281 pages, published in 2010

Alex osterwalder, Author Dr. Osterwalder is an author, speaker, and adviser on the topic of business model innovation. his practical approach to designing innovative business models, devel- oped together with Dr. Yves Pigneur, is practiced in multiple industries throughout the world by companies including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, Telenor, and many others. Previously he helped build and sell a strategic consulting firm, participated in the development of a Thailand-based global nonprofit organization combating hIV/ AIDS and malaria, and did research at the university of Lausanne, Switzerland. Yves Pigneur, co-Author Dr. Pigneur has been a Professor of Management Information Systems at the university of Lausanne since 1984, and has held visiting professorships at Georgia State university in Atlanta and at the university of British Columbia in Vancouver. he has served as the principal investigator for many research projects involving informa- tion system design, requirements engineering, information technology management, innovation, and e-business. Alan Smith, creative Director Alan is a big scale thinker who loves the details just as much. he's a co-founder at the aptly named change agency: The Movement. There he works with inspired clients to blend community knowledge, business logic, and design thinking. The resulting strategy, communications, and interactive projects feel like artifacts from the future but always connect to the people of today. Why? Because he designs like he gives a damn—every project, every day. tim clark, editor and contributing co-Author A teacher, writer, and speaker in the field of entrepreneurship, Tim’s perspective is informed by his experience founding and selling a marketing research consultancy that served firms such as Amazon.com, Bertelsmann, General Motors, LVMh, and PeopleSoft. Business model thinking is key to his Entrepreneurship for Everyone approach to personal and professional learning, and central to his doctoral work on international business model portability. Business Model Generation is his fourth book. Patrick van der Pijl, Producer Patrick van der Pijl is the founder of Business Models, Inc., an international business model consultancy. Patrick helps organizations, entrepreneurs, and management teams discover new ways of doing business by envisioning, evaluating, and implementing new business models. Patrick helps clients succeed through intensive workshops, training courses, and coaching. This book will give you deep insight into the nature of business models. It describes traditional and bleeding-edge models and their dynamics, innovation techniques, how to position your model within an intensely competitive landscape, and how to lead the redesign of your own organi- zation’s business model. Certainly you’ve noticed that this is not the typical strategy or man- agement book. We designed it to convey the essentials of what you need to know, quickly, simply, and in a visual format. Examples are presented pictorially and the content is complemented with exercises and workshop scenarios you can use immediately. Rather than writing a conventional book about business model innovation, we’ve tried to design a practical guide for visionaries, game changers, and challengers eager to design or reinvent business models. We’ve also worked hard to create a beautiful book to enhance the pleasure of your “consumption.” We hope you enjoy using it as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it. An online community complements this book (and was integral to its creation, as you will discover later). Since business model innovation is a rapidly evolving field, you may want to go beyond the essentials in Business Model Generation and discover new tools online. Please consider joining our worldwide community of business practitioners and research- ers who have co-created this book. On the Hub you can participate in discussions about business models, learn from others’ insights, and try out new tools provided by the authors. Visit the Business Model Hub at www.BusinessModelGeneration.com/hub. Business model innovation is hardly new. When the founders of Diners Club introduced the credit card in 1950, they were practicing business model innovation. The same goes for Xerox, when it introduced photo- copier leasing and the per-copy payment system in 1959. In fact, we might trace business model innovation all the way back to the fifteenth century, when Johannes Gutenberg sought applications for the mechanical printing device he had invented. But the scale and speed at which innovative business models are transforming industry landscapes today is unprecedented. For entre- preneurs, executives, consultants, and academics, it is high time to understand the impact of this extraordinary evolution. Now is the time to understand and to methodically address the challenge of business model innovation. Ultimately, business model innovation is about creating value, for companies, customers, and society. It is about replacing outdated models. With its iPod digital media player and iTunes.com online store, Apple created an innovative new business model that transformed the company into the dominant force in online music. Skype brought us dirt-cheap global calling rates and free Skype-to-Skype calls with an innovative business model built on so-called peer-to-peer technology. It is now the world’s largest carrier of international voice traffic. Zipcar frees city dwell- ers from automobile ownership by offering hourly or daily on-demand car rentals under a fee-based membership system. It’s a business model response to emerging user needs and pressing environmental concerns. Grameen Bank is helping alleviate poverty through an innovative business model that popularized microlending to the poor. But how can we systematically invent, design, and implement these powerful new business models? How can we question, challenge, and transform old, outmoded ones? How can we turn visionary ideas into game-changing business models that challenge the establishment—or rejuvenate it if we ourselves are the incumbents? Business Model Generation aims to give you the answers. Since practicing is better than preaching, we adopted a new model for writing this book. Four hundred and seventy members of the Business Model Innovation Hub contributed cases, examples, and critical com- ments to the manuscript—and we took their feedback to heart. Read more about our experience in the final chapter of Business Model Generation.

Alex Osterwalder