DDBA 8161 Week 4 Business Model Map Example

Course	DDBA 8161 Business Strategy and Innovation for Competitive Advantage
Week	Week 4
Paper type	Business model map
Length	About 770 words, 5 pages
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Walden University
Program	Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for DDBA 8161 Week 4

Two Places Money Comes In and One Loop That Keeps It Coming: A Business Model Map for a Hotel Linen Service, Tracing the Route-Density Cycle a National Rival Would Have to Rebuild After Matching the Price

Student Name

Walden University

DDBA 8161: Business Strategy and Innovation for Competitive Advantage

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title names the map's three findings, the two revenue points, the reinforcing loop and what a rival must rebuild.

The Firm

Harbor Linen, a composite commercial laundry in the Charleston, South Carolina, area, washes, dries, folds and delivers sheets, towels and table linen for 61 hotels and 22 restaurants within the metro area. It processes about 140,000 pounds of linen a week in one plant and runs nine delivery trucks. A national linen company has opened a plant 40 miles away and is offering Charleston hotels prices about 8 percent below Harbor's. Harbor's owners want to know what they would lose if they matched the price and what the rival would still have to build.

What this page is doingThe commentary opens with the firm in one paragraph so the map's choices can be read against its actual operations.

The Map

Casadesus-Masanell and Ricart (2010) proposed describing a business model as a set of choices managers make and the consequences that follow from them, some of which feed back into the choices. The map below records Harbor's main choices and their consequences, with the loop that matters most marked.

Table 1

Choices, Consequences and Links

Choice	Consequence	Feeds into \|
Price hotel linen by the pound processed	Revenue point 1: per-pound fees, about 78 percent of revenue	Hotels can compare prices easily \|
Own the linen and rent it to smaller hotels	Revenue point 2: rental and replacement charges, about 22 percent	Customers less likely to switch, since switching means buying linen \|
Serve only accounts within the metro area	Dense routes: about 6.8 stops per route hour	Lower delivery cost per pound \|
Deliver daily with a fixed window	Hotels hold less linen on hand	Hotels value reliability; Harbor holds more linen stock \|
Run one large plant at two shifts	High machine use	Low processing cost per pound \|
Lower delivery cost per pound	Room to price below out-of-area rivals	More hotels sign on, raising density further (the loop) \|

Revenue shares from the most recent year; route figures from dispatch records. Composite case.

Where Money Enters

Money enters in only two places. Per-pound processing fees from hotels bring in most of the revenue. Rental and replacement charges bring in the rest, from smaller hotels and restaurants that prefer not to own their linen. Everything else on the map is cost or the means of keeping these two flows. Zott and Amit (2010) describe business models as systems of interdependent activities that determine how a firm creates and captures value; at Harbor, capturing value depends almost entirely on serving many accounts cheaply.

What this page is doingThe map circles the two revenue points first, because the business model can only be judged by how it earns.

The Loop

The argument rests on one loop. Serving only the metro area and pricing by the pound brings in many hotels close together. More hotels per route mile lower the cost of delivering each pound. Lower costs let Harbor price competitively against laundries farther away. Competitive prices bring in more hotels, which raises density again. Over twelve years, that loop has carried Harbor to 6.8 stops per route hour, where a new entrant with a handful of accounts would make one or two.

What a Rival Would Have to Rebuild

The national rival can match Harbor's price immediately. It cannot match Harbor's cost per pound immediately, because its Charleston routes start sparse. Each truck would make few stops and drive far between them, and the plant 40 miles away adds an hour each way. To reach Harbor's cost, the rival would have to win hotels one by one until its routes were as dense, which means rebuilding the loop route by route. While it does that, it either loses money at matched prices or charges more.

The Rental Line

The rental line strengthens the position. Hotels renting Harbor's linen would have to buy their own, or rent from the rival, to switch. That raises the cost of switching for about a third of Harbor's accounts. Teece (2010) argues that a business model must make value capture hard for others to replicate; the rental arrangement does that for the smaller accounts.

