BE-03

(Oral presentation, session Business and Ethics, 14.30 - 14.50 hrs)

Due to rapid changes in (digital) technology, legislation, markets and society, adaptability has become of crucial importance to companies. A business model that works well today offers no guarantee for the future. Many small but also large companies such as Kodak and Nokia have experienced this firsthand. Digital developments like big data and changes in legislation like GDPR or PSD2 force companies and organizations to reconsider their business models. Such developments may require adjustments to the existing business model but also offer plenty of opportunities for new business models.

The need for adaptability and agility increasingly calls on skills of organizations to identify changes, to understand their impact and to act accordingly. However, the robustness of business models is seldom tested vis-à-vis the fast and unpredictable changes in technology, regulation and markets. In this presentation we propose business model stress testing as a practical approach to evaluate the robustness of business models. The method builds upon concepts from business model innovation and scenario planning. We illustrate our approach using a case example and present some research results about the application and added value of the business model stress test in practice.

References:

Bouwman, H., Heikkilä, J., Heikkilä, M., Leopold, C. and Haaker, T. (2017). Achieving agility with the business model stresstest, Electronic Markets, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-016-0243-0

Haaker, T., Bouwman, H., Janssen, W. and De Reuver, M. (2017). Business model stress testing: A practical approach to test the robustness of a business model, Futures, Vol. 89, pages 14-25, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2017.04.003