by jim muehlhausen | Mar 14, 2011 | Branding, Business Model Innovation, Failure Stories, Playboy, Private Companies, Public Companies
Hugh Heffner started Playboy with a $1000 loan from his mother and turned it into a publishing empire. However, as Mr. Heffner prepares to take Playboy private, one has to ask whether Playboy’s business model is broken? Today, Playboy’s total revenue is around $350...
by jim muehlhausen | Feb 4, 2011 | Business Model Secrets, Dim Dim, Private Companies, Public Companies, Salesforce.com, Success Stories
Who said there’s no money in not making money? Recently, Salesforce.com augmented its business model by purchasing web conferencing software provider DimDim for $31 million. As a Dim Dim user, I loved the service. For early users, the pitch was free WebEx-like...
by jim muehlhausen | Dec 17, 2010 | Barnes & Noble, blockbuster, Borders, Business Model Tips, Failure Stories, Public Companies
Could Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) be the next Blockbuster? The once-dominant Blockbuster business model disintegrated into bankruptcy this year and seems unlikely to ever rebound. A close look at the Barnes & Noble business model yields many of the same issues...
by jim muehlhausen | Nov 26, 2010 | black friday, Public Companies, retail business models
Are Black Friday Sales bad for your Business Model?online survey Excellent business models require excellent margins. On this Black Friday 2010, it makes me wonder if $4 toasters are good for business models or bad for business models? Please join the conversation and...
by jim muehlhausen | Oct 7, 2010 | Business Model Design, Business Model Innovation, crowdsourcing, Private Companies, Public Companies
This is a guest post by Anders Sundelin, expert in business model innovation, with the popular blog The Business Model Database. Crowdsourcing or mass collaboration have become popular words for using an external group of people as part of the value creation and value...
by jim muehlhausen | Sep 5, 2010 | Big Box, blockbuster, Business Model Innovation, Business Model Trends, Public Companies, redbox, Success Stories
Many business models have been built upon the foundation that bigger is better. Business models such as Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Costco, Men’s Warehouse, and more were all predicated on the presumption that massive selection would act as a...
