Clients with established, successful businesses always ask me whether I am reading anything current and of value to their business.  

Fortunately, a key aspect of my business day is to do the things business owners, entrepreneurs, managers and leaders do not have the time to do themselves.  One of those activities is reading on behalf of clients because they want to know what has been done successfully already rather than waste time, sometimes years, figuring it out themselves.  My clients also want to know how stay ahead of the competition rather than follow or trail behind.

I usually read peer reviewed research journal papers, books, and articles relevant to their business, business management, technology and innovation. Afterwards a summary of the key take-aways is provided together with the methods applied, new models and how it can be applied effectively and without disruption to my clients’ business if relevant.

So, here is my current reading list for the next few weeks in no specific order:

Research & Journal Papers
The role of innovation in building competitive advantages: An empirical investigation.
P. Chatzoglou, D. Chatzoudes, 2018.

Business model innovation mapping: A structured approach to a new business model.
A. Schaller, R. Vatananan-Thesenvitz, 2018.

Modelling value propositions in E-business.
A. Osterwalder, Y. Pigneur, 2003.

Sustainable competitive advantage or temporary competitive advantage: Improving understanding of an important strategy construct.
T. O’Shannassy, 2006.

Books - Leadership, strategy, personal development
The monk who sold his Ferrari.
R. Sharma, 2015. 

Business is personal
P. Power OBE, 2019.

Good strategy Bad strategy: the difference and why it matters.
R. Rumelt, 2017.
(Reading for the second time)

Strategy Safari
H. Mintzberg, B. Ashlstrand, J. Lampel, 1998.
(Reading for the second time)
 
Happy reading!

The quick answer is the business model(s) informs the business strategy.
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A business model is a scientific concept model turning the key elements in any business into a graphic model. Key elements present in any business are the target market, how you reach your target market, what value you are providing them unique to what’s on the market already (what problem you are solving), how the business will bring in revenue, the key activities of the business required to deliver the value, and the expenses. Combined, these elements drive strategic decision-making in the business. The decisions are turned into planned actions with expected outcomes and deadlines as a strategy. Business level strategies would be more focused on the delivery of the key elements of unique value, increasing reach and expansion of target segments.  
 
If you like, you can learn more about business and technology management here. 

If you are currently looking at adopting a popular business model, whether it be for a new business idea or innovating or updating an existing business, a strong strategy would be to familiarise yourself with today's popular business models. Then adopt one (if possible) that will be widely adopted over the next 5 years. That way you can get ahead of your competition. Here is some useful information and a resource to get you started:
Business models:
A strong, precise business model(s) can be a powerful tool for innovation, competitive advantage, decision-making, and culture development.  Business models (BM) can either be explicit, written/drawn out, or implicit, unspoken/ undocumented, yet no less powerful.  A business model can be a graphic, template, or text heavy document in the form of a business plan.  Often businesses have more than one business model (BM). For example, a business may have one BM for each of the following:
Innovation
Change
Technologies
Building and developing strategic partnerships
Acquisitions
There are over 50 types of BM’s that most businesses fall into (Gassmann et al, 2014). Some of the most common today are:
Freemium (18) - use some of the service for free, upgrade for additional functionality;
Subscription (48) - pay a monthly fee starting at an affordable price point with the option to increase or decrease over time;
E-commerce (13)- sell products/services online;
Performance based (38) - the client pays on results.
Resource:
St Gallens Business Model Navigator (Gassmann et al, 2014)

A strong, precise business model(s) can be a powerful tool especially during COVID and beyond.

Business models (BM) can either be explicit, written/drawn out, or implicit, unspoken/ undocumented, yet no less powerful.

Often businesses have more than one business model (BM). For example, a business may have a BM for innovation, change, technologies, building and developing strategic partnerships, acquisitions that focus on buying up established competitors with key skills/products/services that complement the business.

