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TRIZ and Systematic Business Model Innovation

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 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

TRIZ and Systematic Business Model Innovation

Valeri Souchkov
ICG Training and Consulting, The Netherlands

Abstract
The paper presents an approach to Business Model Innovation based on a combination of key TRIZ
principles and tools and a new approach to business modelling which introduces building blocks to describe
and represent business models. The paper presents an overview of a current situation in the domain of
business modelling and discusses key assumptions why TRIZ can be used in the area of business
systems. Application of key TRIZ tools and concepts such as Ideality, Contradictions, Resources and
Trends of Business Systems Evolution within the context of business models is discussed.

Keywords
TRIZ, Business Model, Business Model Innovation, TRIZ in Business and Management

about innovation. Since TRIZ is positioned currently as a

1 INTRODUCTION leading systematic discipline for supporting the early
There is no doubt that TRIZ is becoming one of the stages of innovation, it seems to be logical to explore the
leading practices at large and small industrial companies applicability of TRIZ to business model innovation as well.
worldwide to support technological innovation as well as
intellectual property generation and protection. The power 2 CONNECTING TRIZ AND BUSINESS MODELS
of TRIZ as a set of methods for supporting creativity and
2.1 TRIZ in Non-Technical Domains: Systems
innovation resides in its knowledge-based origins and
Approach
massive research efforts which resulted in understanding
how technology professionals and enthusiasts solve So far most of TRIZ applications have been addressing
inventive problems and generate new breakthrough ideas. technological areas and engineering disciplines. It is
Such extensive research helped to extract, structure and obvious since TRIZ [1] was created by engineers for
systematize knowledge of both inventive processes and engineers. However at the end of the 20th century it
patterns of creative solutions which can be reused for became obvious that TRIZ had a broader potential than a
solving new problems and generating new ideas. theory for technical creativity only. First, it was noticed
During the last decades the business world has begun to that people who seriously studied TRIZ were improving
be affected by many factors such as massive automation their creative thinking and problem-solving skills in other,
of business and production processes, shortening product non-technical areas as well. Second, several research
life-cycles, rapid prototyping, instant and cheap works demonstrated that the fundamental TRIZ principles
communication, global outsourcing, online shopping and could be observed in a number of different areas, such as
worldwide shipments, electronic media, and so forth. arts [2] and advertisement [3]. Research by B. Zlotin and
Traditional geographic and cost-related barriers which A. Zussman on the evolution of organizations also
used to protect businesses are disappearing, and today revealed trends and patterns similar to those which were
even small businesses start competing at a global scale. found in technical TRIZ [4],[5], while G. Altshuller and I.
This situation generates a new demand for businesses: Vertkin identified how some key TRIZ principles were
they must not only come up with innovative products and used by outstanding creative people to solve various
services, but also suggest innovative ways of doing social problems and contradictions as well as for
business, otherwise even when offering a competitive developing creative personality [6].
product to the market a chance for a failure remains rather In the beginning of the 1990th, foundations of OTSM-TRIZ
high. A famous example was introduction of iPod music were defined by N. Khomenko and his associates which
player by Apple which, thanks to a new product-service have been extending TRIZ towards a general, domain-
combination with iTunes, quickly disrupted the market and independent thinking approach [7]. In particular, it is used
drastically squeezed the market share of other music today to develop a TRIZ-based platform to enhance pre-
player manufacturers which had been dominating the school and school education. A few years later, a whole
market. But did iPod play music better? No, but it offered new direction, TRIZ for Business and Management was
consumers extra value which was demanded by them launched [8], [9]
while the other manufacturers had been ignoring the The phenomenon of successful applications of TRIZ and
demand. its instruments in non-technical domains is explained by
Today this situation concerns both consumer products the fact that TRIZ focuses on studying high-level patterns
and commodities as well. However while the world of and regularities of non-linear (in other words, inventive)
technology used to innovation, the business world did not evolution of technical systems. However these systems
experience the need to innovate. A vast majority of are a subset of a broader class of artificial, man-made
businesses still use a few classical models of business systems. Since TRIZ principles were confirmed across
systems which exists hundreds of years without significant many engineering domains from mechanics to
change. microelectronics, a key assumption can be made that the
A "smart" business model can help a company increase general mechanisms of systems formation and evolution
significantly its market share even without introducing new are similar and domain-independent. In turn, the thinking
products and services or increasing their production patterns which we use during a creative problem solving
volume. In most cases it should be a new model, which is process also deal with changing systems, would it be a
different from competition. In other words, we are talking car, or a building, or a company. Therefore another
assumption is that once we need to solve a problem in the
 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

