Course facilitator:

Dr. Alexander Osterwalder, PhD: author, speaker & advisor on business model innovation

Alexander Osterwalder is a freelance author, speaker and workshop facilitator on the topic of business model innovation. He coaches executives, entrepreneurs and consultants around the globe to help them better understand how they can transform their business models. Dr. Osterwalder has developed a systematic approach to business model innovation, which is applied in companies such as IBM, Deloitte, Ericsson, and Telenor. Previously, he helped build and sell management consultancy Arvetica, a boutique advisory firm that accompanies top management in the private banking industry.  Dr Osterwalder has also contributed to building-up a globally active NGO based in Thailand working on HIV/AIDS & Malaria, worked as a teaching and research fellow at the University of Lausanne, Switzelrand, wrote as a journalist at the renowned Swiss business magazine BILANZ and launched a start-up in the field of finance.

Osterwalder holds both a Master's and Ph.D. from the HEC Business School of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is currently working on a book on business model innovation with Prof. Yves Pigneur of University of Lausanne, and blogs regularly at his Business Model Design and Innovation blog.

Disruptive Models from ULURU Amsterdam on Vimeo

Who should participate?

Managers, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, business strategists, consultants, academics, students, venture capitalists.

You are interested in business models and business model innovation. You are aiming at helping your organization achieve business model innovation. You want to learn about a practical and visual approach that helps you generate, sketch out and analyze innovative alternative business models. Then you will highly appreciate this workshop facilitated by the thought leader in this domain, Dr. Alexander Osterwalder.

This workshop helps you better understand, manage and change business models. It builds on a powerful, tested and pragmatic approach that assists business people in designing competitive and innovative business models. 

Take-away:

After this workshop you will:

• Understand why senior executives and entrepreneurs must master the art of business model innovation to stay competitive.
• Appreciate powerful examples of business model innovation, such as that of the Wii, Nespresso, Skype, Apple iPod/iTunes and more.
• Be able to manipulate the “Business Model Canvas”, which is a tested, practical and systematic approach to understanding, analyzing, designing and changing business models (applied within IBM, Deloitte, Ericsson, Telenor, …).
• Know how to apply the “Business Model Canvas” in your own organization.

Description:

Are you interested in business models and business model innovation? Do you want to learn about a pragmatic and visual approach that helps you generate, sketch out and analyze innovative alternative business models? Then you will enjoy this workshop.

In today’s global competitive environment business model thinking is an essential skill for every businessperson. A recent CEO survey by IBM shows that business model innovation is on top of the executive agenda. Entrepreneurs across industries are searching for the most appropriate business models to bring new and innovative products and services to the market.

Unfortunately, management literature provides little practical guidance that helps executives and entrepreneurs systematically reflect on business model design and innovation and generate alternative business models. This workshop addresses that gap by providing participants with a powerful, tested and pragmatic approach that assists business people in designing competitive and innovative business models.

Participants will learn how to use the “Business Model Canvas”, which allows business people to sketch out business models with a simple and common language based on 9 building blocks. This language can then be used to assess business models and come up with new and innovative business model alternatives. The approach appeals to senior executives, department heads, entrepreneurs and financiers alike, since all share a common need of identifying and implementing competitive and sustainable business models. We will practice the “Business Model Canvas” in break-out sessions during the workshop.

Throughout the day we will also study and discuss some powerful business design techniques that help senior executives and entrepreneurs generate new and alternative business models. The techniques we will look at include, among others, business model prototyping, visual thinking and storytelling.