There are also over 50 types of BM’s that most businesses fall into (Gassmann et al, 2014). For example, freemium, subscription, flat rate, e-commerce, retainer.

Business model(s) (BM) are powerful tools to any size contemporary business if applied skillfully. Here are a few examples:

• BM’s can be used as a powerful graphic that represents the core of the business (often expressed in a business plan).
  
• Graphic representation of a BM is easy to communicate and easier for others to understand
• The more precise the BM, the more effectively the business can be managed
• A BM can be powerful for informing and driving all business decisions
• BM’s is powerful for supporting consistent decision-making in the business.
• A BM can be powerful for keeping staff, management, investors (stakeholders) focused on the core,    high priority elements of the business
• BM’s is a powerful tool for facilitating staff and management in working together as a unit towards a    common goal.
• When innovation/change is required in the business, like those experienced since COVID, BM’s are        powerful tools for easily identifying which aspects of the BM can be adapted to current business         environment without losing the solid core of the business or disrupting day to day activities.
• BM are powerful for driving the formulation and actions of a good, strong strategy.
• BM are powerful for reveal the competitive advantage of the business. Competitive advantage is changeable as the present becomes history. Knowing what can be adapted to retain or create further competitive advantage is the crux of a business succeeding.

So, a business model is a vital, powerful tool at any time for any size business at any stage of development. During COVID especially because a business needs to know what decisions can be made, within which boundaries, while retaining its core and lead over competitors so that they business continues to succeed during and beyond COVID.

Published on Quora.

A business plan, explicit or implicit, is the blueprint of your business. So it is different for each business. Below are some general questions to answer.

In my experience working with start-ups and existing businesses, I find the best place to start is to graphically represent the business as a business model. It is far easier for everyone to understand the business when viewed as a graphic, and to build on.
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I like to use an adapted version of Gassman, Frankenberger, and Csik (2014) “magic triangle” framework (below) as it provides a simple, easy to understand graphic of the information needed to create a business plan and model with the focus on the view from your customer’s perspective of the value you provide. 

Each corner of the triangle and the centre can be developed with more information as your research develops. The details can easily transfer into a business plan and an interesting pitch deck for those presentations to potential investors.

Simply fill in the four circles. Who is your target market, what value are you providing your target market, how will you provide it, at what cost, price, and mark-up (pricing model)?

Now build onto your initial answers for each circle providing much more detail as you progress. Detail comes from your knowledge of your business and experience. It also comes from thorough research and analysis. For example:

• Competitor analysis - who are your competitors; where are they located; what do they offer; how does your service/product differ and why; what plan do you have in place  when your competitors start offering the same as you do?
• STEEPLE analysis - Keeping your business and target market in mind, look at current and upcoming changes to the economy, technologies, legislation, the environmental impact, politics, ethics, and the impact it will have on your business achieving its goals, on your customers.
• SWOT analysis - from the above two analyses, what are your strengths and weaknesses as a business, what opportunities can you take advantage of and how will you manage the threats.
• Value proposition - what value are you providing your customers? How do you stand out above your competitors? Do your customers want what you offer? How do you know? What research have you done? How many orders do you have already?
• Income/Expense projected for the business - how much will it cost to set up and run the business each month; what equipment, staff, materials, will be required; what revenue are you expecting each month; what will your cashflow look like? Here I recommend asking an accountant to put this together for you if you have no training in this area.
• Technologies – what processes do you need; what technologies support the workflow that provide customers with a good experience working with you.
• Outsourcing- What aspects of the business will you need to outsource because you do not have the resources internally. An example, accountants, lawyers, technology experts, to name a few.
• Forcefield analysis – taking all this information, what aspects drive your business and support its success, and what aspects will work against your business.

 
These are some of the questions to answer. Once answered add the information you accumulate to the different triangle circles. Show you know your business, market, and finances.

Now you can easily transfer the information from the graphic into a old format business plan with headings such as described by SmartAsset Top 10 Components of a Business Plan - SmartAsset