The wheel of business model reinvention: how to reshape your business model to leapfrog competitors

• Published in: Journal of change management 2004-09, Vol.4 (3), p.259-276
• Main Authors: Voelpel †, Sven C., Leibold, Marius, Tekie, Eden B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business models; Competition; Competitive advantage; continuous improvement; Disruptive innovation; Globalization; New business models; Organizational change; Privatization; Strategic management; Studies; sustainable competitive advantage; Technological change
• ISSN: 1469-7017; 1479-1811
• DOI: 10.1080/1469701042000212669

In today's rapidly changing business landscape, new sources of sustainable competitive advantage can often only be attained from business model reinvention that is based on disruptive innovation and not on incremental change or continuous improvement. Extant literature indicates that business models and their reinvention have recently been the focus of scholarly investigations in the field of strategic management, especially focusing on the search for new bases of building strategic competitive advantage, not only to outperform competitors but to especially leapfrog them into new areas of competitive advantage. While the available results indicate that progress is made on clarifying the nature and key dimensions of business models, relatively little guidance of how to reshape business models and its organizational fitness dimensions have emerged. This article presents a systemic framework for business model reinvention, illustrates its key dimensions, and proposes a systemic operationalization process. Moreover, it provides a tool that helps organizations to evaluate both existing and proposed new business models.