Because of the confusion going on in computer science and in IS research on the meaning of a number of IT-related business terms (e.g. business models) we are doing an online survey. The questionnaire aims at collecting the point of view of different individuals and communities in order to construct a common understanding.
As a reward for filling out this questionnaire you will get a summary and analysis of this investigation. Go to survey. Many thanks for your participation, Alex
Here the slides of a panel on “Conceptual Business Models and Ontologies to improve the design and interoperability of the networked enterprise” which discussed how these concepts can be used in business.
Introduction by Alex Osterwalder
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On Ontologies by Jaap Gordijn
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Example by Yao-Hua Tan
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Design and Requirements by Harry Bouwman
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Architectural Languages by Rene Van Buuren
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There is a very large number of modelling methods and tools out there. Generally, academics insist on proper modelling and rigid methods. But if you can certainly say that they often get the form right, many academics foget relevance & problem adequacy. In other words, while the focus is on proper modelling the more relevant aspect of evaluating the resulting model tends to go under.
Personally, I propose & recommend the methodology desribed by March & Smith in a 1995 article on what they call “Design Science” in the Decision Support Journal. If more academics would stick to this method we could gain more respect from the industry and increase the relevance of our work
Currently there is a huge confusion going on in computer science and IS research on the signification of a large number of business-related terms. Nobody has explicitly defined what the terms and concepts enterprise model, enterprise modeling, business model, business modeling, business process modeling, ontologies and so on actually mean. Of course there are some implicit understandings in the different research communities. But it can be a problem when computer scientists, information systems and business researchers do not understand the same thing under, for example, the term business model. This is particularly the case in today’s research environment where we increasingly have cross-domain research teams. The observation of this confusion is based on a large number of papers, conferences and workshops.
It is crucial that we bring the different communities to the same table to explicitly describe their understandings of the different terms and concepts. And if it is highly unlikely that these communities agree on a common definition of terms, they will at least be able get an insight on the differences of understanding in other communities.
However, once we have achieved something like a common understanding we have by far not done the work. A more distant goal would be a description of how these different terms relate to each other and what there relevance is for the different research communities.
The following list of terms is open to definition (comments are welcomed by the author of this blog) of meaning and relationships:
• Business Model
• Business Modeling
• Enterprise Model
• Enterprise Modeling
• Business Process Modeling
• Organizational Modeling
• Ontologies
• Conceptual Model
• Reference Model
The following list of communities (and sub-communities) is likely to have an understanding of (at least some of) the above terms:
• Business and Strategy
• Information Systems
• Computer Science
I’m convinced that the economic landscape has changed and that companies will have to find new ways of analysis in business management and business development. This has nothing to do with the DotCom boom that has gone bust, this has to do with the fundamental changes in speed and complexity in the environment in which businesses operate today.
I have addressed these issues at the University of Lausanne in a number of papers that can be found at:
Alexander Osterwalder (University of Lausanne)
and in my doctoral dissertation that can be found at:
The Business Model Ontology
