format for talking about business models. They introduce nine key items which serve as the building blocks for all business models. These are listed below, illustrated with Skype's business model.
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS: Who will use the product?
1) web users globally 2) people who want to call phones
VALUE PROPOSITION: Why will they use the product?
1) free Internet and video calling 2) cheap calls to phones (SkypeOut)
CHANNELS: How will the product be delivered to the customers?
[...] and headset partnerships
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS: how will you develop and maintain contact with your customers in each segment?
Mass customizedMass customized
REVENUE STREAMS: How is revenue generated from which customer segments?
1) Free 2) SkypeOut prepaid or subscription
ACTIVITIES: What are the key things that you need to do to create and deliver the product?
Software development
RESOURCES: What assets are required to create and deliver the product?
PARTNERS: Who will you want to partner with (e.g suppliers, outsourcing)
Payment providers, Distribution partners, Telco Partners
COST STRUCTURE: What are the main sources of cost required to create and deliver the product?
Software development, complaint management
These building blocks are laid out on a page in a very specific way, referred to as a "business model canvas". As each chapter unfolds, we get a clearer and clearer understanding of each building block and how to use them to create, evaluate and communicate business models.
The business model canvas can be used to describe any of a wide variety of business models. Patterns emerge which correspond to categories of business models. For example, the Long Tail business model is all about selling less of more. The focus is on "offering a large number of niche products, each of which sells relatively infrequently". This pattern is illustrated with the transformation of the book publishing industry and Netflix.
Another example is the so-called "Freemium" business model used by Skype and countless other Internet businesses. This is compared with the standard Telco model making the two models easy to compare. A similar analysis compares the traditional computer gaming model used by Sony and Microsoft which competes on high performance with Nintendo's Wii business model which focuses on casual gamers and a dramatic reduction in development costs. Visualizing these alternatives on a canvas is very powerful (much easier than the above lists).
The Freemium model is a special case of a more general "multi-sided market" pattern which "brings together two or more distinct but interdependent groups of customers". For example, Google gives away a variety of services to one customer segment, the average web user, and earn income from keyword auctions from advertisers, which comprise the other side of the pattern. As is typical with the multi-sided market pattern, the key resource is the platform which facilitates interactions between the two customer segments.
Another major section of the book is devoted to designing business models. Very explicit instructions and tips are given in the context of an overall process. Different phases include: gathering customer insights, ideation/brainstorming, visual thinking, prototyping, storytelling and scenarios.
A major section on strategy includes a section on how to evaluate existing business models, identifying problems, and brainstorming about possible solutions. Nintendo's Wii is featured. One problem with the traditional gaming model is that consoles are sold at a loss to a relatively small market. By eliminating the huge cost of gaming platform development and adding motion-controlled games with a family focus, the market grew much larger.
The design and layout of the book is equally delightful. It is a cross between a Powerpoint pitch and a regular book, and is easy and fun to read.
The only negative I can think of is the binding. I don't know the lingo, but basically, the front and back (hard) covers are not directly connected to each other. Between them are the sewn and glued sections of the book that are normally hidden. Unfortunately, the book seems to be flimsy. But this is a minor niggle.
Overall, this is a brilliant book. If you have any interest in business models, get it as soon as you can. I got mine by chance on a recent trip to Europe while visiting a colleague. I saw that it was not available yet in the US, so he traded me for my copy of an equally excellent book: The new business road test: What entrepreneurs and executives should do before writing a business plan (2nd Edition).
I Have Learned a Lot January 29, 2010
Danilo TIC (Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
What have I learned from this book?
Among other insights, I've learned how to create and discover new ideas and how to improve or innovate a business. The authors and creative team have put together an excellent book, one that changed my viewpoint about business after I read through all the topics. Now I have the glasses of business model canvases on, and seeing through them, I assess startups, companies, sport clubs, government institutions, etc. all from a perspective quite different from the one I used to have. I also used what I acquired from this book to create new business models. In addition, It helped me practice with prototypes for business models and with business model combining. I recommend this excellent book to everyone interested in the subject. It will definitely change the way a reader regards businesses and business models.
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