Stretching the use of the canvas

Hello BMers,

In the last weeks/months I have been experimenting a bit with introducing the canvas in the current practice of the Business Innovation department at my company, which I am in charge of.

I would like to share with you two cases.

Case one

This method focuses on conducting a SWOT analysis with the support of the canvas, which is a rather conservative idea since parts of it are already described in the book.

You can see an outline of the process in the images below. Once you have your shiny new BM, you can perform an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, from an internal perspective, and you can also analyse the threats and opportunities shaped by its surrounding conditions.

Case two

This one is slightly trickier, it is basically about using the canvas and its building blocks to perform a retrospective and prospective analysis of an existing company. The starting point is the current BM, it is a good point because it helps the team warm up.

Once we have that, with the help of a timeline, you try to identify the key stages in the evolution of the company's BM, finding connections between blocks (e.g. investing in a new resource allowed to offer a new value proposition, or partnering with a given player opened up a new channel). It is great fun to trace down the causes of certain changes and the effects of those. You often see companies that have never reflected on what made them be what they are.

Finally, the third step tries to use all the learnings to foresee challenges the company will face on the basis of its current BM. The trends analysis comes in handy here, but also the patterns and organisational behaviours identified looking back in time.

Case two is kind of a mood-setter and possibility-booster for generating new BMs. Looking back in time does not make you more innovative (or maybe it does?), but it sure helps you avoid a few traps. It is particularly helpful if you are working for/within an organisation you don't know inside-out, avoiding potential embarrassment and bringing out all the "we already tried that"s in the team...

Well, that's my two cents. I have applied both methods 10-12 times with consistently good results, both within my organisation and for third parties. Have you guys tried other uses apart from designing new BMs or describing existing ones?

Cheers,
Miguel


Tags: Methods

Views: 46

Attachments:

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Florian Rustler on July 2, 2010 at 6:48pm
Hi Miguel,

thank you for sharing. Your second case reminded me of an experiment I am currently trying. I am trying to combine the BM canvas and its building blocks with the tool morphological box (also called idea box) to think about variations of building blocks and possible consequences in the future.
When using a morphological box you create a table of all the building blocks and various options the can have, like different pricing models etc. Them you try to combine and mix new variations and think about the implications of the new BM configuration. Many of these variations are not feasible, some however can be really interesting.

Best,

Florian
Permalink Reply by Alex Osterwalder on August 22, 2010 at 7:56am
Miguel, I very much like what you shared. Thanks also for the visualizations!
Permalink Reply by Niall Daly on August 27, 2010 at 1:21pm
This is very helpful. The second reminds me of the idea of transition planning. In a previous business we worked with clients to help plan the journey from an As is model to the To be model. They regularly found the visual view of the journey and the key phases helpful. I can see a similar concept developing from what you desribed above. Like the visuals as well.

Niall

RSS

© 2012   Created by Alex Osterwalder.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service