The Digital (R)Evolution: Transforming Business Models
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The Digital (R)Evolution: Transforming Business Models
The 2015-16 Britt Technology Impact Series (BTIS) explored the challenges and opportunities driven by digital technologies in a series focused on the growing diversity and impact of digital business models and their transformative effect on businesses.
Joan Magretta explained the simplistic genius of business models in a 2002 HBR article entitled, Why Business Models Matter, by explaining “They are, at heart, stories—stories that explain how enterprises work. A good business model answers Peter Drucker’s age-old questions: Who is the customer? And what does the customer value? It also answers the fundamental questions every manager must ask: How do we make money in this business? What is the underlying economic logic that explains how we can deliver value to customers at an appropriate cost?”
Business models are at the core of the enterprise (or should be) because they are fundamental to how that enterprise thinks about serving its customers and solving a particular problem of set of problems. New digital technologies increase both the types of problems experienced by enterprises and the methods available to solve those problems.
Today, we are experiencing rapid growth in the types of business models enabled by digital technologies. They are transforming traditional industries and creating entirely new categories. Digital technologies enable radically new goto-market approaches and product/service combinations. Entire value chains are impacted, creating new customer value propositions and monetization paths.
Business model changes enabled by technology are causing disruption across all sectors of the global economy. Established businesses must recognize these changes and transform their organizations to both mitigate new threats and take advantage of new opportunities created by digital technologies.
The Britt Technology Impact Series is made possible by a generous donation from Tuck and Dartmouth alumnus Glenn Britt, former CEO and Chairman of Time Warner Cable, and his wife, Barbara Britt. In giving the gift, Glenn stated: “The role of business people is to understand the possibilities created by new technologies, recognize unmet consumer or business needs they could fulfill, and determine if the new technology and the customer needs can be put together in a business model that makes sense.” The Center for Digital Strategies structures the Britt Series so it highlights relevant aspects of a set of technologies, examines business models and illustrates how consumer and corporate needs are being met.
Additionally, we would like to thank our guest speakers, MBA Fellows, Alumni, and others who contributed to (and continue on supporting) this series.
