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The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant When The World is Changing

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Business model innovation is the new strategic imperative for all leadersBlockbuster's executives saw Netflix coming. Yet they stuck with their bricks and mortar business model, losing billions in shareholder value. They were "netflixed." Business models don't last as long as they used to. Historically CEO's have managed a single business model over their entire careers. Today, all organizations must be capable of designing, prototyping, and experimenting with new business models. "The Business Model Innovation Factory" provides leaders with the survival skills to create a pipeline of new business models in the face of disruptive markets and competition.

Avoid being netflixed. Your organization must be a business model innovator to stay competitive in today's turbulent world. Author Saul Kaplan is the founder and chief catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory (BIF), a real world laboratory for exploring and testing new business models and social systems. BIF has attracted a global community of over five thousand innovators and organizes the internationally renowned BIF Collaborative Innovation Summit

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

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Saul Kaplan

5 books2 followers

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Jess Clark.
63 reviews3 followers
August 3, 2018
My apologies, I am going to totally nerd out with this review because I unexpectedly discovered something about myself tonight by finishing this book. I felt like a bit of a procrastinator by not finishing it before the AFit Summer Institute. But, I am now so grateful I saved it for tonight. In the past two days, I have been a part of some difficult (but important) conversations, and I have been questioning who I am and my role on this journey. But, no more ... in finishing the book, I found myself. The sections on vulnerability and the blessing/curse aligned so beautifully with how I have felt and how others have described me this week. I am an innnovator.

Let me explain: Saul Kaplan describes an innnovator as tenacious and driven ... words my colleagues used last night to describe me. Kaplan writes "Innovators are not weak. They are driven to find a better way and will stop at nothing to find solutions and deliver value."

Kaplan continues by pointing out that innovators make things personal, use stories to make points, and seek continuous feedback (both positive and negative). Innovators, he writes don't focus on the naysayers, rather they focus on the opportunities that lie ahead. They also deconstruct their experiences endlessly to learn from them.

Being a innnovator is "a blessing and a curse" and that's why I have been struggling. But, that is also why I am here ... so glad I finished this book. The struggle is real ... but it natural. This last chapter literally read like it was about me, at least that's how I read it. And, how I will process it and the summer institute. I strive for more, for innovation, for transformation. #partofthesolution

My apologies for the cheesiness ... but I am literally calling it a night on a natural high. I feel good about my role. Here's to Education in the 21st Century.
Profile Image for Bülent Duagi.
86 reviews15 followers
April 19, 2018
Although advancing a bold proposal for investing in R&D for new business models and not just for new products or services, the book is written in a repetitive manner and reading it was not a delightful experience. Hope to read a better, revised edition of the book in the future. The author's main ideas about business model innovation have great potential to inspire a new generation of innovators.
Profile Image for Erin.
18 reviews8 followers
November 3, 2016
Great book to get you thinking, not a ton that is immediately actionable. But sets the environment for you. An introductory to the concept of a "business model."
Profile Image for Frank.
Author 2 books5 followers
January 13, 2018
As a culture, we strive for personal transformation. Whether it's eating better and getting fit, redefining our professional value proposition through training and education, or simply trying to be kinder and gentler, we're constantly reinventing who we are and what we can do. We may not be successful all the time, or achieve breakthroughs like those featured on The Biggest Loser or facilitated by Tony Robbins, but millions of people successfully transform and reinvent themselves every year.

Unfortunately, the very organizations where we work generally do not do the same. As Saul Kaplan elaborates in The Business Model Innovation Factory, most organizations struggle to transform from their core, initial business models and tend to become stagnant and vulnerable to disruptive competitors.

The example Kaplan leads with is Blockbuster, which for a time owned the brick and mortar video and DVD rental space, until they were "netflixed" by a disruptive competitor (Netflix) with a radically new business model that challenged and eradicated Blockbuster's traditional model.

Just as individuals must continuously reinvent themselves, Kaplan urges organizations to nurture and try out alternate business models separate from their original models. Kaplan makes the point that this is different than invention and traditionally accepted innovation, which often amounts to introducing tweaks or improvements at the margins of traditional business models. Business model innovation means trying something different, developing a wholly new way to "create, deliver, and capture" value. Think Apple and how it invented the iTunes ecosystem to supplant traditional distribution channels for music.