What the Map Implies

If Harbor matches the rival's price, it gives up about 8 percent of revenue on hotel accounts but keeps its density, and the loop keeps its cost per pound below the rival's. If it does not match, it risks losing hotels, which weakens the loop. The map suggests matching selectively: on the large hotels at the center of the densest routes, where losing an account would hurt density most.

Limits

The map shows the structure of Harbor's advantage but not its size in dollars. Whether the rival can sustain losses long enough to build density depends on its finances, which the map cannot see.

References

Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. E. (2010). From strategy to business models and onto tactics. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 195-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2010.01.004

Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 172-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.003

Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2010). Business model design: An activity system perspective. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 216-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.004

The Walden DDBA 8161 Week 4 instructions

This week asks you to map one firm's business model as choices and consequences. Identify the choices managers made about pricing, customers, operations and assets, and the consequences each produces. Show links between them, and look for loops in which consequences feed back into choices. Mark the points where money enters the business. In a commentary, explain the revenue points, the loop that carries the model and what a rival would have to rebuild to match it, especially after matching the firm's price. Draw implications for a current decision the firm faces. Use the choices-and-consequences approach and related work on business models. A one-page map or table with a two-page commentary is the usual form.

How this DDBA 8161 Week 4 example is built

The commentary opens with Harbor Linen's size, plant, trucks and the new rival's lower prices. The map, set out as a table, lists six choices and consequences, from pricing by the pound and renting linen to smaller hotels, to serving only the metro area and running one plant on two shifts. A section circles the two revenue points, about 78 and 22 percent of revenue, with Zott and Amit on activity systems. The loop section traces twelve years of density building, comparing Harbor's 6.8 stops per route hour with a newcomer's one or two. A section explains why the rival can match price at once but not cost per pound, and another uses Teece to show how linen rental raises switching costs. The map recommends selective price matching.

DDBA 8161 Week 4 rubric: what earns full marks

Credit begins with the map's honesty about where money enters; a map that does not identify revenue points cannot show how value is captured. Choices and consequences should be distinct, with links that make sense. The loop carries the heaviest weight, because it is the mechanism of advantage, and a commentary that explains it with figures earns most. Instructors look for the step from map to rival: what a competitor would have to rebuild, and why matching price does not match the model. Using business model literature to frame, rather than decorate, the analysis shows command of the topic. A recommendation tied to the map, such as defending the densest routes, completes the paper.

DDBA 8161 Week 4 help: mistakes that cost marks

Students often draw business model maps that list everything the firm does. Start instead with where money enters, then work backward to the choices that bring it in. Separate choices, things managers decided, from consequences, things that follow. Look for a feedback loop; if there is none, the model may have no self-reinforcing advantage. Ask what a rival could match tomorrow and what would take years. Put numbers on the map where you can, such as revenue shares or route density. Tie the map to a decision the firm faces. Sketching loops takes practice; a tutor can turn your notes into a first map with you.

Get a DDBA 8161 Week 4 example written to your instructions

Forward the Week 4 prompt and rubric, with the firm whose model you are mapping and any required diagram format, and a one-page map with its commentary is ready within 24-48h; a first request costs nothing. If your section specifies a canvas, the loop is layered onto it.

More DDBA 8161 papers and DBA samples

DDBA 8161 Week 4 questions, answered

Where can I find a free DDBA 8161 Week 4 sample paper?

The business model map and its commentary are shown in full lower on this page, open to read without paying.

What firm does the DDBA 8161 Week 4 map describe?

A Charleston commercial laundry serving hotels and restaurants, facing a national rival with prices 8 percent lower.

Where does money enter the business?

Through per-pound processing fees, about 78 percent of revenue, and linen rental and replacement charges, about 22 percent.

What loop carries the business model?

Metro-only service builds dense routes, which lower delivery cost per pound, which supports prices that attract more hotels.

What would the rival have to rebuild?

Route density, hotel by hotel, since its sparse Charleston routes cost more per pound even at a matched price.