area of business systems, or art systems, or social supersystem involved to the process of capturing and
systems we apply the same or very similar general delivering value, such as external suppliers, customers,
patterns as in the case of technical systems. and sometimes even competitors. Therefore business
For example, imagine a system (any type of system) models should be analyzed within a larger context than
consisting of two elements: 1 and 2. Elements 1 and 2 business systems. In turn, business process models are
interact with each other, and as a result of this interaction context-independent and are used to model flows and
element 1 negatively affects element 2. activities arising within business systems and between
business systems and components of their supersystem.
There is a set of abstract solution patterns to prevent this
problem from reoccurrence by changing a system of One of the early definitions of a business model was
elements 1 and 2: mentioned in [13]:
• We can shield element 1 from element 2 (by "... a Business Model is a description of how your
introducing a new element 3 between them). company intends to create value in the marketplace. It
includes unique combination of products, services, image,
• We can eliminate element 1 at all. and distribution that your company carries forward. It also
• We can increase the distance between element includes the underlying organization of people, and the
1 and element 2. operational infrastructure that they use to accomplish their
The usability of one or another pattern will depend on a work".
specific set of constraints. A more difficult case happens Later, this definition was structured to four groups of
when we need to maintain the interaction between components comprising any business model [14]:
elements 1 and 2 since it produces a positive effect in 1) Value Proposition: value captured and offered
addition to the negative effect. In this case the solution by a business organization to the market. It can
patterns are as follows: be a technical product, financial product, or any
• We can introduce element 3 between elements 1 type of service.
and 2 which will filter out the negative part of 2) Profit Formula defines how a business system
interaction while letting the positive action to makes money on the basis of delivering its value
pass through. proposition. In the simplest case, it is "buy low -
• We can eliminate a property of element 1 which sell high" retail formula. Innovative business
generates the negative effect. models introduce different variations of approach
to sales: lease, monthly payments, credit
• We can neutralize a property of element 1 which
payments, dynamic pricing, and so forth.
generates the negative action.
3) Key Activities define main processes and main
• We can decrease sensitivity of element 2 to the actions needed to create or add value and
harmful effect. deliver it to the market.
• We can modify the environment of elements 1 4) Key Resources are all kind of resources (labour,
and 2 so that the environment neutralizes the capital, equipment, etc.) required for successful
harmful effect. implementation of key activities.
As we can see, these patterns (in slightly modified form It is a quite common mistake to reduce understanding of
they are known as "Inventive Standards" in TRIZ) can be business models to the second component only, Profit
interpreted and applied to virtually any type of system: Formula. For instance, such innovative examples are
from electronics to social systems. mentioned in the case of Gillette: selling cheap shaving
Of course, it would not be wise to take a version of TRIZ devices but expensive razor blades. The same idea has
developed for technical systems and directly transfer it to been used to introduce Nespressо coffee machines by
business or some other domain. Each domain of artificial Nestle: selling inexpensive espresso coffee machines
systems has its own distinct features, especially at the while maintaining monopoly and high prices on the coffee
levels of specific operational principles and details. capsules for home or office use.
However at higher levels of abstraction the underlying However, if we look carefully at these cases, we will see
principles of man-made systems organization and that the innovations required change of a product (Value
evolution appear to be quite similar due to analogous Proposition) as well as key activities: for instance,
reasoning mechanisms which we use in creative thinking. Nespresso coffee machines must use only the capsules
Not surprisingly, recently some research emerged within from Nespresso which are sold in the dedicated
the TRIZ community exploring how TRIZ can be used for Nespresso boutique coffee shops or via their website. In
business model innovation [10],[11]. Although being quite fact, in the case of Nestle we see that all four components
interesting from the point of view of general methodology, of the business model required change:
both papers deal with a vague definition of a business • Value Proposition: A coffee machine was
model. In our work, we propose a more structured redesigned to reduce manufacturing and material
approach based on recent developments in the area of costs. New coffee capsules were developed and
business modelling. positioned as delivering coffee of exclusive
2.2 Business Model Definition quality. Thus Nestle targeted a new market
segment: espresso lovers.
The term "business model" appeared quite recently in the
dictionary of business managers [12]. Before that, the • Profit Formula: Most of the profit comes from a
terms "business system" and "business process model" high-margin sales of patent-protected capsules
were used. However, there are substantial differences filled with coffee.
between these three terms. Business model is a broader • Key Activities: New key activities were added:
term than a business system or a business process. While manufacturing of the Nespresso machines and
a business system resides within the borders which are capsules, as well as new promotion and
defined and controlled by the business owners, a distribution channels for Nespresso machines
business model also includes all the components of a and Nespresso capsules.
 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

