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Praise for The Business Model Innovation Factory
"To be competitive and stay competitive in today's business environment, you have to be fast on your feet. Saul Kaplan knows how to take innovation from napkin sketch to market share, and in this book, he teaches you exactly how to create your own 'innovation factory' from scratch. But be careful: once you start working with these ideas, it might be hard to stop!"
—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind
"Saul Kaplan, the innovator's innovator, shows you how to transform the sense of what's possible in your field, whether you're running a company or leading a community. If you want to win big, you have to change the game. This inspiring and instructive book is a game plan for game-changers."
—William C. Taylor, Co-Founding Editor, Fast Company, and author of Practically Radical
"Saul gets below the buzzwords of innovation and provides an inspiring and actionable road map to help transform how any organization creates, delivers, and captures value. The Business Model Innovation Factory is a must-read for any leader who wants to deliver innovation in the twenty-first century."
—Tony Hsieh, author of Delivering Happiness and CEO, Zappos.com, Inc.
"New products and tweaks to your current business model are not enough in today's environment. You need a way to continuously test new ideas and markets. Creating the 'business model innovation factory' described in Saul's book is the next step for any leader who wants to stay ahead of a changing world."
—Alex Osterwalder, coauthor of Business Model Generation
"Saul Kaplan is a one-man business model innovation factory! Every established leader and budding entrepreneur needs to read this book to find the way to real market-making innovation. Buy it, read it, do it!"
—Alan M. Webber, Co-Founding Editor, Fast Company, and author of Rules of Thumb
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
I What You Have Always Done Isn't Working Anymore 1
1 Don't Get Netflixed: Your Current Business Model Isn't Going to Last Much Longer 3
Blockbuster Gets Netflixed 5
Even Netflix Is in Danger of Being Netflixed 10
2 Business Models 101: Creating, Delivering, and Capturing Value 17
How Does Your Company Create Value? 19
How Does Your Organization Deliver Value? 21
How Does Your Organization Capture Value? 29
Putting the Entire Business Model Story Together 32
3 Why Organizations Fail at Business Model Innovation 35
10 Reasons Companies Fail at Business Model Innovation 40
II Connect, Inspire, Transform: 15 Business Model Innovation Principles 51
4 Connect: Business Model Innovation Is a Team Sport 55
Principle 1. Catalyze Something Bigger Than Yourself 55
Principle 2. Enable Random Collisions of Unusual Suspects 60
Principle 3. Collaborative Innovation Is the Mantra 64
Principle 4. Build Purposeful Networks 68
Principle 5. Together, We Can Design Our Future 72
5 Inspire: We Do What We Are Passionate About 77
Principle 6. Stories Can Change the World 77
Principle 7. Make Systems-Level Thinking Sexy 81
Principle 8. Transformation Is Itself a Creative Act 84
Principle 9. Passion Rules—Exceed Your Own Expectations 87
Principle 10. Be Inspiration Accelerators 90
6 Transform: Incremental Change Isn't Working 95
Principle 11. Tweaks Won't Do It 95
Principle 12. Experiment All the Time 99
Principle 13. Off the Whiteboard and into the Real World 102
Principle 14. It’s a User-centered World—Design for It 108
Principle 15. A Decade Is a Terrible Thing to Waste 110
III Creating a Business Model Innovation Factory 115
7 R&D for New Business Models 117
Innovate through Connected Adjacencies 119
8 Leading and Organizing a Business Model Innovation Factory 131
Staffing a Business Model Innovation Factory 134
Skills and Experience to Staff a Business Model Innovation Factory 137
Wanted: Business Model Designers 142
Resourcing a Business Model Innovation Factory 143
Overcoming the Politics of Business Model Innovation 145
9 Experimenting with Business Models in the Real World 149
Give Me Rhode Island 154
A Better Place 157
Putting the Customer in the Business Model Driver Seat 163
IV Business Models Aren't Just for Business 165
10 Nonprofits Have Business Models Too 167
11 R&D for New Social Systems 179
Measure Innovation Outputs 181
Education Rant 183
12 What's Your Personal Business Model? 191
Stay on a Steep Learning Curve 193
Embrace Vulnerability 195
Blessing and a Curse 197
About the Author 201
Index 203
EricPatrickMarr
Posted July 3, 2012
As my own work in Lexington, Kentucky focuses on community and economic development - specifically, how to (re)invent a city like Lexington to prosper in the 21st century after we've been SO fragmented into silos and SO indoctrinated with factory age thinking - I have long absorbed "everything Saul Kaplan" through the lens of a city. System-wide transformation... connecting... tweaks won't suffice... new business models (even for cities) are critical... collaborating horizontally in the interstitial spaces... are all the exact same concepts that have been fuzzily forming in my own brain since I started what is now LeXenomics.
But Saul makes your fuzzy imaginations REAL. He lets you realize you aren't crazy just because you see possibilities very differently from many around you. Primarily because Saul's words in Business Model Innovation Factory (as well as on his blog and in his tweets) aren't just words. They are his life's work OFF the whiteboard and on it. Saul is the real-world father of "collaborating across silos" and "working in the grey areas, in the interstitial spaces" - everything his 501(c)3 Business Innovation Factory is built upon begins with those two daily activities. There might not be a better Connector in America today.
Non-profits like mine, as well as for-profits across America - and particularly our cities and educational institutions - need to follow in Saul's footsteps, we need to experiment and start new things OURSELVES. Waiting around for the old archetypes to transform the world for us will keep us waiting forever.
Ryan1
Posted May 16, 2012
Please note lower case letters in the book title. Tweaks will not work, game-changing moves like releasing the title of a book with lower case letters, disrupting all that has been taught in English class while observing all that has been taught in English class is the new strategic imperative for the 21st century! the business model innovation factory, is a must read. I would only suggest that the author, Saul turn and walk the other way should he observe status quo randomly walking with tar and feathers.
