15th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference
e-Reality: Constructing the e-Economy
Bled, Slovenia, June 17 - 19, 2002
儒州
An e-Business Model Ontology for Modeling e-Business
Alexander Osterwalder
Ecole des HEC, Université de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne
Tel: (+41 21) 692.3420, Fax: (+41 21) 692.34.05
alexander.osterwalder@hec.unil.ch
Yves Pigneur
Ecole des HEC, Université de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne
Tel: (+41 21) 692.3416, Fax: (+41 21) 692.34.05
yves.pigneur@hec.unil.ch
Abstract
After explaining why business executives and academics should consider thinking about a rigorous approach to e-business models, we introduce a new e-Business Model Ontology. Using the concept of business models can help companies understand, communicate and share, change, measure, simulate and learn more about the different aspects of e-business in their firm. The generic e-Business Model Ontology (a rigorous definition of the e-business issues and their interdependencies in a company’s business model), which we outline in this paper is the foundation for the development of various uful tools for e-business management and IS Requirements Engineering. The e-Business Model Ontology is bad on an extensive literature review and describes the logic of a “business system” for creating value in the Internet era. It is compod of four main pillars, which are Product Innovation, Infrastructure Management, Customer Relationship and Financial Aspects. The elements are then further decompod.
1. Introduction
After the burst of the .com stock market bubble in 2000/2001 the term “e-business model” might prov
抢劫者oke yawning. Wrongly, as we show in this paper. Admittedly, consultants, executives, academics and journalists have abusively ud the term and rarely given an explanation of what they really meant be talking about e-business models. This has undermined and discredited the concept. But in our opinion it merits a clor inspection by academics and executives. We think that rigorously defined e-business models can help companies implement their e-business strategies and additionally allow them to asss, measure, change and sometimes even play around with and simulate their business.
In this paper we construct and outline an ontology (rigorous framework) for e-business models bad on an extensive liter ature review. In our opinion the understanding and u of e-business
2 models is esntial in an increasingly dynamic and uncertain business environment for the following reasons:
1. The process of modeling social systems or an ontology – such as an e-business model – helps
identifying and understanding the relevant elements in a specific domain and the
relationships between them (Ushold et al., 1995; Morecroft, 1994).
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2. The u of formalized e-business models helps managers easily communicate and share their
understanding of an e-business among other stakeholders (Fenl, 2001).
3. Mapping and using e-business models as a foundation for discussion facilitates change .怎么创建
Business model designers can easily modify certain elements of an existing e-business model (Petrovic et al., 2001).
4. A formalized e-business model can help identifying the relevant measures to follow in an e-
business, similarly to the Balanced Scorecard Approach (Norton et al., 1992).
5. e-Business models can help managers simulate e-business and learn about them. This is a
way of doing risk free experiments, without endangering an organization (Sternman, 2000). So what really is a business model anyway? As explained by Petrovic, Kittl and Teksten (Petrovic et al., 2001), a business model is not a description of a complex social system itlf with all its actors, relations and process. Instead it describes the logic of a “business system” for creating value, that lies behind the actual process. Therefore we understand a business model as the conceptual a nd architectural implementation of a business strategy and as the foundation for the
远见卓识的意思implementation of business process (figure 1).
Figure 1: Business Logic Triangle
In the next ction of the paper we propo an e -business model ontology that highlights the relevant e-business issues and elements firms have to think of, in order to operate successfully in the Internet era. An ontology is nothing el than a rigorously defined framework that provides a shared and common understanding of a domain that c an be communicated between people and heterogeneous and widely spread application systems (Fenl, 2001). This formal approach is necessary in order to achieve the business model advantages described above. In our understandin
g a business model is nothing el than the value a company offers to one or veral gments of customers and the architecture of the firm and its network of partners for creating, marketing and delivering this value and relationship capital, in order to generate profitable and sustainable revenue streams. The e-business model ontology we propo in this ction is founded on four main pillars, which are product innovation, customer relationship, infrastructure management and financial aspects. The main elements are then further decompod.