In the third section of the book, Kapan recommends strategies for creating new business models. Here, the author cautions not to setup a business model to compete directly against a traditional model. Traditional models, vulnerable though they might be to disruption, are still often represented by people with vested interests and sufficient power to block alternative business models and maintain the status quo. The author cites the example of the auto industry which to date has kept at bay a system change to all electric cars. A better approach, Kaplan contends, is to develop new business models alongside existing models, in the adjacent possible, and to test those models in the real-world.

I've tried to capture the essence of The Business Model Innovation Factory, but there's much more in the text that will reward your reading investment, so I urge you to read the book.

You can read more about The Business Model Innovation Factory and read the introduction for free at http://bmif.businessinnovationfactory....
Profile Image for Ken.
24 reviews3 followers
May 30, 2012
Strong Concepts But Needs Better Writing "Moneymavericks92@Gmail.com"

Saul starts out by telling you a bit about himself, and how much he is inlove with the concept of innovation. he makes it clear that he's a very learnt man in the area. so you really get the feeling that you can trust his intelligence. This is my first book on the art of innovation, so this review might not benefit the veterans of innovation


This book has some pretty interesting concepts, so much so that i'm quite glad that i didn't miss out on it. I really mean that. He states some concepts that make me the reader go "oooo that's interesting, That's a good point!" But they are a few problems i have with this book, for one saul tends to be highly repetitive in this book, i often find my self wondering if i even turned the page. that's how repetitive the writing is, right from the beginning to the end, he makes the same point over and over and over again, saul may have done this to drum the point into your head. but i found it rather frustrating as i journeyed my way through the book. And secondly, many time in the book his writing becomes unclear, as if to say he's writing in a language that only he or people in his environment can understand. Saul needs make his writing more clear, more universally accessible. A good author can make any man see where he's coming from

The Verdict:
The concepts in this book are unforgettable and are not something that innovators should even think about ignoring! but the book is rather repetitive and unclear

Physical Quality:
We all know Wiley makes respectable books. the hard back is decent, but the cover sheet is almost flimsy looking, overall nothing that bad

Feel free to email me at moneymavericks92@Gmail.com
Profile Image for Phil Simon.
Author 28 books101 followers
August 28, 2012
Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the publisher.
****
I enjoyed Business Model Innovation Factory because of its premise. With the speed of business becoming faster every day (largely due to vast technological changes), I believe that large organizations will need to "pivot" more than once. Ditto CIOs. I just don't see too many companies remaining stagnant if they expect to survive.

Kaplan does a good job at laying out the case for innovation. As another reviewer has pointed out, "Saul sets the stage by explaining how disruption is becoming a commonplace, innovation a necessity and the inadequacy of product and service innovation to drive the system level transformative change that industrial crises require. At the same time, the book respects bot the need for context and plain speaking." I couldn't agree more. The premise of this book is sound and, to be sure, the book's concept would not have been as essential 20 years ago.

I laughed when I read that the official language for one of his projects was English (read: not consultantspeak). To that end, Kaplan writes well and sans jargon--always a plus for me in a business book.

So, what could this book have done better?

I have three main gripes. I would have preferred to see a longer book with more detailed case studies. Second, to my liking, Kaplan makes far too many references to his halcyon days at Accenture. The way he would tell it, this is the perfect consulting organization and it just seems a little to idyllic for me. Further, there seems to be a bevy of plugs for his own company, making the book at times read like a marketing brochure.
Profile Image for Darin Stewart.
99 reviews10 followers
October 10, 2012
This book started out quite promising, but quickly turned to empty cheer-leading as so many business books do. Kaplan makes a compelling case for structured and intentional R&D around alternative business models. Unfortunately he provides very little insight into how to carry out such R&D beyond a few staffing and reporting recommendations. Even these boil down to the standard "You need executive buy-in and separate funding". After chapter 4 he starts to repeat himself and the book, brief as it is, feels padded. I fully agree with the argument kaplan puts forth, but he could have done so just as effectively in a magazine article and saved me considerable time.
20 reviews
January 26, 2016
Great concepts in the book but not very well written, in my opinion. It felt like he was repeating himself and he seemed to use the same example for different concepts. There were some great insights into why companies don't respond to respond to change or take ideas that are presented to them. I also think that the personal business model was a great concept as well.
Profile Image for Oscar.
3 reviews1 follower
March 18, 2014
An excellent book! It explains in every chapter what is a Business Model, its importance and why you must know how to create or transform one.
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