Business Model Design And Evolution

In today's rapidly evolving world, companies need to constantly adjust their business models to changes in their environment. A good approach to evolving business models strikes a balance between capitalizing on new opportunities, and preserving investments in existing business processes. In this chapter, we argue that the User Requirements Notation (URN) provides such an approach. URN supports the modeling and analysis of user requirements in the form of goals and scenarios. Goals can be used to model high-level business (as well as system-level) objectives, and scenarios to describe the business processes to meet those goals. The approach is lightweight, and allows the quick evaluation of business model alternatives. Business models are represented in terms of actors and their dependencies, which correspond to value flows between the actors. Those value flows can subsequently be refined into business process activities. The approach gives business managers a tool for the systematic and incremental evolution of business model alternatives for their organizations. It allows them to model the strategic options available to them, and the conditions for their successful application.