Business Model Design and Learning

Chapter 8

J.C. Penney’s Big ­Experiment

In the past several chapters, I have used three different business model lenses to talk about how firms create, deliver, and capture value. I have also explained the logic that companies use in making decisions about their business models, and have talked about ways that new models can transform industry environments. In fact, a key theme across many of these stories is that new business models are emerging more quickly than ever before and that old models are being undermined as a result.

A key takeaway is that regardless of how great your business model is, it won’t work forever. A recent blog by Ron Ashkenas was called “Kill your business model before it kills you.”1 In it, he pointed out that Kodak ...