1. Learning objectives:
- to be able to understand the failings in many companies approach to “strategic planning” and why “a detailed plan may be comforting, but it’s not a strategy.”
- to understand and appreciate that innovation and competitive advantage can be crafted through business model innovation, as well as product or service innovation.
- to understand how different model types can inform and also represent different strategy choices.
- to be able to build preliminary disruptive strategies within an industry.
2. Preparation: Consider the following articles and questions and be prepared for in-class discussion.
The big lie of strategic planning, HBR Jan-Feb 2014, R Martin.
Library PURL link: https://go.library.ubc.ca/NVNGMq
- Why does the author contend that strategic planning is often ineffective, and which trap do you find to be most dangerous? Be prepared for discussion in class.
What is a business model? HBR Blog Network, Jan22nd 2015.
Library PURL link: https://go.library.ubc.ca/z3tdBg
- After reading this article, referring to the “basic forms” of b-model listed in the table in the article, tweet to the course # which one of these forms or types of b-model you would like to apply to an existing industry and why you think it would be disruptive. Try to think of something forward looking rather than just characterizing what has already been done.
Familiarize yourself with the following from p166 of Osterwalder’s first book. Osterwalder – prototyping b-models – book publishing as we will do an exercise like this in class. The key things to look for are the linkages and implications for different business models arising from choices you make in the building blocks of a b-model.
Additional References (optional, but encouraged):
- Business Strategy is being Transformed for the Digital Revolution: Dec 2014, Trends Magazine
- How Smart, Connected Products are Transforming Competition.HBR, Nov 2014, Porter and Heppelmann (or via library database)
- Frothy.com -The Economist, Dec 14th 2014 – looking at the over-valuation of internet companies to-day vs. the late 1990s.
- There’s an app for that -The Economist, Jan 3rd 2015. Note – if you exceed your free access via direct to web, then search the article via the Lam Library database.