Modello di business, patrimonio strategico e creazione di valore

What is a business model and what is it for? How can it be employed as a management tool? These are the main questions the article strives to answer to, proposing to define the concept and to operationalize it in a way both rigorous from a theoretical point of view and easy enough to be understood and practically implemented. In this perspective, the article tries to bring order in the massive but somewhat confusing literature accumulated on the subject. The underlying thesis is that the concept of business model, if appropriately defined, can be an extraordinarily powerful key to give discipline and consciousness to the company strategic reasoning. In particular, the model is designed around the goal of creating economic value and is structured through four interconnected layers: the customer value proposition, the economic model (or type of competitive advantage), the competences portfolio and the strategic equity.