• Key Resources: introduction of new key relationships are established and maintained
activities required new resources (manufacturing with each Customer Segment.
equipment, labour, etc.). In this particular case, 5. Revenue Streams: Revenue streams result
Nestle could rely on its already existing value from value propositions successfully offered to
network to reduce costs. For instance, customers.
Nespresso system machines are manufactured
6. Key Resources: Key resources are the assets
by Krups.
required to offer and deliver the previously
Often business model innovations do not directly affect described elements.
the value proposition or revenues but helps to drastically
7. Key Activities: all types of activities needed to
reduce the bottom line or increase the gross margin. Such
perform and support the above mentioned
innovations usually reside in the areas of key activities
building blocks.
and key resources. For instance, introduction of online
banking made it possible to considerably reduce a 8. Key Partnerships: Some activities are
number of operators in the banks thus cutting out one of outsourced and some resources are acquired
the major cost generators. outside the enterprise.
It is not necessarily required that the same business 9. Cost Structure: The business model elements
model is used for every product or a service produced and result in the cost structure.
offered by a company. Different products or services To develop a particular business model, each building
might utilize their own, most relevant and profitable block is filled in with a context specific to a chosen
business models. business scenario.
2.3 Business Model Building Blocks The approach is illustrated in Figure 2 which depicts
contents of the building blocks for World Soccer Cup 2010
The aforementioned four components of a business
in South Africa. Such form of organizing and representing
model can be identified for any business system.
information about a specific business model at a single
However, they are too general and miss the business
sheet is called "Business Model Canvas".
structure. A step ahead to defining a more detailed while
still compact structure of a generic business model was As seen, this approach does not identify how the
suggested by A. Osterwalder and Y. Pigneur [15]. In their complexity of the business model is maintained, however
approach, a business model can be "designed" on the it helps to capture and visualize the most vital and
basis of a number of generic building blocks which specify relevant information.
in more detail a way in which a business system operates Generally speaking, one can innovate in two directions: (i)
(Figure 1). incrementally or radically improving the existing business
The authors distinguish between nine building blocks in model by changing the content of one or more building
their model: blocks, or (ii) designing a completely new business model.
1. Customer Segments: An organization serves
one or several Customer Segments. 3 APPLICATION OF TRIZ
2. Value Propositions: It seeks to solve customer 3.1 Business Models and Ideality
problems and satisfy customer needs with value Business systems, similarly to technical and other artificial
propositions. systems tend to evolve according to the generic TRIZ
3. Channels: Value propositions are trend of Increasing the degree of Ideality.
communicated and delivered to customers The same Ideality/Value formula as introduced in [16]
through communication, distribution, and sales applies to both business and technical systems:
channels.
4. Customer Relationships: Customer

Figure 1: Building Blocks of a Business Model (from [15], original picture by A. Osterwalder
and Y. Pigneur, reproduced with permission)
 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

Figure 2: Example of a Business Model: World Soccer Cup 2010 (author: Parick. van
der Pijl, reproduced with permission from www.businessmodelhub.com)

