Business Model Canvas Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection Paper “Business Model Canvas” Ing. Maria Paula Helo Intercultural Management and International Negotiation Professor: Ricardo Altimira Madrid, Spain September 20th 2012 “A business model (BM) describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value”. Considering a BM is part of an organization’s strategy, the previous statement invites to the importance of having a model that is accurate and precise, yet easy to follow and develop.

In other words, a model that uses a common language that works for every type of company regardless of its sector, antiquity or nature (public or private). This is precisely the objective of the Business Model Canvas (BMC). Using the main pillars upon which a company is based, this tool helps to organize and follow your individual/group thoughts as entrepreneurs, giving room for feedback and improvement in order to guarantee a success/innovation.

Using principles of the BMC, this reflection will relate its application to my career/professional goals, and also for the ETP’s. As an engineer, I’ve worked in consulting for medium size and large companies; nonetheless, my goal is to start a consulting company in Colombia. What better way to ideate it, than with a model that has proved to be successful for companies like Ericsson, Deloitte, McKinsey, etc.?. It is important to gather a group of partners with diverse perspectives to brainstorm using the canvas, and develop business model prototypes.

This DT exercise along with a model that clearly defines the building blocks that the company should conceive, will allow me to set a solid foundation for my project. This is important, for there are multiple engineering-consulting firms, making the innovation process mandatory to add value to the company and be successful. I believe ETP’s should be conceived as companies that need to apply a BM in general; particularly, the BMC is a straightforward way for it. It has been successful for public entities and projects like the Public Works and Government Services of Canada.

Tom Graves proposes to modify the labels that the model defines, not only directing it to a monetary success but adding different value, depending on the purpose of the ETP to reach its goals, attract stakeholders and generate sustainable projects and sectors. To conclude, I believe the BMC clearly condenses the principles of BM’s and strategy. By adapting it to an appropriate environment depending on the type of organization, it’s possible to apply it to entrepreneur projects like a consulting company or a technology platform for an entire country. ——————————————- [ 1 ]. OSTERWALDER. Alexander, PIGNEUR. Yves. Business model generation. 2009. [ 2 ]. OSTERWALDER, Alexander. Business Model Innovation Matters. Extracted from: http://www. slideshare. net/Alex. Osterwalder/business-model-innovation-matter. Consulted: 20/09/2012 [ 3 ]. DT: Design Thinking [ 4 ]. Graves, Tom. Using Business Model Canvas for non profits. Tetradian (Blog). 2011. Extracted from: http://weblog. tetradian. com/2011/07/16/bmcanvas-for-nonprofits/. Consulted: 20/09/2012.