Authors: Carsten Linz, Guenter Mueller-Stewens, Alewander Zimmermann

Publisher: Kogan Page

Comments: Many companies are relying on a business model which is fundamentally suited to a different era. Arguably, department stores may fall into this category. New trends are putting on the pressure for companies to find radically new ways to develop business and a radically different value proposition. Two of those trends, digitisation and servitisation are transforming business. (Servitisation is the trend for product companies to offer services related to their product – sometimes described as the “as-a-service” movement.) Both of these reduce costs associated with creation and delivery, and allow businesses to be “content-heavy” but “asset-light”. They also involve two-way communication with customers leading to increased “stickiness” and brand loyalty. The authors are from St Gallen Business School and SAP.