Degree of Ideality = (Value Creators - Value core perceived value creators, b) time of delivery belongs
Reducers)/Costs, to the category of value reducers (because the ideal time
where: of delivery will be zero), and c) price largely depends on
costs and market situation.
• Value Creators are all parameters, useful
features and functions of a Value Proposition Summarizing, to increase the degree of Ideality of any
(product or service) which are positively business model we can innovate in all three categories:
perceived by the market. 1) Increase Value Creators: We can increase the
• Value Reducers are those features, functions, perceived value of our offerings in many different
harms and any other factors that reduce the ways. For instance, we can extend a choice of
perceived value (except price). pizzas, or offer supplementary side dishes and
drinks for pizza; or if pizza is delivered early in
• Costs are all direct and indirect expenses the morning we can add a free newspaper; or to
required to generate and maintain Value make "customized pizzas" similarly to
Creators. personalized birthday cakes. Here we can
Note that the degree of Ideality is not an absolute but a innovate along our entire "product/service"
relative parameter and it is used to compare two combination to improve either product or service,
competitive (alternative) systems. or by introducing new products and services.
The higher the degree of Ideality of a specific Value 2) Eliminate Value Reducers. Here we should
Proposition within a certain market segment is, the more fight against all major and minor harmful effects
competitive this Value Proposition will be. In turn, the that affect negatively the perceived value of our
degree of Ideality of a specific Value Proposition depends offering: at the level of both product and service.
on the degree of Ideality of a business model used to For example, a tasty but cold pizza will certainly
create the Value Proposition. Therefore innovative not be very welcome by a customer thus we
evolution of that business model might follow all three must ensure short delivery times. Wrong
directions that all lead to increasing the overall degree of recording of a pizza order leads to the delivery of
Ideality and competitiveness: a) increasing Value a wrong product - hence the task is how to make
Creators, b) decreasing Value Reducers, and c) sure that the order is always written correctly,
decreasing Costs. and so forth. A strategy of innovation in this case
Let us consider the following example. For instance, we is to eliminate or considerably decrease all Value
run a business of pizza delivery. Our core value Reducers.
proposition consists therefore of a product/service 3) Eliminate or Reduce Costs. This direction
combination: first, we produce (bake) pizza (product), and deals with the cost structure in our business
second, we deliver it to a customer (service). What does model. A strategy of innovation is to noticeably
make our customers happy, and therefore increases a reduce costs without both decreasing Value
perceived value of our offerings? Perhaps, everyone Creators and increasing Value Reducers. For
agrees that it will be a combination of at least three instance, we can reduce the costs of spoiled
factors: a) high quality of pizza, b) quick delivery time, and pizza ingredients by introducing "Just in Time"
c) price which does not exceed the customer supply mechanism for buying and delivering
expectations. These three factors refer to different pizza's ingredients with short expiration terms.
variables in the Ideality/Value Formula: a) quality of pizza
(taste, freshness, crispness, temperature) refers to the
 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

