Master thesis: Business model design and innovation - Analysis project [IBAGM300]

Learning outcomes

Workshop: This 2-day workshop aims at shortly presenting the Business Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas for designing, assessing and challenging business models. Business model innovation and industry changes will be illustrated with examples, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies (invent or improve?). Design thinking attitude and customer centricity will also be emphasized for exploring, prototyping and testing business models. Furthermore, business model mechanics, economics and layering will be presented and illustrated. Ground rules and pitfalls in the usage of the Business Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas will be illustrated. The students will be able to • understand the specific context (economics, company, ...) in which a business model is created, • design, prototype and test a business model, a customer profile and a value proposition. Project: At the end of the project the student will be able to : • To carry out a Business Analysis project with an innovative dimension from start to finish, using the skills acquired in the other courses of the course. • Take an academic look at one's own achievement from a distance: consider alternatives, justify choices, pose risks....

Content

Workshop: The main take-away is related to the following shifts: • Shift 1: From technology & product innovation (one epicenter, traditional R&D leads to success) to business model innovation (multiple epicenters, R&D + business model leads to success). • Shift 1b: From decision making (choosing among existing) to design thinking (creating alternatives, iteration & experimentation). • Shift 2: From checklist approach & business plans (siloed thinking, linear, static, detail, & planning) to business model stories (connected thinking, business model theatre, business model mechanics & economics, sanity test). • Shift 3: From sustainable competitive advantage (long-term business models, stability, incremental, sustaining innovation) to transient competitive advantage (dual ambidextrous, expiring business models, continuously morphing, reinvention, and self-disruption). Project: The main aim is to carry out a concrete individual project that puts into practice in an integrated way the skills acquired through the other courses. The study will treat the case from several angles of analysis seen in the courses (needs analysis, business modelling, conflicts and human relations, legal angle, risk analysis...) and this in an integrated way. The relationship of the EFP to the chosen case may vary according to the temporality of the case. A case that has already passed will give rise to an ex-post analysis. A future case will give rise to a prospective analysis. For a case of an "ongoing" project, the contours of the thesis and its limits in relation to internal documents will be clearly delimited. As an academic work, the text will be distinguished from an ordinary professional report by a certain intellectual distance (more justified choices, more explicit alternatives, modelling, reflexivity; more extensive bibliographical references,...)