Why, you ask? Because …
The content in this book is game-changing and delivered in a manner that is readable to individuals at various points on the innovator’s path. Saul makes a strong case for managing our current systems while simultaneously creating a business model innovation factory to develop completely new ways of delivering value. This is frightening because in some cases it may mean cannibalizing a current operating system. Do not get ‘net-flixed’, read this book and begin applying the principles in your sector, because it is not only for business but for any person, organization, or community that looks to innovate and deliver value. We all have a business model!
Ryan
Stephanie-Lepp
Posted April 28, 2012
Saul Kaplan is a true systems thinker who refreshingly applies his holistic vision to the world of business innovation and growth. It's no longer just about making reductionist tweaks to products and marketing plans; today's organizations must be capable of intervening at the level of the whole system, i.e. designing, prototyping, and experimenting with entirely new business models. This book is not only an invaluable plan of action, but an absolutely pleasurable read. I think I nodded the entire way through and am still nodding - yes! Read it. And thank you, Saul, for inspiring us to be adaptive about not only products and plans, but about business strategy itself.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.James-Hamar
Posted April 23, 2012
"A business model is a story about how an organization creates, delivers and captures value." Simple enough right? It is this same thoughtful, yet direct commentary that makes this book so entertaining for a business model novice like myself.
I do not consider myself an innovator, nor am I an innovation junkie. Yet while reading this book, I began to identify with so many of the points Saul makes about creating value with passion, connecting to unusual suspects that are outside of your industry, and not being afraid to take an honest look at yourself and transform not only the way you operate as an organization, but also as an individual.
I rarely read business books, and to me, this doesn't feel like one. It is an inspiring collection of insights and stories to help you get better at what you do. There is always a better way, and thankfully there are books like this to question if you are doing all you can to become a Business Model Innovation Factory.
Deb_Mills-Scofield
Posted April 15, 2012
Quick, tell me your organization’s business model. Can you? Can you tell me what a business model is? Oh, it’s how we make money! Therein lies the problem. It’s a lot more than just making money – making money is the output, not even the outcome, let alone the model. Your organization, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, has a business model. And finally, business model innovation is getting the recognition it deserves.
That’s why I was thrilled when my friend and one of business model innovation’s gurus, Saul Kaplan, wrote a must read book sharing his real world experiences - The Business Model Innovation Factory. Long before it became fashionable, Saul was leveraging the power of business models in his career. His organization, The Business Innovation Factory (BIF), is a vehicle for sharing real life stories about business models that have transformed industries and lives. If you want your organization to survive and thrive well into the 21st Century, read this book.
Saul’s definition of a business model is simple and straightforward: “A business model is a story about how an organization creates, delivers and captures value.” It is simple, but not easy and in today’s world very short-lived. Business models used to last decades, now sometimes barely years. That’s why we see so many good ideas either not make it to market or not for long. It’s why just because you can make a great omelet doesn’t mean you can make 30 great omelets at once in your restaurant.
Most organizations think of innovation in terms of creating value: products, services and experiences. Yet few are really good at truly understanding what the customer needs. That’s why there are many inventive organizations, but few innovative ones. Saul quotes Theodore Levitt (Harvard Business School Professor), “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.” Clayton Christensen, an advisor to BIF, taught us that customers are hiring companies to “do a job” for them. Saul cites Whitney Johnson’s description of what jobs social media does for her . There is more to doing a job for a customer than just creating the solution – you have to actually get it to them.
Saul emphasizes a very critical, and almost always overlooked, component of business models - the HOW of delivering value. We know the importance of a living, adaptable, actionable strategic plan. It focuses the organization on the WHY and WHAT of value creation. It provides everyone with a common mission and purpose. Saul urges us to also create a shared operating model on HOW value will be delivered. This is a very powerful way to align everyone on the activities and resources, a way to let people see and understand how they can and do contribute to actually delivering value to their customers. A shared operating model enables people to “collaborate with a shared purpose for value delivery.” A shared operating model helps the organization identify the most important capabilities (not necessarily core competencies) and provides a roadmap for networking these capabilities to deliver value to customers. I think this is one of the most important areas for an organization to focus and shows why strategy & execution need to be interwoven. Those that take this recommendation seriously will be significantly advantaged.
So how do we do this? Saul is a man of action, so he provides actionable principles for business model innovation, also known as the BIF Genome – Connect, Inspire, Transform. We need to iteratively experiment with business models. For many, this is frightening. Saul’s recommendation to build a business model innovation factory in the organization comes from the many real-world experiments he and the BIF team have run in BIF’s experience labs.
As we move further into the 21st Century, we need to shift our thinking from just pouring money, time and people into R&D for ‘stuff’ to also putting money, time and people into R&D for business model innovation. Saul’s book is a much-needed guide to doing just that. Seeing a real life business model innovation factory in action can help too, so take a trip to Providence, RI. I’d suggest you organize that around BIF-8 – so you can not only see, but also hear, learn, discuss from and with those who have and are doing it.
Thank you, Saul, for sharing your years of learning, of failures and successes, and of wisdom with us. I hope we heed your recommendations to Connect, Inspire and Transform.
Overview
Praise for The Business Model Innovation Factory
"To be competitive and stay competitive in today's business environment, you have to be fast on your feet. Saul Kaplan knows how to take innovation from napkin sketch to market share, and in this book, he teaches you exactly how to create your own 'innovation factory' from scratch. But be careful: once you start working with these ideas, it might be hard to stop!"
—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind
"Saul Kaplan,...