3.2 Contradictions and Resources TRIZ provides us with a number of tools to help with
Similarly to technical systems, contradictions which overcoming psychological inertia. First of all, we can use a
emerge as a result of growing market and customer problem analysis tool - RCA+ (Root Conflict Analysis,
demands often set up barriers towards evolution of [17]) which helps to reveal and visualize all contradictions
business systems and impose limits on value which form a specific problem. By the moment, RCA+ was
propositions. Contradictions might arise both within used in over a hundred of projects to improve different
certain building blocks in a business model and between aspects of business systems and business products thus
different blocks. proving its effectiveness. Another important tool for
identification of contradictions is TRIZ-based Function
For instance, a company designs and manufactures sport Analysis, which can be applied to analyze value creation
shoes. Modern consumer market demands diversity, chain from the viewpoint of functional flows [11], [18], [19].
which means that consumers like to have shoes of Finally, to get a "big picture" of key driving contradictions
different designs and colours. As a result, in order to across several system levels, a Multi-Screen (9 windows)
satisfy the customer demand the company must produce Analysis [19] can be used to identify contradictions based
batches of shoes of different designs and colours and on a historic analysis of a business system (or a business
distribute them across numerous retailers. The question model) evolution, or modelling with OTSM Problem
is, how many shoes of the same colour and design to Networks [7].
produce? The behaviour of a consumer market is not
easily predictable, and the probability that a large volume Once blocking contradictions have been identified, they
of shoes will remain unsold is quite high. Thus on the one can be mapped to relevant building block of a business
hand, to increase sales and satisfy the customer demand model (Fig. 3). In order to solve the identified
we should produce a large volume of diverse shoes which contradictions, we can use a special version of
will be distributed to many regions, on the other hand we Contradiction Matrix and 40 Inventive Principles
should not produce a large volume to avoid the risk of developed for business and management applications
oversupply. This is a typical example of a contradiction. [18] or 7 generic principles of conflicts elimination [19]. In
Ideally, the company should know exactly in advance how more complex cases, the adapted version of Inventive
many shoes of specific design and colour in a particular Standards and the Trends of Business Systems Evolution
region will be sold. Is it possible? [19] can be used.
Nike has resolved this contradiction by introducing online
service called Nike ID (nikeid.nike.com). When visiting the
website, consumers can select preferred designs and
colours for their shoes and place an order. The shoes will
be manufactured exactly as configured by the consumer
and shipped to his home address. Such a business model
makes it possible to exactly balance supply and demand
avoiding overproduction.
However, Nike was not the first company which used the
idea: on a mass scale, this business model was pioneered
by Dell Computers which, instead of a classical business
model, started to collect orders for PCs and laptops
configured by customers through its corporate website,
and only then Dell assembled and delivered the final
customized products. Nike reused this business model by
adapting it to its own industry and market segment.
Another company which used the same principle in their
business model was an online publisher Lulu.com: instead
of printing a fixed large volume of books, the company
prints a book only after it has been ordered. However in
the case of Lulu.com a customer can not customize the
appearance of the book, the business model used merely
equalizes supply and demand.
It is well known in TRIZ that the most effective way to
resolve contradictions is to use the available resources of
time, space, material, energy, structure, supersystem, and
so forth. In many cases, resources are available, and they
have always been used by innovators for resolving
contradictions, otherwise evolution of artificial systems
would come to a halt. However, a vast majority of problem
solvers find it rather difficult to eliminate contradictions Figure 3: Mapping contradictions revealed with RCA+ to
which requires the out-of-the-box thinking, and therefore relevant building blocks of a business model.
they prefer compromises and trade-offs rather than
focusing on resolving the contradictions and moving a
system to a new level of evolution. Our experience with projects in the area of business
Recognizing and resolving contradictions is not easy due systems innovation and problem solving shows that while
to our psychological inertia. Often resources to solve the the underlying mechanisms of solving business and
contradiction are right in front of us, but due to our fixed technical problems are similar, in the business world there
mindset and strong mental associations we do not notice is a broader spectrum of opportunities to use supersystem
them. resources. For instance, in the Nike ID case consumers
are a great resource which is available for free.
Supersystem resources were similarly used by music
 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

group Placebo which placed their new song online and 4 PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
asked fans to record and send videos for this song. About
4.1 Innovating Existing Business Models: Processes
300 video clips were submitted, which allowed the group
to compose a new music video with quite reduced video A process of innovative improvement of the existing
production costs. business model might begin with two starting points:
Resource-based and contradiction-oriented types of 1. We have a specific problem and we want to
thinking are both parts of what we call "innovative solve it. For instance, a problem can be a drop
leadership mindset" [20]. Very often business managers of sales, emergence of a new powerful
"lock their minds" by focusing on a search for money to competitor, growing customer complaints,
implement new functions or expand their businesses while growing costs, change of business environment,
money is only intermediary means, and in many cases the and so forth. In this case the process is as
desired results can be achieved without directly involving schematically shown in Fig. 4. It starts with
financial resources at all. RCA+ to identify underlying and blocking
Truly innovative business leaders and entrepreneurs are contradictions. The contradictions to be solved
not afraid of dealing with contradictions. Instead, they are are mapped to the corresponding building blocks
looking for resources which might provide most effective of our business model, and we formulate
solutions for contradictions elimination with the highest problems with respect to these blocks. The rest
degree of Ideality. We strongly believe that developing of the process is similar to the standard TRIZ
thinking skills which enable managers to recognize and process of problem solving and idea generation.
resolve contradictions should be a part of management Note that in the case of specific problem solving,
education, especially for starting entrepreneurs who set to maintain a higher degree of Ideality of
up and run their businesses within very restricted financial solutions we look for solutions within the specific
resources. building block where the problem arises.

