Build your first "living business model"

Models are useful for two main purposes: 

... to solve a one-off challenge, like fixing poor service or fighting off a competitor 

... to set up a continuing plan for a business or department

To get an idea of the full opportunity, we show how to build a model to plan a whole business. This needs to be simple and familiar - a new restaurant. 

Our restaurant wants to sell meals and make profits, so: 

... it must win and retain customers (!) 

... offering a menu to attract them  

... and hiring enough staff to serve them (but not too many!) 

Follow our demonstrations to create a working model of how these items depend on each other to build a growing "machine" that drives sales and profits. (This is what spreadsheet models cannot do!)

The lessons in each class ...

  • 1

    Introduction and things you need to know

    • Welcome to the course

    • Tell us about you

    • Get the software ... !

    • [ Updates to the Sheetless software ]

    • How you will learn

    • Course structure

    • What IS a Dynamic Business Model? (optional)

    • Why are Dynamic Business Models so powerful? (optional)
  • 2

    Class 1: Grow restaurant sales and profits

    • Performance-over-time and simple calculations

    • Video 1a: (13 min) Starting the restaurant model

    • Video 1b (12 min) Calculating sales and profits for the restaurant start-up
  • 3

    Class 2: Customers drive sales - staff drive costs

    • The factors driving performance outcomes

    • Video 2a (16 min) How Customers drive restaurant sales growth and how staff drive service capacity and staff costs

    • Video 2b (13 min) Non-financial indicators, functions and look-up relationships
  • 4

    Class 3: Why customers are won and lost

    • How "Flows" make Stocks grow or decline

    • Video 3a (8 min) How Flows fill and drain Stocks.

    • Video 3b (6 min) Where flows come from and go to
  • 5

    Class 4: How customers, menu and staff work together to drive sales and profits

    • Interdependence, feedback and the core system

    • Video 4a (14 min) Interdependence and feedback

    • Video 4b (10 min) The Restaurant Strategic Architecture model
  • 6

    Course wrap-up

    • What we have done - and next steps

    • End-of-course survey (ignore any questions that are not relevant)

    • The Curriculum for the full course parts A and B

    • More resources from Strategy Dynamics