Second lecture in series on e-business for students at HSE, Moscow

1. Higher School of Economics , Moscow 2011 www.hse.ru Ian Miles Research Laboratory for the Economics of Innovation, HSE (and Manchester Institute of Innovation Research) June 2011 e - Business and e - Business Models – Part 2 [ « Business and business models in the Internet »]

4. lastminute.com “ Simple idea”, readily communicated through the name: enable people to organise travel when they are ready to travel, not to commit themselves long time in advance. Cheap travel, bargains, rather than premium travel. With various additional “community” features. Suppliers – hotels, airlines, theatres – often want to unload unsold tickets

6. A Brief History of lastminute.com “ We decided not to be greedy about equity but to recruit a highly talented and experienced management team by selling them a dream - a stake in lastminute.com.” and “You try to attract the best person for the job, usually far too qualified for the stage that the company is at, but you hope it will grow to accommodate them. If as founders you think you can do better than everyone else, you are in big trouble, because you never can” Founded 1998 by Brent Hoberman (30), Martha Lane Fox (26). They had been working for media/ telecomms strategy consultancy, Spectrum Strategy (now part of Value Partners - http://www.valuepartners.com/en/ ) - they were working on new business plans, internet strategy (including reports for BT). Pitched the idea and raised >1/2 million UK £ venture capital. Recruited very strong, experienced management team: Paul Burns (case study at http://www.palgrave.com/uploadedFiles/Lastminute.pdf ) quotes MLF as saying:

7. History of lastminute.com 2 – foundation to flotation From Wikipedia Like other dot coms, substantial marketing push. Became highly recognised brand in UK. Attracted many users (1/2 million by Jan. 2000) Raised UK £ > 30 million additional investment from travel and entertainment firms, among others Expanded into several European countries Handled UK £ > 30 million of transactions over 1999, with income around 1% of this. Floated in Stock Exchange at peak of internet bubble; company valued at £ > 1/2 billion; great excitement and shares shot up in value about 25% Share prices were slipping even before the bubble really burst – traffic was growing but investments were outpacing this (e.g. new websites – by end of 2000 about 4/5 of share value was wiped out. In 2001 started shedding staff. Up until 2005, the company had not made a net profit (after taxes) since it floated five years earlier.

9. History of lastminute.com 4 BBC coverage in 2005: “ by the time the dot.com bubble had well and truly burst, Lastminute had already crossed the line from tech start-up to retailer - an altogether more solid sector.” Henk Potts of Barclays Stockbrokers told Sunday Express said it was unlikely the City would mourn its departure. Meanwhile Hilary Cook of Barclays Stockbrokers said it marked "the end of an era…" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4697239.stm "When it first floated it had the turnover of a couple of pubs but was valued at more than WH Smith. That showed how far market valuations got out of kilter." " Lastminute symbolised the dot.com boom and proved that not all dot.com businesses were rubbish - so many based their success on the number of hits they got," "It proved it had a business model that could make money, and make money for its investors - which in the end enabled it to sell itself for a decent sum of money."

14. Source: Liting Liang 2010 (DPhil thesis) – She studied low-cost airlines as examples of innovation in business models. We will return to this later Higher School of Economics, June 2011 Elements of a Business Model Organisational Vision

16. * This terminology from Steve Blank, who has good presentations at http:// www.steveblank.com Business Model is NOT a Business Plan Business Plan Business Model Written down on paper to convince investors: a SELLING job [though preparing this can be very instructive] May be partly written [e.g. For visualisation], but largely tacit and shared mental model to coordinate partners Formalised (one looks much like another): a set of guesses about opportunities and risks, with justifications where possible. Appraisal of how different “building blocks” can be aligned, under what circumstances.* Justifies action by providing an account of how business and its markets should evolve. Prompts analysis of where actions are required to fulfil (or modify) ambitions. Does it sell the firm to investors? Does it guide action effectively, and can it be revised when needed?

20. What benefits are we delivering? How are they made available to our consumers/clients? How are we creating them? Who is helping us create them? What are the resources and capabilities we need to do these things? How are we balancing the books and making a profit? A series of points where we need to take action, to monitor developments, to appraise competitors, customers, partners…                Business Plan is NOT a Business Model Business Plan Business Model Written down on paper to convince investors: a SELLING job [though preparing this can be very instructive] May be partly written [e.g. For visualisation], but largely tacit and shared mental model to coordinate partners Formalised (one looks much like another): a set of guesses about opportunities and risks, with justifications where possible. Appraisal of how different “building blocks” can be aligned, under what circumstances.* Justifies action by providing an account of how business and its markets should evolve. Prompts analysis of where actions are required to fulfil (or modify) ambitions. Does it sell the firm to investors? Does it guide action effectively, and can it be revised when needed?

21. This is one view of the key elements from Liting Liang 2011 (DPhil thesis) – She studied low-cost airlines as examples of innovation in business models. “ Building blocks” need to be aligned, though tension can be creative Higher School of Economics, June 2011 Elements of a Business Model Organisational Vision

28. This is one view of the key elements from Liting Liang 2011 (DPhil thesis) – She studied low-cost airlines as examples of innovation in business models. “ Building blocks” need to be aligned, though tension can be creative Higher School of Economics, June 2011 Elements of a Business Model Organisational Vision

29. Organisational Vision Definition : Strategic intent - what the desired future of the firm will be, what opportunities are to be seized (the business model should flow from this). Example : To be the leading source of news/gossip/reviews... Innovation : To be the leading online portal for news/gossip/reviews... A new vision of what the rules of the game could be. Note that this definition is from the supplier side, and do NOT pay enough attention to customer resources, co-creation of value and the like. Higher School of Economics, June 2011 Elements of a Business Model Organisational Vision

31. Two eBays

35. 20, Myasnitskaya str., Moscow, Russia, 101000 Tel.: +7 (495) 621-2873 , Fax: +7 (495) 625-0367 www.hse.ru Higher School of Economics, June 2011