Step a) of Reimagining The Business Model Canvas for Triple-Bottom-Line
a. What if we, add value laddering and move up the cost and revenue themes?
In this first transformation, we make a seemingly trivial change by moving the cost structure and revenue streams up to the top of the canvas. This graphical change introduces something that later will be proven to be important: value-laddering.
A value ladder links different parts together in a ladder where the next step is qualitatively better than the previous or lower step. An example from marketing analysis is where attributes lead to consequences and values, forming a ladder.
This opens up discussion about the underpinning logic and mechanisms of how worth (revenues — costs) is generated.
In the BMC case, access and control over resources have some value that can lead to even higher values for the organisations when used in activities. The ownership and use of resources and the use of the resources incur costs, thus leading to cost consequences.
In theory, this kind of reasoning and laddering can be found in the Resource and Capability-based theories of the firm, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, means-ends chains, etcetera.
In practice, a positive effect of adding value-laddering is that discussions about how value is generated become a primary concern.
In the end, when a BMC is defined, the value-generating mechanisms form hypotheses and should, therefore, be tested and evaluated during the execution of the business model. If they cannot be validated, then the BMC is built on weak or faulty premises and should be re-examined.
In later steps, we will build on the introduced value-laddering strand to integrate and interweave BMC with the triple bottom line and strategies.
