Business Model Design and Learning

Summary and Conclusions

This chapter has focused on the story of how two Harvard MBA ­students spotted an opportunity to create a new type of value for ­customers wanting to look beautiful at a special event. The team has built a business model that not only meets these needs, but also incorporates ­customers into their decision making and promotional processes. In ­addition, the RTR model has introduced a big change into the ­traditional retail ­clothing industry by teaching women to rent as opposed to buy ­certain types of clothing. This transformation is another threat to an industry that has already been under siege from a growing cadre of new online competitors.

In the next section, I talk about J.C. Penney, a grand old dame in the retail ...