ES335 - Organization & Administration of Health & Wellness Ventures: Business Model Canvas

• Business Model Canvas
• Researching Business Concepts
• Researching Customers
• Researching Costs & Investments
• Researching Startups
• Researching Value Propositions

The Business Model Canvas breaks the business model into 9 key elements: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners, and cost structure.

Below are a few links and a few books on BMC.

Staley Library has several databases that can help you to find examples of businesses that may be similar to your concept.

• Business Source Premier has articles from scholarly journals, trade journals, and popular sources like Bloomberg Businessweek and Fortune. Trade journals or popular sources will have articles that describe new ventures or successful aspects of existing businesses. Try searching for your industry or business concept to find articles. If your concept is very specific, you may need to search for a broader or related business concept to find sources.
• Small Business Source has a collection of books and articles, often with a local focus. Try searching for your industry or business concept to find articles. If your concept is very specific, you may need to search for a broader or related business concept to find sources.
• NewsBank has articles from newspapers across the country. This is a very large database, so be as specific as you can to find news stories about businesses that are similar to your concept.

Understanding your customers means knowing how many there are, where they are located, and important information like their age, income, education level, etc.

Mergent Intellect has information on your customers. In the dashboard (the collection of icons below the search bar), the Demographics section has data from the U.S. Census Bureau and PRIZM Household Distributions. PRIZM is a customer segmentation tool from Claritas. Looking at the segments can help you identify possible groups or types of customers. You can also use the Consumer Data section to build up searches to find the number of people with certain characteristics in a given geography, e.g., the number of people in Macon county who are interested in physical fitness and earn over $75k per year.

Census Bureau Data is a way to directly access U.S. Census Bureau data on Americans. Search by a geography, e.g., Macon county, Illinois, or a topic, e.g., age or income, to find Census Bureau tables with data on the topic.

Mergent Intellect dashboard

Mergent Intellect demographic reports

Census Bureau data for Macon County, Illinois

Three possible ways to find cost and investment information for your industry using Staley Library resources are #1 industry reports, #2 company information, and #3 business plans for similar companies.

1. Industry Reports: You can find industry reports using Mergent Intellect. How to do so is explained on the Business Research tab. You can also use Small Business Source to find industry reports. Search for your industry plus the word "industry," e.g., "supplements industry."
2. Company Information: Use Mergent Intellect to find information about companies similar to yours. How to do so is explained on the Business Research tab. Use Business Source Premier to find MarketLine Company Profiles. Search for your industry plus the word "industry," e.g., "supplements industry" or search by a company name.
3. Business Plans: The Business Plans Handbook series is full of business plans from real companies. Explore those plans to find the financial information for a similar venture.

Staley Library has two databases that can help you find information about startups.

• Business Source Premier has articles from scholarly journals, trade journals, and popular sources like Bloomberg Businessweek and Fortune. Try searching for your industry plus "startup" or search for "startup AND challenges" or "startup AND success" or a specific challenge or success.
• Small Business Source has a collection of books and article (plus some industry reports) on small businesses and startups, often with a local focus. Try searching for your industry plus "Illinois" or some other geography.

Your value proposition is the benefits that your venture provides to customers. It is the reason why they choose your products or services. Understanding your customers and your competitors will help you to define your value proposition. 

Use the Researching Customers or the Researching Business Concepts techniques described on this page to develop your value proposition. You may also find books on the topics helpful. Try searching for topics like:

• business value
• strategic planning
• success in business
• business planning
• customer relations
• entrepreneurship

Here are a few books that may be helpful: