How to Design a Winning Business Model

Ramon  Casadesus-Masanell; Joan E. Ricart

Article | Harvard Business Review | January – February 2011

How to Design a Winning Business Model

by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Joan E. Ricart

Abstract

Most executives believe that competing through business models is critical for success, but few have come to grips with how best to do so. One common mistake is enterprises' unwavering focus on creating innovative models and evaluating their efficacy in standalone fashion—just as engineers test new technologies or products. However, the success or failure of a company's business model depends largely on how it interacts with those of the other players in the industry. (Almost any business model will perform brilliantly if a company is lucky enough to be the only one in a market.) Because companies build them without thinking about the competition, they routinely deploy doomed business models. Moreover, many companies ignore the dynamic elements of business models and fail to realize that they can design business models to generate winner-take-all effects similar to the network externalities that high-tech companies such as Microsoft, eBay, and Facebook often create. A good business model creates virtuous cycles that, over time, result in competitive advantage. Smart companies know how to strengthen their virtuous cycles, undermine those of rivals, and even use them to turn competitors' strengths into weaknesses.

Keywords: Business Model; Design; Strength and Weakness; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage;

Format: Print

8 pages

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Citation:

Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Joan E. Ricart. "How to Design a Winning Business Model." Harvard Business Review 89, nos. 1-2 (January–February 2011): 100–107.

This Teaching Note accompanies the case HBS No. 718-419, “Hilti (A): Fleet Management.” It provides guidelines for class discussion, as well as a board plan and transcripts of the associated videos, Hilti Fleet Management Video Supplements.
The associated case explores the strategic decision-making process of premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 1999, when the company was considering implementing a fleet management system in the construction industry. Fleet management would involve a shift from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. For Hilti, it represented an entirely new business model, which would substantially differentiate the company from its competitors. While fleet management had the potential to significantly improve the customer experience, Hilti was already a successful firm under its extant model and had to decide whether the restructuring of its business model was worth the risk.

Supplement | HBS Case Collection | June 2017 (Revised May 2018)

Hilti Fleet Management Video Supplements

Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer

This case explores the introduction of fleet management in the construction industry by the premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 2000. Following its customers’ needs, Hilti moved from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. The introduction of the new business model contributed significantly to the success of Hilti, since it sustainably differentiated the company from its competitors. For instance, the adoption of fleet management resulted in customer loyalty levels five times higher than under the dominant business model Hilti had formerly employed, and over-proportioned profit contribution at Hilti. Hilti’s Chief Technology Officer described the importance of the innovation as follows: “Hilti developed many very innovative and successful products over the years, but they paled in comparison with the fleet management business model, which was the most important innovation in Hilti’s history.” All told, Hilti, which had about 22,000 employees and made about 4.5 billion Swiss Francs (or $4.589 billion USD) in sales in 2015, managed 1.5 million tools under fleet management contracts in 40 countries, resulting in a contract value of more than 1.2 billion Swiss Francs (approximately $1.4 billion USD).

Case A describes the strategic decision-making process regarding the introduction of fleet management in its early planning stages.

Keywords: Hilti; business model innovation; fleet management; decision-making; decision making; Implementation; power tools industry; Construction industry; Construction; Europe; Switzerland; strategy; Liechtenstein; Business Model; Restructuring; Transformation; Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Construction; Leasing; Strategy; Decision Making; Construction Industry; Switzerland; Liechtenstein; Germany; Austria; Europe; United States; Asia; Brazil; China; Latin America; North America; Africa; Japan; Hong Kong;

Citation:

Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Oliver Gassmann, and Roman Sauer. "Hilti Fleet Management Video Supplements." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 717-808, June 2017. (Revised May 2018.) View Details

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This case explores the strategic decision-making process of premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 1999, when the company was considering implementing a fleet management system in the construction industry. Fleet management would involve a shift from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. For Hilti, it represented an entirely new business model, which would substantially differentiate the company from its competitors. While fleet management had the potential to significantly improve the customer experience, Hilti was already a successful firm under its extant model and had to decide whether the restructuring of its business model was worth the risk.

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How to Design a Winning Business Model

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