Business models in strategic management

Introduction

Since the early 2000s, a new language has entered the realm of strategic management. Whereas the field used to talk primarily in terms of value propositions, generic strategies and competitive advantage, more recently, these ideas have been displaced or perhaps, absorbed, within a new language of business models.

Driven by forces such as the knowledge economy, the growth and spread of the Internet, and the emergence of new and powerful mobile technologies such as smartphones, organisations are having to rethink the way they structure their organisations, attract customers, and seek to achieve an advantage in the marketplace. This is happening at a frantic pace as long-established and previously dominant industry players are increasingly being challenged, disrupted and in many cases, beaten by small start-ups that seemingly appear out of nowhere.

In this free course, Business models in strategic management, you will be introduced to the theory and practice of business models as they have developed in strategy literature. In particular, you will explore the emergence of the business model idea, types of business models including those using the internet (e-business models) and how business models can be designed.

Inherent in this course is the idea that, despite being more frequently used in business, business models are not limited to the business context. Neither are they meant for strategic planning in organisations only. Rather they may have wider applications in our lives. For instance, you could apply them for building strategies of your professional development and career growth.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course B302 Strategic management [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .