A business model that can link a new technology to an emerging market
need is the key to industry transformation. When Apple coupled the iPod
with iTunes, it revolutionized the audio devices market. But most
attempts to introduce a new model fail. The authors did an in-depth
analysis of 40 companies that had launched new business models in a
variety of industries, and here they present the key takeaways from
their research. They looked for recurring features in the models and
found six: personalization, a closed-loop process, asset sharing,
usage-based pricing, a collaborative ecosystem, and an agile and
adaptive organization. No model displayed all of them, but having a
higher number of features usually correlated with a greater chance of
success at transformation. (The taxi service Uber can claim five of the
six.) Companies that are thinking about changing their business model or
entering an industry with a new model can rate themselves on the six
features to assess the likelihood that they’ll be transformative.
INSETS: Linking Technology and the Market.;How Many Boxes Should a Model
Tick?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]