The purpose of this project is to study the evolution of business systems using TRIZ methods. TRIZ explores the evolution of technical systems by revealing and eliminating contradictions, and we decided to apply this approach to business systems.

To start this study, it was necessary to determine the format that best describes a business system and the changes that are to be applied to it.

At the first stage of the project, we found that business models are widely used to analyze current business processes (AS IS) and to develop improvements to apply to these processes (TO BE). From the TRIZ point of view, the business models are the same as "patents for inventions" for business. The effectiveness of business models has been tested in practice and confirmed by the successful results of their application for the business systems. The business model does not describe the entire business system, but only the key changes that are made for it.

We investigated several types of business models, including:

• Gassman’s business model template (The Business Model Navigator: 55 Models That Will Revolutionise Your Business);
• Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas (Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur. Business Model Generation. A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers.Wiley, 2010.);
• 8K business model template (Pankov A., Khokhlov D. Labyrinths of strategy. 8K. M: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2016, in Russian);
• S.P.A.C.E. business model template (in Russian).

The comparative analysis of these patterns revealed that they use a general scheme for describing changes in the company's business model. The scheme is represented in the following figure:

At the second stage of the project, we collected 150+ descriptions of business models for further analysis. Typically, business models describe how to build a company to achieve certain goals. In some cases, the description of the business model contains information about what exactly was changed in the company.

To analyze the business models we took as a basis the generalized scheme of inventive problem solving (this was proposed by Mihail Rubin in 1994).

To restore the contradiction, we adapted this scheme to business models, and added the reverse analysis (this was proposed by Kuryan A. and Sushkov V. for the VCM + method in 2014). The result is a reversible scheme for analyzing the solution of the inventive problem in the business model. This enables to restore the contradiction that was solved with the business model TO BE.

At the third stage of the project, we restored the original contradiction that the business model solves.

The following figure shows the general scheme for the original contradiction restoring, which is based on the scheme of inventive problem solving:

The following steps are performed to restore the original contradiction in the current business system:

1. We identified components of the business model of TO BE which should be changed in a certain way in accordance with the description of the business model. In other words, we identified the proposed change in the business model. We considered this change to be an abstract solution.
2. In accordance with this description of the change, we used reverse analysis to restore how a particular component was implemented in the business model AS IS, and the initial problem was in the business model AS IS.
3. Comparing the abstract solution (step 1) with the initial problem (step 2), we restored the original contradiction of the property, which was eliminated by the proposed solution. In this way, we got an abstract problem in the form of a contradiction of the property.

This was done for the majority of the collected business models. For a large number of business models, one property contradiction was restored. There are business models that have 2 and even 3 restored property contradictions. Typically, this applies to business models for which it is proposed to change several components.

At the fourth stage of the project, we analyzed the restored contradictions and found that different business models resolve similar contradictions of the properties. This allows business models to be grouped based on the same contradictions and to build a unified classification of business models.

Thus, we've developed the prototype of TRIZ-navigator for business models that is represented on this site.

The study of business models is in its infancy. To continue and accelerate this effort, more TRIZ researchers are required. We are planning to continue the research in the following areas:

• Adding new business models to the base.
• Clarification of the restored contradictions in these business models.
• Refining the classification of business models.

In the near future, we are planning to transform the TRIZ-navigator of business models into an open platform to ensure access for a wide range of TRIZ researchers who can support this study. We encourage all interested parties to participant in this research.

The site in Russian is available here.