Business Models:
Recommended articles on business models and innovation (downloadable documents can be found at the bottom of the page):
"Measuring Innovation 2006" Companion to Innovation 2006, and gives instructions on how to measure innovation. It’s the more practical, hands on version of “Innovation 2006”
Boston Consulting Group, 2006
"Innovation 2006" Annual survey of executives on innovation and how to turn innovation into bottom line results. It is a very comprehensive study, with charts and graphs that while only apply to a big picture level, would apply across most industries. Boston Consulting Group 2006.
"Do some business models perform better than others?" organizes 11,000 US public companies into 14 different business model categories. Tries to find which model has best financial performance. It finds that their categories of manufacturer, physical landlord, and physical broker business models are the most successful. Malone, Weill, et al. 2006. MIT Sloan School of Management
"Why business models matter" is a very good overview of business models and how to think and approach them. It shows why business models are important, how to use them with the actual bottom line numbers, how to test the models, why it’s different from strategy, and when a model isn’t the be all, end all. Magretta (2002- in Harvard Business Review)
"Looking for patterns" A very interesting paper that talks about competitive patterning, and how to apply different business models and strategies from different industries. It forces the reader to think differently, and go outside the box for new ideas. Boston Consulting Group. Michael Silverstein, 2006.
"Mastering Innovation: exploiting ideas for profitable growth" - discusses and studies skills needed from companies to become more innovative, which is necessary in today’s business world. It explores why innovation is necessary, how to take steps to achieve it, and stumbling blocks that prevent a company from fully obtaining it. Deloitte, 2007
"Business Model Design and the performance predictors in Entrepreneurial Firms", measures different startup company’s business models with the company’s performance. The downside to this paper is that it only focuses on startup tech companies, but may provide a small glimpse into what goes into successful startups. INSEAD 2002, Zott and Richter
"Deconstructing the formula for Business Model Innovation" Gives examples and small case studies on companies and how they innovated their business models. It also uses these cases studies to allow open thinking about how one may apply the presented innovations into any company. The difficulty lies in the reader relying too much on the text and not thinking outside the box. Deloitte Consulting 2002.
"Curveball- Strategies to Fool the Competition" Gives new ways of thinking for businesses to outsmart their competition. It has a very creative and outside the box thinking. George Stalk, Jr. Sept 2006. Harvard Business Review (only accessible via the HBR online library)