About the theory...
A few years ago, I wanted to help a friend to frame and analyze the concept of the new business he was preparing to launch. Although I could use many concepts of business management to take into account the different aspects of this new activity, I was lacking a general framework to describe the way it would work. I was worried I would miss something important, and I also needed to grasp the actual essence of what I did not miss. I soon realized I was looking for a general Business Model framework.
Surprisingly, I could not easily find such a thing. There was a growing literature about Business Models, but no widely accepted definition, even less universal framework. Several authors would propose their framework, often very smart ones, but which I usually found too simple to depict the variety of business models in a precise fashion.
I therefore worked on my own framework, looking for more exhaustiveness and more accuracy in terms of business representation. Doing so, I came up with a unique approach that I called Bm2 (Business meta-model), based on 3 different levels: a general level defining the overall direction of a business (Business Functions), a strategic level (Business Activity) and a tactical level (Business System). The consistency of this multi-level approach, and the ability of the framework to actually describe any kind of business in a relevant and accurate way, makes the Bm2, I believe, a precious tool for anyone willing to design, analyze or manage a business.
