Modularity-Based Business Model Innovations: The Case Studies Of PC Industry

"Business Model" , which spread widely in 1990's, is a venture capital phrase used by the venture capitalists to generalize the startups' profit-making logic. Having reviewed its appearance occasions and motives used in the academic literatures, we could conclude that "Business Model" is not an expert phrase of venture capital and startups nevertheless. Whichever organizations( such as business enterprise, the non-profit organization...etc.) all have their own business models. The business model of a business enterprise is for the sake of earnings, but it can't be stated only with a simple words. Few domestic and international scholars have researched "Business Model" as a specialized academic object. There are many tasks to be contributed, which includes the meaning and extension, premise assumption, system info and contents, research and analysis methodologies, differentiations from the current management theories. The empirical topics, such as the relationships between a business performance and its business model, the quality of a business mode, relationships among industry factors, technology innovation and business model, are still not researched. Therefore, based on the present domestic and international research condition concerning "business model", this dissertation investigates further some contents of the theory of business model, founds the routes and tools to set up the business model, carries on case studies to the PC businesses' business model innovations and evolutions, and proves the existence and robustness of the theory of the business model innovations.Based on the theory framework and value analysis system put forward by Junyi Weng in 2003, this dissertation, by the ways of modularity analysis methodology, mainly studies the value analyses of the core interfaces of the business model, the designs and evolutions of the business model innovations.This dissertation includes six chapters:Introduction reviews the research of the domestic and international history andpresent conditions of business model, which defines the meaning and extension of business model. Then it defines the business model as an integrated solution for the firm's activities. In addition, the introduction makes a brief presentation to the dissertation's research object, methodology, structure and innovations.Chapter 1 carries on the value analyses to the business model's core interfaces, making use of the value analysis method taking customers as the center and the business as center. It sets up the value analysis matrix of the business model, as a tool which can be adopted by the enterprise to analyze and evaluate the conditions of self's and other enterprises' business models. Chapter 1 sets up the activities analyses basis of the design matrix and modularity of the business model in Chapter 2.Chapter 2 argues that the business model be a complex system and be separated by modularity. Then it introduces an origins, concept and researches of modularity. It analyzes the business model's complicated contacts in and between core interfaces, turns these contacts into parameters, sets up the business model's design parameters matrix, and defines the design rules of the business model. Finally, this chapter explains the business model innovations and evolution paths with six kinds of modular operations.Chapter 3, 4 and 5 make case studies to the business model innovations and evolutions of the main corporations in PC industry, such as Intel, Microsoft and Dell. It concludes that exactly their specific business models created the inimitable competitive advantages to competitors.Chapter 6 ends this dissertation in simple depictions of the results, innovations, lacks of this dissertation and of research prospects of the theory of business model.