ABSTRACT
Managers can turn to conceptual frameworks that use proven management ideas to make predictions about the profitability potential of a business model without the benefit of numbers. One such framework is the VARIM (value, adaptability, rareness, inimitability, and monetization). More importantly, the framework incorporates the role of competition and change in shaping a business model’s profitability. Thus, the VARIM differs from other business model frameworks such as the business model builder (BMB), the Business Model Canvas and other component-based frameworks in that it explicitly incorporates the role of competition and change. The quality of the activities of a firm’s business model can signal the type of customer benefits that can be expected from the business model. In an age of globalization and rapid technological change, customers’ needs can change, a firm can discover foreign customers that it wants to serve, and technological innovation can usher superior methods for offering superior benefits to customers.
