Strategy in transformation
Business model development: find new ways to create value from customer benefit and your own capabilities, and assess each option before choosing a direction.
A business model connects who the company creates value for, and what value, with how it delivers and whether it is economically viable. Business model development is therefore both a strategic and an organisational task.
Examine target segments, expected benefits and changing market conditions.
Combine value propositions with capabilities and value creation into designs for the future.
Test feasibility, economic logic and risks with the leadership team.
Turn the chosen direction into responsibilities and points to monitor.
We start with today’s business and developments in its environment, bringing together customer needs, observations of competitors and what your organisation already knows. This shows which assumptions about how you create value today need to be tested.
Different options emerge from your core capabilities and changing requirements. Each is worked out in detail and assessed, covering not only the value proposition but also the processes, capabilities and resources it would require.
A business model has to explain customer value, your own capabilities and economic viability all at once.
Leadership decides which option to pursue, and strategic initiatives and organisational development follow from that choice. What is learned during implementation is used to test assumptions about customers, value and delivery again.
Book an initial callWe first ask about the relevant environments, the future challenges and the company’s core competencies. For business model development, this means that a new revenue logic or a new offering only makes sense if it creates a concretely described value for selected customers and the company can actually deliver the service.
Together with the strategy team, we examine different visions of the future. Customer segments and their expectations, the company’s own value creation and possible changes in the market are linked to one another. Innovative Customer Segmentation (IKS) helps to describe the threshold value and the distinctive value for each target segment. From this perspective, it becomes visible which parts of the existing portfolio will continue to carry the business, which need to be supplemented and where a new business model creates organisational prerequisites. The previous way of generating revenue and profit is treated as an assumption that can be tested.
We flesh out several drafts of the future and test them for feasibility, economic viability and risks. We make the assumptions of each option visible: Who is to use the offering, what problem is solved, what capabilities are needed and what consequences does this have for processes and partnerships? Where information is missing, targeted further research is carried out. Only then does the leadership team decide which direction to pursue.
The chosen option feeds into a vision of the future and can be linked to a strategy map, master plan and observation points. Business model development thus remains a strategic leadership task and does not end with a sketch of ideas. The result is a well-founded decision together with open testing needs, not a revenue promise derived from a template.
Arbeitsergebnisse: Überprüfte Annahmen zum bestehenden Geschäft; Ausgearbeitete und bewertete Zukunftsoptionen; Entscheidungen über die weitere Umsetzung.
The depth of data, the economic assessment and any trials are set to suit the brief. Future options always carry some uncertainty.
Drafts of the future are not immediately declared the new strategy. First, the market and relevant environments are examined, then core competencies are described and options developed. For a business model, we translate this logic into testable assumptions: For which customer segment is value created, which offering generates it, which capabilities and partners are needed, and how does the offering become economically viable? Different customer segments can have different threshold benefits and differentiating features. An offering that is convincing for one group need not have the same value for another.
The options are therefore described separately and tested against resources, feasibility and risks. Where necessary, missing market information is gathered in a targeted way. Only then does leadership choose a vision of the future from which structures, processes and initiatives can be derived. This approach avoids mistaking an attractive sketch of ideas for a functioning business model. It also makes visible which assumptions still need to be tested and which decision management can take today.
A separate picture of value creation is drawn up for each option. What service is provided for whom, which internal processes support it and what effort does this involve? The drafts of the future are tested economically before a direction is chosen. Where data is missing, we name the uncertainty and propose a targeted survey or a limited trial.
A particularly attractive customer promise can fail because of missing capabilities or an unsuitable cost structure. Conversely, an existing capability can make a new customer relationship possible. The strategy team assesses these connections and decides which assumptions it wants to test first. Only then is an option translated into initiatives.
The economic assessment belongs before the decision on the vision of the future. It shows which option should be fleshed out further and which remains open for the time being because prerequisites are missing.
A draft of the future only becomes a viable option once it has been fleshed out and tested against the starting situation. This includes customer value, market opportunities, the company's own capabilities and the economic and organisational prerequisites. For each option, we record which assumptions are already supported by customer conversations or data and which are still open. The leadership team can thus compare variants without prematurely presenting an attractive idea as a finished business model.
The chosen direction is translated into a vision of the future and then into initiatives, responsibilities and observation points. If an assumption is not confirmed in the market, the option must be adjusted or discarded. The result is a well-founded strategic choice with visible testing needs, not an earnings forecast derived from a template. The order of the next tests is also part of the decision, so that resources are directed at the most important uncertainties.
With customer expectations, market changes and your own core capabilities, not with an isolated idea for a new offering. A new revenue model or offering only makes sense if it creates a clearly described benefit for chosen customers and the company can actually deliver it. The way you have generated revenue and profit so far is treated as an assumption to be tested.
Contrasting designs for the future make assumptions and choices comparable. For each option we sketch its own picture of value creation: who will use the offering, what problem it solves, which capabilities and partners it needs and what that means for processes. An offering that convinces one customer group need not be worth the same to another.
The leadership team responsible, once the options have been tested for feasibility, economic viability and risk. The economic assessment comes before the decision on the picture of the future. Where data is missing, we name the uncertainty and propose targeted research or a limited trial. The result is a reasoned choice with open questions flagged, not a profit forecast.
The chosen logic is translated into a picture of the future and then into initiatives, responsibilities and points to monitor; a strategy map and master plan can help here. If an assumption is not borne out in the market, the option is adjusted or dropped. The order of the next tests is part of the decision too, so that resources go to the most important uncertainties.
Case study
How a business family brought together succession, strategic options and new roles.
What decision are you facing? Together, we clarify your situation, the people involved and the right next step.
Director | Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Head of corporate strategy competence team
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