3.3 Trends of Business Systems Evolution

Since the last decade, a special part of TRIZ has been Analysis of a situation. Defining needs,
studying evolution of artificial systems, in particular, demands and expectations of business
business systems [5], [18], [19]. Knowledge of owners/executives. Defining a project
mechanisms of evolution and generic business trends is
plan and selecting tools, defining a project
indispensable to understand what drives evolution of
systems and to make accurate predictions of future team.
systems evolution.
A number of trends of business evolution are more
generic than the others and can be applied to every Defining an existing business model.
building block of a business model (e.g. the Trend of
Increasing the Degree of Dynamics), while some other
Modelling functional value chain. Defining
trends address more specific building blocks (e.g. the and describing a specific problem(s) to
trend of "Customer Purchase Focus Evolution" mainly solve, constraints, and a desired output.
addresses the building blocks of Value Proposition and
Revenue Streams).
The size of this paper does not allow us to discuss the
trends of business systems evolution in detail, so it would Applying RCA+ to define contradictions.
suffice it to say that the patterns and lines of evolution can Mapping contradictions to the business
be successfully applied to developing business models as model. Selecting most "ideal"
follows from our practical experience. contradiction to solve.
3.4 Building Block Patterns
Each building block in a business model has its own
content which depends on the type of business, products,
services and so on. At the same time, each building block Solving contradictions with TRIZ tools:
can include generic patterns which can be reused across - Contradiction Matrix and 40 Principles
different business domains. For instance, in [15] the - 7 generic principles for conflict
following patterns are identified for the "customer separation
relationship" building block:
- Inventive Standards for Business and
- Personal assistance
Management
- Dedicated personal assistance
- Self-service
- Automated service
- Communities Ideas generation, evaluation, filtering and
- Co-creation scoring.
Each of these patterns can be seen as analogy of
physical principles in technical TRIZ, while "customer Figure 4: A sample process of Business
relationship" is an integrated type of function. Therefore Model Innovation based on problem solving
when designing a new business model or innovatively
improving the existing one, one can choose the most
appropriate pattern or a number of patterns from the 2. We do not have any specific problem but we
patterns database. Building such a database in the field of would like to scan opportunities to evolve our
business innovation is a direction of further research. business. In this case we first perform a
 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

functional analysis of a value creation chain One of the limiting factors was that the company did not
within our business model and identify "sore perform sales itself: instead it outsourced sales to the third
points" which can be improved. These sore party. However, convincing a potential customer to invest
points are mapped to the corresponding building in the machine is a time consuming process: some
blocks of the business model. To evolve these complex calculations of short- and long-term benefits and
"sore points" we use the system of the Trends of effects must be made, and in each case the process of
Business Systems Evolution (Figure 5). calculations can be different depending on specific
customer demands, conditions, and constraints. However
as was found, the third-party company responsible for
sales did not find it very attractive to involve many
Analysis of a situation. Defining needs, resources (sales consultants who advise potential
demands and expectations of business customers) to personally deal with each potential
owners/executives. Defining a project customer, while the main company-manufacturer did not
intend to invest in hiring additional sales force.
plan and selecting tools, defining a project
team. In this problem, we have a typical business contradiction:
"The number of sales consultants (either at the sales
company or the manufacturing company) should be
large so that each potential customer can get the needed
Defining an existing business model. customized information personally and without delay, and
Modelling functional value chain. the number of sales consultants should be small to avoid
increasing personnel costs".
Performing Multi-Screen Analysis of
Value-Conflict Mapping to identify This contradiction can be mapped to the business model
building blocks "Channels" and "Key Resources". It
components of a business model for means that ideally, the contradiction should be resolved
further evolution. within these building blocks only and not further. It is
important to note that when defining where the problem
should be solved we always use the "Mini-Problem"
Applying TRIZ Trends of Evolution to those principle of TRIZ. The application of this principle aims at
introducing as little changes of already existing
components of a business model which components in a system as possible while achieving
have a priority to evolve. 100% of the desired result. Indeed, if a solution can not be
found with such constraints we might later expand the
search area.
Ideas generation, evaluation, filtering and If we formulate Ideal Final Result with respect to this
scoring. Building the ideas landscape. contradiction, we obtain the following formulation:
"The Channel must instantly provide full and customized
information to a customer in each specific customer's
Figure 5: A sample process of Business case without any involvement of sales force."
Model Innovation using the TRIZ Trends of As a result of further idea generation with Inventive
Business Systems Evolution Principles and Inventive Standards adapted to business
and management, one of the solutions in the portfolio of
proposed ideas was to build a fully automated web-based
Another type of cases occurs if we have an idea of a new application. Its functionality will allow potential customers
value proposition and would like to design a totally new to enter their specific data online and explore the short-
business model for it. In this case we first should have a term and long-term results from the use of the machines
look at already existing business models in other areas of manufactured by the company as well as to study various
business. As shown in [15] and as we demonstrated in scenarios of using the machine before making a final
Section 3.4, the existing specific building blocks and decision.
patterns can be reused to design unique business models
We should note that although we formulated other
for a desired value proposition.
contradictions and found more ideas to reach the same
Nevertheless, it is always important to keep in mind the goal as defined above, this particular idea was found most
following rule [13]: "Pursuing a new business model that's promising taking to account future plans of business
not a new or a game-changer in your industry or market is development strategy defined by the company.
a waste of time and money".
4.2 Case 5 SUMMARY
A case presented below is based on the scenario Developing a competitive business model is essential for
depicted in Fig. 4: innovating a business process based any business organization since the model defines the
on problem solving. company strategy and future on the market. However in
the modern times of accelerated innovation business
During a TRIZ consulting project on business
improvement at a company producing large industrial models might not remain static: ever changing business
machines for materials processing, one of the key environment requires continuous innovation of both
problems was formulated as "too narrow market segment technology and the ways of doing business. The
currently occupied by the company". A detailed study of traditional way of innovation which relies on random
the problem situation and RCA+ analysis revealed a methods of idea generation does not seem fitting the
number of factors and more than a dozen of inter-related picture any longer. Instead, new systematic and
structured methods supporting continuous process of new
contradictions which blocked the desired further growth of
business ideas generation are emerging.
the market segment.
 To be presented at the Global ETRIA Conference "TRIZ Future 2010" in Bergamo, Italy, November 3-5, 2010.