In the third ction we give an overview of related work. As shown by Linder (Linder et al., 2001), most people speak about business models when they really only mean parts of a business model. We think that the existing business model literature esntially attacks one, two or rarely all of the following three elements, which make up a Business model: Revenue and product aspects, business actor and network aspects and finally, marketing specific aspects. This extensive literature review has helped us build the ontology outlined in the cond ction.
In the last ction we show that it makes n to follow three levels of rearch issues in e -business models in order to achieve the development of a t of tools for management or IS Requirements Engineering. First, the ontology level to define the relevant concepts for e-business models and the relationships among them. Second, the identification of the esntial measures to ev
aluate e-business models. And finally, the dynamic equations level, which allows simulation in order to learn about and understand the conquences of change in e-business models. Further, we outline a range of rearch projects that can be placed in one of the three mentioned categories.
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2. The e-Business Model Ontology
The goal of this ctions is to define an approach that brings e-business model literature one step further, by providing a more rigorous building-block-like methodology that defines the esntial concepts in e -business models and shows the relationships between them. Our e -business model ontology has in some ways been inspired by the different enterpri ontology projects described in academic literature (Toronto Virtual Enterpri, Enterpri Ontology, Core Enterpri Ontology) (Bertolazzi et al., 2001). An ontology esntially gives a common understanding of a specific domain by defining its elements and the relationships between the elements. We think this rigorous and formalized business model approach is necessary in order to achieve the five main advantages described above (e first ction).
As explained above, our e-business model ontology is founded on four main pillars (figure 2). (1) Th
e products and rvices a firm offers, reprenting a substantial value to the customer, and for which he is willing to pay. (2) The infrastructure and the network of partners that are necessary in order to create value and to maintain a good customer relationship. (3) The relationship capital the firm creates and maintains with the customer, in order to satisfy him and to generate sustainable revenues. And last, but not least, (4) the financial aspects , which are transversal and
can be found throughout the three former components, such as cost and revenue structures.
Figure 2: e-business model framework
Product Innovation
This first pillar of the framework covers all product-related aspects. The main elements are the value proposition a firm wants to offer to specific target customer gments and the capabilities a firm has to be able to assure in order to deliver this value. We illustrate this with the example of
LeShop.ch, a Swiss Online retailer that lls groceries to private customers (figure 3).
Figure 3: Product Innovation
Value proposition . This element refers to the value the firm offers to a specific target customer gment. ICT has created many new opportunities for value creation on the one hand and more efficient value creation on the other hand. We believer this opens up three trajectories of differentiation from competitors. The first one is (a) innovation through new, complementary or
customized offerings. ICT allows firms to include strong and new information components into their offerings or in some cas even completely digitize their products. Through mass customization (Piller et al., 2000) for ex ample, firms can propo value tailored to the profile of every single customer. The shoe company Customatix1, to mention one example, lets their customers design their own personal footwear. The cond trajectory of differentiation is (b) providing a lowe r price than the competition. Cost savings achieved through optimized infrastructure management or direct lling over the Internet (Benjamin et al., 1995), can be pasd on to customers in form of lower price tags. The third trajectory of differentiation is (c) a premium customer rvice level and customer relationship excellence. ICT allows firms to propo a whole new range of (often free) rvices that augment the value of the core offering. The company Live Manuals2 for example, lets firms that ll consumer electronics offer their clients interactive and multimedia product manuals. Other rvices that can be provided through ICT, include product updates, training or support.
We combine the three trajectories outlined above with the approach of Kambil, Ginsberg and Bloch (Kambil et al., 1997), which further decompo the concept of value proposition into its sub-elements. They identify three main components. First, the cost element, which is decompod into price, effort and risk. Second, the role of the customer, which can be buyer, ur, co-creator or transferer of value. Third, the performance of the value proposition.
Target customer. A firm generally creates value for a specific customer gment. The definition of the market scope (Hamel, 2000; Afuah et al., 2001) captures the esnce of where the firm does and does not compete – which customers, which geographical areas, and what product gments.
A firm can market either to business and/or individuals, commonly referred to as business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). What actually changes compared to classical marketing is the notion of distance and the notion of time. Through ICT firms expand their reach becau geographical notions become less relevant and becau Website or open 24/7. This is as much of an opportunity as also a threat becau barriers to market entry are lower and competition increas (Porter, 2001).
