By John Matthew Simon
An idea is only as great as its implementation.
In order to execute an idea, the entrepreneur(s) must have a stratagem that accounts for the infrastructure of the organization, value offered by the service and/or good solicited, who the target customer(s) is, what communication channels will be utilized, finances, and the expected revenue streams visa vie a business plan that is subsequently actualized into a business model.
What happens after this model is applied and when the market changes, as markets can and will do, especially in the creative sector where cultural trends send markets into frenzies each and every year?
Our cohort tackled such tough questions in the Business Models in Creative Enterprises course with Daniel Gruber, an assistant professor with the Medill and Kellogg schools.
Utilizing new social educational tools like YellowDig, described as “Slack for education”, we broached, analyzed, and assessed organizations in a wide swath of industries that pertain to our career interests. These discussions encouraged each of us to look across creative organizations to find out what business models worked, how they were flexible or agile, and what we will do when empowered to make very effectual decisions in the near future.
When not discussing the value proposition, strategy, communication channels, resources, and assortment of other pillars of business models, we were tasked with creatively presenting case studies to the rest of our peers. This was a favorite of the cohort, as it allowed us to teach our peers about the case studies, which included Beyoncé, Cirque du Soleil, and Media Rights Capital’s House of Cards.
In the end, this course gave us the knowledge and knowhow to discern an organization and markets viability from trenchant marketing, stock market wobbles, and the turbid immediacy of digital communications.