In the paper, we presented key points of our vision of a [11] Gomila, J. "Prospecting New Business Models with
platform for supporting systematic and continuous TRIZ", in Proceedings of TRIZCON-2009, March 16-
business model innovation by combining two approaches: 18, California, USA, 2009
Business Models Building Blocks and TRIZ. Such a [12] Chesbrough, H. "Business model innovation: it's not
combination helps to: just about technology anymore." Strategy &
• represent business models in terms of building Leadership 35(6), 2007
blocks and describe business models clearly and [13] Chesbrough H. & Rosenbloom R., "The Role of the
in a structured way without overloading it with Business Model in Capturing Value from Innovation:
numerous details; Evidence from Xerox Corporation’s Technology
• systematically assess and analyse business Spinoff Companies", Industrial and Corporate
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• locate and define problems, contradictions and [14] Johnson M., Christensen C. & Kagermann H.,
areas with high evolution potential; "Reinventing Your Business Model", in Harvard
Business Review, December 2008.
•apply the TRIZ tools for business and
management problem solving and ideas [15] Osterwalder A. & Pigneur Y., "Business Model
generation to innovatively modify existing Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game
business models or to design new, innovative Changers, and Challengers", Wiley, 2010.
business models for a specific market or [16] Souchkov V., "Breakthrough Thinking with TRIZ for
industry. Business and Management", White Paper, ICG T&C,
The availability of a large collection of knowledge created 2007, www.xtriz.com
during classical (technology-oriented) TRIZ research [17] Souchkov V, R. Hoeboer & M. van Zutphen,
considerably simplifies the task of exploring adaptation of "Application of Root-Conflict Analysis (RCA+) to
TRIZ to the area of business model innovation. Solve Business Problems", The TRIZ Journal,
Nevertheless, further research and practical cases are February 2007, www.triz-journal.com
required to further develop and test the proposed [18] Mann D., "Hands-on Systematic Innovation for
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Techniques and References: A Course Book for
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Sergei Business and Management". ICG T&C, 2009
Kruglik of University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris and
[20] Souchkov V., "Power Thinking Skills for Innovative
Kseniya Podoynitsyna of Technical University of
Leadership", White Paper, ICG T&C, 2009.
Eindhoven for their useful comments during my work on
www.xtriz.com
this paper.

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