Business Model Generation – A handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers and Challengers

Remo Knops — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:00:58 +0000

Back in June 2009 I visited the “Business Model Innovation Knowledge Fair and Book Launch” in Amsterdam, where a first (prototype)version of the Business Model Generation (hand)book was launched. Furthermore I was able to meet the book-team as well as over 100 business model practitioners from 13 different countries there.

Last week I was very excited, since the team of the Business Model Generation (hand)book announced that the final version of the book was shipped. So I couldn’t wait for the mailman to deliver the book, and I almost ripped it from his hands to quickly open the box and have a first look at the final result.

The picture above shows an amazing front cover, while the content is even more high quality and very interesting (despite that I have seen the evolvement of the different book chunks). For the people who are not familiar with Business Models and Business Model Innovation I will provide the definition provided in the book preview:

“A business model describes the rational of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value“ [ref01, ref03]

One of the problems that Alexander Osterwalder describes in an article of the Dutch periodical Management Team (Issue 16, October 2nd 2009, p.p. 28-31) is that in the same company people can have a different perception of the business model often dependant on their background or education.

Therefore the Business Model Canvas, shown in the picture above, is an important tool. It is an instrument, structured around 9 building blocks, to open a cross functional dicussion and come to an agreement to one or more of the company’s business models. And more improtant it creates a common language for mutual understanding and discussion. The Business Model Canvans consists of: (1) Customer Segments, (2) Value Propositions, (3) Channels, (4) Customer Relationships, (5) Revenue Streams, (6) Key Resoures, (7) Key Activities, (8) Key Partnerships, (9) Cost Structure. Now that you have an idea about the core of the book, lets extend it in different ways with a preview below.

Preview of Business Model Generation (hand)Book

In order to give you both a preview- and a complete idea of the contents of the Business Mobile Generation (hand)book, the picture below provides a visual overview of the table of contents. You not only see the different chapters, but also the underlying relationships.

The above described Business Model Canvas is the central core element of the book, which is fully covered in the preview of the Business Model Generation book below. While from the other book chapters you will find a sneak preview.

Open publication - Free publishing - More alan smith

It truely hope that the preview above provides a little more insight on the contents of the (hand)book and can be of great value for academics, practitioners, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and in fact everyone who is interested in business models. In the next section I will share some short dynamics on the pricing mechanism of the Business Model Generation (hand)book.

Pricing and availability

With permission and the open character of the Business Model Innovation Hub, I was allowed to share the following information about pricing and availability of the Business Model Generation (hand)book:

“The book will only be available on www.businessmodelgeneration.com for at least two months for pricing reasons. If we wanted to sell through Amazon.com now, we would have to raise the price substantially in order to cover their margin and not make a loss. However, we opted to start with a low price ($36.-) to make the book as accessible as possible. In a second phase we will produce two types of books with distinct pricing. A similar type of book, however high-end and full color with manual finishing, would retail for between $70.- and $100.- on Amazon.com.”

Concluding thoughts

Despite that I was involved early in the Business Model Innovation Hub, with the development of the Business Model Generation (hand)book, I’m really excited and thrilled about the result. This is a real high quality book, which can be of great value for everyone who is involved in business models. Not only the concepts and theory in the book, but also the design and it’s graphics are excellent. Furthermore the manufacturing of the book gives it a highend edge.

Honestly this is one of the book that I will use a lot in the upcoming future, and probably gets the ”nick” ”Bible of Business Model Innovation”. With a well balanced book team, and a strong academic background combined with excellent contributions from business practice you simply can’t go wrong with buying this book. It is a true investment of your future, and you project or company’s future !

Are you ready to “systematically understand, design and differentiate your businessmodel“, like myself and more than 470 other practitioners from 45 countries (who contributed to the book), you should definitely visit www.businessmodelgeneration.com to pre-order the Business Model Generation (hand) book, or where you can download a 72 page pdf-preview as well. Or visit and become part of the Business Model Innovation Hub @ http://www.businessmodelhub.com

About the Business Mobel Generation Team

“A core team did the heavy lifting in authorship, design and production of this collaborative effort involving over 400 strategy practitioners from around the world. Lead authors Alexander Osterwalder, Ph.D, and Professor Yves Pigneur, Ph.D., Creative Director & Designer Alan Smith from The Movement, Producer Patrick Van der Pijl of Business Models Inc. and Editor Tim Clark of Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy.”

On the the Business Model Generation website you can find additional information about each member of the book team, while an interesting contextual overview about the (hand)book is shown in the picture below. It is also part of the 72-page pdf-preview and recommended to check out !

Reference List

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