Innovative E-Business — Business Canvas Model

The Internet has enabled some new online Business Models to emerge a nd we discussed some of these during the last 3 weeks (particularly in Se ssions 1 and 2). We discussed Osterwalder and Pigneur’ s (2010) busin ess model canvas. You are required to fully demonstrate that you underst and the business model canvas and apply it to 3 online businesses based in Bangor (Companies A, B & C).

Company A is Alaw which is a company that offers accountancy softwar e for small businesses as a service getting businesses to commit to mont hly subscriptions which gives the businesses access to the software over the Internet. The Alaw package provides all the financial software that a s mall business would need including invoicing, payroll and reporting. Dep ending upon the agreement with the business, the customer’ s data can be stored by Alaw, in the cloud or both by Alaw and in the cloud.

Alaw offers the first 3 months of access to the software free but after that they aim to have ‘locked in’ customers to their accountancy software and customers pay on a monthly subscription basis. Alaw provide suppo rt and updates included in the subscription too. Although only 5 years old the company has gone from strength to strength and although customers are worldwide it is proud that its head office which has 110 staff is still loc ated in Bangor. They have already generated a strong reputation for acco untancy and financial software and revenue is increasing by 15% year on year. They have software developers in the head office but also use freel ance staff on specific contracts from time to time. They spend 17% of the it revenue on online marketing which is quite high but as things are going well they feel that this is justified.

Company B is Bodnant Blogs which was an innovative startup setup by 3

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ex-Bangor University students 10 years ago. They write blogs about cons umer products and travel and try to produce unique and quality content in their blogs every day. They have 5 million visitors to their blogs each year and have managed to monetarise their site using Google Adsense on a C ost Per Click, CPC Ad basis (which we mentioned in Session 2). They als o include affiliate links in the content which are mainly travel sites.

Company C is Caradog Cakes which was set up by Jane Jones 3 years ago. It is a relatively small company that offers daily baked cakes and pas tries to the local area which can be ordered online through Jane’ s websi te. They bake with seasonal ingredients, local spices and herbs sourced f rom 7 farms in Anglesey and Gwynedd. Specialist cakes for birthday parti es, weddings etc. can also be ordered online. Jane is environmentally frie ndly and is keen to do her part in reducing costs and her carbon footprint by avoiding delivery outside the local area. Jane also hires local people w ho have previously been unemployed for some time to work in the bakery and as delivery drivers. Caradog Cakes offers training to those with no e xperience and Jane wants her business to be a force for good in the loca I area. Caradog Cakes has established a loyal customer base serving m any families locally making lovely cakes at affordable prices.

What you are required to do in this assignment

You are required to apply the business model canvas to the 3 businesses A, B and C described above. You will need to apply all 9 parts of the can vas. There are parts of the canvas that are missing from the descriptions above so you will have to make reasonable assumptions about these part s. These assumptions should be sensible and appropriate; you must sta te them clearly and discuss them giving your reasons for the choices you have made. In this discussion of your reasons (justifications) you will ne ed to consult wider articles and reading including some academic literatu re.

The business report will be assessed on the basis of:

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· Clear and logical discussion of the application of the Business M odel Canvas to the 3 businesses A, B and C. It must include all 9 aspects of the canvas but most importantly the Core Value Prop osition, the Sources and Methods of Revenue Generation and th e Costs of Revenue Generation stating any assumptions that you make.

· Understanding of business model concepts

· Evidence of wider reading/research to substantiate the discussio n

· Justification for statements made (e.g. logical reasoning rather t han unsupported statements)

· Critical appraisal rather than pure description

· Clear title, summary, contents and conclusion

· Clear citation and referencing (sources – relevance, range, citati on accuracy) using the Harvard Referencing System. You must u se at least SOME academic sources – they should not all be fro m company websites as these are biased.

· Professional standards of presentation

Appendices may be used if appropriate – these should be clearly title d and correctly numbered (these do not form part of the 3000 words).

Word Count 3500 words

Word Count 3500 words. It should conclude abstract, content, body and references.

At least 20 references in Harvard style. The plagiarism rate should below 15%.