Understanding your company’s business model is essential for making the right strategic decisions. The Business Model Canvas is a valuable tool for mapping out your business model, but it is only the starting point. To truly succeed, you must look beyond the canvas and gain a deep understanding of the ‘’patterns’’ within your business model.
Every company should know the patterns that make up their business model. Patterns, also known as “Business Model Hacks,” are elements that repeatedly appear in various successful business models. They help you systematically understand the blueprint of your organization and can serve as an inspiration to create new business models or strengthen existing ones.
Below are some examples of well-known Business Model Hacks.
Direct selling: shorten the supply chain by selling products and services directly to the customer. Well-known companies that apply Direct Selling are Hilti, Tesla & Tupperware.
Assemble to order: assembling a product for a specific customer. The product consists of modules that are assembled into a final product. The customer controls the chain and assembly takes place after the customer has placed the order. Well-known companies that apply Assemble To Order are Dell & Nike-ID.
Blitzscaling: focusing on extremely fast growth over efficiency, with great uncertainty about when the investments will pay off. The aim is to achieve ‘first-scaler advantage’ and realize an enormous market capitalization. Well-known companies that apply Blitzscaling are Uber, Amazon and Airbnb.
By understanding the hacks in your business model, you can make sharper strategic choices. It also helps to involve your team and other stakeholders in the chosen direction, which ensures more support and better execution of your strategy.
The first step is to identify the patterns in your business model. Do some research and make an inventory of the different elements that form your business model.
Conduct thorough research into the patterns found in your business model. What are the benefits of applying it? What are the disadvantages? What challenges can hinder a successful application?
This optional but interesting step involves researching how other companies use these patterns. Study players from different industries. Don’t just look at the success stories, but also at the less successful applications. What can you learn from this and how can you apply these insights to your own company?
Finally, it’s time for a discussion. Have all the patterns that make up your business model been mapped out? Are certain patterns more important to your business strategy than others? Is it interesting to integrate new patterns or to omit certain patterns?
Tip: The book Business Model Hacking can help you. It provides access to more than 200 Business Model Patterns, explains 75 of them in detail and contains numerous examples of companies applying a pattern, which can be a source of inspiration.
Schedule a session to delve into understanding your business model. Plan multiple workshops and explore together. Deepening your understanding of the patterns in your business model will not only help your company perform better but also remain flexible and innovative in an ever-changing market.
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