SAP is working with a network of thought leaders to research business model innovation – what it is, the circumstances under which it can take place, and the role of IT in driving superior growth through business model innovation. Here is a selection of research sponsored by SAP on this important topic.

Business 2010 – A survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2005 with nearly 4,000 companies globally revealed that the ability to adapt swiftly to change is the greatest management challenge for creating long-term value over the coming years. The majority of respondents of which almost half were C-level executives believed that how their business is run will be the greater source of competitive advantage by 2010. For more information, read the white paper.

Business Models 2010: How CEOs can Transform Their Organizations – In their new book, Henning Kagermann and Professor Hübert Österle, Director of the Institute for Information Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen, discuss how the speed of execution on strategy is as important as the strategy itself in terms of gaining competitive advantage. Discover how growth will be driven increasingly by business model innovation. Why companies will focus on providing solutions for customers rather than products. And how these firms will develop from local, integrated companies into global networks of specialists.

View selected chapters (in German only).

Currently available in German only, the book can be ordered from these distributors:

• FAZ, February 2006
• Amazon.com

Strategy, Differentiation, and the New IT – In a 2005 white paper, Dr. Marco Iansiti, David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, discusses how, as part of a strategy of differentiation through innovative business models, many companies are building ecosystems of partners to deliver value to customers. The paper discusses the role of "differentiated IT" in this new model. Read the white paper.