Kabous, Laila
E-Mail-Adresse
Geburtsdatum
Suchergebnisse
Linking effectuation logic with business model innovation. An investigation in the context of Swiss startups
Over the last decades, business model innovation and effectuation have been widely discussed in the literature. While effectuation represents a behavioural approach for entrepreneurs using available means for founding a start-up, business model innovation represents an approach to creating a business model with long-term competitive advantages. Designing a business model requires to focus on four dimensions: customer, value proposition, value chain and revenue mechanism. A business model innovation is referred to when an innovative characteristic can be attributed to two of the four dimensions. Both effectuation and business model innovation are valuable for entrepreneurs who are pursuing growth in dynamic and uncertain business environments. This paper elaborates on effectuation and its potential effects on business model innovation. The addressed research questions are: Is the effectuation logic a facilitating aspect of business model innovation? And to what extent do entrepreneurs apply effectuation logic and design innovative business models? The underlying data consists of business plans of 25 finalists of a Swiss innovation competition with more than 100 startups from different business sectors every year. First, the chosen sample is reviewed on the extent of the application of effectuation based on selected behavioural criteria. Second, the sample is analysed for evidence of business model innovation based on the above-mentioned business model dimensions and their innovative potential. Third, the link between the two approaches is highlighted to gain insights into the potential influence of the applied decision logic to develop innovative business models, thus providing an understanding of how entrepreneurs could leverage the advantages of effectuation in the context of innovating the business model. Further research will focus on examining critical success factors of entrepreneurial behaviour in the applied business model types and their correlations with business performance.
Effectuation and lean startup in Swiss start-ups. An integrative analysis
Founding a start-up entails numerous risks and uncertainties. To minimise these risks and to deal with uncertainties, the popular concepts of Effectuation and Lean Startup, among others, are discussed in entrepreneurship research. Although both concepts are not new, they have gained importance in recent years. Effectuation focuses on dealing with uncertainty and contrasts with causation, which focuses on planning. The starting point for Effectuation is the resources available to the founders, which leads to different business ideas. The core of Effectuation includes four key dimensions: available means, affordable losses, exploiting contingencies and building partnerships. Lean Startup can be understood as a framework for decision-making in which direct interaction takes priority over extensive planning. The approach is based on three fundamental principles: experimentation rather than planning, focus on customer feedback and iterative learning. The core elements include a clear entrepreneurial vision, close contact with the customer, the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop and the Minimum Viable Product. The key dimensions of Effectuation and the core elements of Lean Startup also form the frame of reference for the empirical investigation. The article examines the extent to which these concepts are applied by Swiss entrepreneurs and whether a combination of the two takes place. The data comes from the business plans of 25 finalists of a Swiss innovation competition from 2022. The business plans are evaluated and analysed in a multi-stage process. The study provides insight into the behaviour of Swiss start-ups, whether they proceed according to Effectuation and apply the Lean Startup principles. Surprisingly, the study reveals that many start-ups proceed according to Effectuation, while relatively few start-ups apply the Lean Startup principles. We were able to show the extent to which the two approaches are used and how they relate to each other. We also found that the origin of the start-up (research-based or industry experiencebased) plays a significant role.
How applying the lean start-up methodology can affect business model innovation
Start-ups often apply entrepreneurial approaches like the Lean Start-up Method (LSM) and Business Model Innovation (BMI). LSM emphasises experimentation during product development and testing in close interactions with potential customers to get first-hand feedback. Lessons learned are implemented so that improved product variants go through further feedback loops and so on. Products are developed by rapidly getting closer to what customers really want. BMI focuses on altering existing or developing new business models to enable differentiation from competitors. Typical elements of business models include target customer segments, value propositions, value chains and revenue mechanisms. BMI is assumed to take place when at least two of these elements are innovated in conjunction. Going beyond typical product or process innovation in isolation, BMI suggests to holistically consider interdependencies within the entire business model. The need for a better understanding on connections between LSM and BMI is expressed in the literature and this work’s goal is to contribute to this discussion. More specifically, this work seeks to address the question of how the application of LSM can affect BMI. In search of answers, business plans of 25 finalist start-ups in the 2022 edition of an annual innovation competition in Switzerland are reviewed. While the evidence on the connection between LSM and BMI is not entirely convincing, reviewed business plans reveal insights into LSM-related factors at play that can support business model changes and trigger BMI.