Capabilities. To deliver the value proposition to different customers, a firm must ensure that it poss
s the range of capabilities that underpin the propod value. Several authors describe how value and competencies or capabilities are interconnected (Bagchi et al., 2000; Wallin, 2000). Capabilities can be understood as repeatable patterns of action in the u of asts to create, produce, and/or offer products and rvices to a market (Wallin, 2000). For example, a retailer that lls perishable food over the Internet has to be able to assure rapid home delivery, a computer chip designer has to be able to constantly innovate and a news-site has to be able to offer up-to-date information.
种子怎么用The value proposition of LeShop.ch is to offer people (especially women) who have to manage job, family and houhold a convenient way of buying fresh food. On their website LeShop.ch offers every client a personalized shopping environment with personal account and shopping lists. In order to offer this value proposition the company has to assure certain capabilities, such as rapid delivery of fresh groceries like vegetables or bread, but also frozen food.
Infrastructure Management
This cond pillar of the framework, the infrastructure management element, describes the value system configuration (Gordijn et al., 2000) that is necessary to deliver the value proposition. This compris the activity configuration of the firm, in other words the activities to create and deliver valu
e, and, the relationship between them, the in-hou resources and asts and the firm’s partner network. We illustrate this with ColorMailer, a Swiss business in the photography industry (Bauer & al., 2001).
[Accesd on December 10th, 2001]
[Accesd on December 10th, 2001]
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Figure 4: Infrastructure Management
Activity configuration. The main purpo of a company is the creation of value that customers are wil
ling to pay for. This value is the outcome of a configuration of inside and outside activities and process. To define the value creation process in a business model, we u the value chain framework (Porter et al., 1985) and its extension, such as defined by Stabell and Fjeldstad (Stabell et al., 1998). They extend the idea of the value chain with the value shop and the value network. Former describes the value creation process of rvice providers, whereas latter describes brokering and intermediary activities. It is in this component of the e-business framework that we will find such activities as Supply Chain Management (SCM), Efficient Customer Respon (ECR), or e-procurement.
Partner network. The partner network outlines, which elements of the activity configuration are distributed among the partners of the firm. Management literature defines the strategic networks as “stable interorganizational ties which are strategically important to participating firms. They may take the form of strategic alliances, joint-ventures, long-term buyer-supplier partnerships, and other ties” (Gulati et al., 2000). Especially the shrinking transaction costs make it easier for firms to vertically disintegrate and to reorganize in partner networks. Firms can then focus on their core competencies in the value system configuration and rely on partner networks and outsourcing for other non-core competencies and activities. One of the veral examples of the impact of ICT on the
modification of the activity distribution can be found in the food retailing business. Becau of shrinking coordination and transaction costs retailers have introduced the so-called Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). In this concept buyers completely transfer supply management to suppliers, which directly control the stock of the buyer and refurnish automatically, when necessary. Among other advantages, this substantially reduces inventory costs. In e-business literature there are veral terms arising for the new forms of strategic networks in the value creation process, some call them b-webs (Tapscott et al., 2000), or fluid and flexible organizations (Selz, 1999), others call them value networks (Brandenburger et al., 1996).
Resources and asts. In order to create value, a firm needs resources (Wernefelt, 1984). Grant (Grant, 1995) distinguishes tangible, intangible, and human asts. Tangible resources include plants, equipment and cash rerves. Intangible resources include patents, copyrights, reputation, brands and trade crets. Human resources are the people a firm needs in order to create value with tangible and intangible resources.
ColorMailer (figure 4) prints digital images of private customers on various physical items, such as T-shirts, gifts and photo-paper, which are then directly delivered to their homes. The value configuration is roughly divided into image upload, print, delivery, marketing and after-sales rvices.
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The activities are fulfilled through owned in-hou resources and out-hou partners, like the Swiss postal rvice, Sony Europe and the electronics retailer InterDiscount. Customer Relationship
Through the u of ICT firms can redefine the notion of customer relationship. First, they can get a feel for and understand the customer by outlining an information strategy. Second, firms can exploit new ways to deliver value and expand reach by covering new and multiple channels. Third, companies must understand that trust and loyalty has become one of the most important
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