BUSN3002 Chap.7 Business Models and Customer Journeys
Business Models and Customer Journeys
Business Models and Customer Journeys reads the Business Model Canvas as a connected system rather than nine independent boxes. Customer segments, value propositions, channels and relationships connect to activities, resources, partners, costs and revenue. Journey mapping follows stakeholder jobs, pains, gains and touchpoints across trigger, search, decision and use.
The chapter shows how a segment change affects delivery and sustainability, then stress-tests desirability, feasibility, viability and scale before a model is treated as repeatable.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Business Model Canvas
- 02
Customer segments
- 03
Value propositions
- 04
Customer journeys
- 05
Operating choices
- 06
Scalability
Worked example · free
Trace a segment change through the canvas
- 1Identify the changed customer job or constraint.
- 1Revise the value proposition and relationship model.
- 1Trace the effect on activities, resources and channels.
- 1State the cost, revenue or sustainability implication to test.
Key terms
- Customer segment
- A customer segment is a group sharing a relevant job, behaviour, need or constraint.
- Customer journey
- A customer journey maps stages, actions, touchpoints, friction and outcomes across an experience.
- Feasibility
- Feasibility concerns whether the organisation has or can access the capabilities needed to deliver a response.
- Scalability
- Scalability concerns how activities, resources and costs behave as use or demand grows.
Business Models and Customer Journeys FAQ
How should the Business Model Canvas be analysed?
Start with the customer job and value proposition, then trace how channels, relationships, activities, resources and partners deliver that value. Connect costs and revenue or funding to the same logic. Mark the links that depend on weak evidence so the canvas creates a testing agenda.
What does a customer journey add?
A journey shows how value and friction change across time and touchpoints. It can reveal that information before a decision or support after use matters as much as the core offering. Ground the map in evidence and keep distinct segments separate when their behaviour changes the model.
How can a model be stress-tested?
Test desirability, feasibility and viability separately, then ask which activity or resource becomes a bottleneck as demand grows. Technology may enable reuse but also introduce support, privacy or maintenance burdens. State the trade-off and design a small test for the riskiest connection.
When should customer segments be separated?
Separate segments when their jobs, behaviours, constraints, channels or willingness to exchange value materially change the model. Demographic difference alone may not matter, while a different decision process may matter greatly. Keep the evidence and avoid averaging incompatible journeys into a fictional typical customer.
How should weak links in a canvas be handled?
Mark the connection as an assumption and state what would fail if it were wrong. Identify a small test tied to the decision, an evidence owner and a review point. A complete-looking canvas is not evidence; visible uncertainty makes the model a more useful learning agenda.
What changes when a business model scales?
Greater demand can alter support, quality control, partner dependence, privacy, maintenance and cost rather than merely repeating the original activity. Test where capacity becomes constrained and whether the value experience changes. A scalable model explains the added operating work and trade-offs instead of assuming technology makes growth free.
Assessment move
Redraw the canvas from memory and add arrows between the blocks whose logic must agree. Change one customer segment and narrate the downstream effects on value, channel, activity, resource and cost. Map one journey and translate every feature into the stakeholder job, pain or gain it changes.
Use two colours to distinguish evidence from assumption, then place a risk marker on the connection whose failure would most damage the model. Trace one value proposition all the way through channel, relationship, key activity, resource, partner and cost; if a link cannot be explained, record the missing operating logic. Next, redraw the customer journey for a contrasting segment.
Compare trigger, information search, decision, use and follow-up, noting where the same touchpoint produces different friction. Stress-test the model at three demand levels and identify which activity or resource becomes the first bottleneck. Do not assume that digital delivery removes support, privacy, maintenance or onboarding work. Finish with a testing queue ordered by decision consequence and uncertainty.
For the highest item, write the assumption, suitable evidence, smallest ethical test and the decision you would make for positive, negative or mixed results.
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