St Gallen professor Günter Müller-Stewens postulated many years ago that competition is no longer about products, but about business models. In an era in which digitalisation, new technologies and artificial intelligence are transforming the business environment, this wisdom seems more relevant than ever. 

A business model describes the logical relationships between how a company generates benefits and value for its customers and itself. The detailed visualisation of this logic makes a business model visible, assessable and changeable.
In a changing world, it is necessary to take a critical look at the current business model. The challenge here is to questioning existing successfull positions and think outside the box. Important questions are:

- Is our current business model fit for the future?
- Can we continue to generate value with this business model in the future?
- Can we continue to score points against the competition with our business model?
- What opportunities are there to innovate our business model?

These questions were at the heart of our discussion today in the "IK Entrepreneurship - Management" course at the JKU. We discussed the possibilities of business model innovation with the managing directors of three successful companies: ewe Küchen Gesellschaft m.b.H., opens an external URL in a new window, Trodat, opens an external URL in a new window and Almi GmbH, opens an external URL in a new window. 

Many thanks for an exciting discussion to our students at the JKU - Institute for Strategic Management and to our guests Andreas Hirsch (ewe Küchen), Roland Rier (Trodat) and Karl Reingruber (Almi) for an exciting discussion.

For me, it was confirmed that it is not only challenging to think outside the box and generate new ideas. Rather, it is a matter of persuasion, creating business plans, taking risks and going to the trouble of starting something new.