Worksheet B – Examining Businesses
Directions: Answer the following questions by keying in your responses. DO NOT COPY
& PASTE. Then upload to the drop box folder.
1. The website The Business Model Analyst outlines what a business model is and its
importance. Identify how it defines a business model is.
Review the following web link (avoid the ads and click-bait).
Business Model - What is it and How it works (businessmodelanalyst.com)
A business model is a sustainable plan or proposal to identify the needs of activities involved
and delivering a product or service of value for monetary gain. The importance of one is to
identify the areas of supply and demand imbalance. While also a plan details out important
activities such as supply of raw materials, production/manufacturing and design.
Furthermore, sales marketing, management and accounts are important factors
complimenting the final product or service.
2. For each of the following businesses – briefly describe the business model – DO NOT COPY
& PASTE
Facebook - Meta - Home (fb.com)
Facebook’s Business model at the time of its inception was unique and pretty much uncharted
territory. The widespread use of the internet and the preferential shift to digital technology led
to the success of this current giant. This began with the “power to people” free to use platform
where they could share their views and opinions, connect to their friends and the outside world,
while also introducing Facebook ads which helped shore up the revenue of the company. Key
factors were ease of access, ever increasing users and a 3000% + increase in revenue since its
formation.
NetFlix - Netflix - Overview - Profile
Netflix began as a DVD rental by mail firm. As Facebook is utizilied the available digital
technology resources and was pretty much without any competitors at its advent which led to its
unchallenged monopoly for the first few years. Netflix targeted and addressed a few factors to
the entertainment industry which included copyright, torrents, linear TV experience where the
user has no choice over what he wants to watch but rather pre-set programs. The success of
their business model can be attributed to ease of access, wide plethora of multi cultural content
Worksheet B – Examining Businesses
available, much cheaper than pay per view or rentals, partnerships with major giants such as
Walt Disney, marvel ,etc and lastly promoting new and exclusive content.
Sobey’s - Home - Sobeys Corporate
Sobey’s is a chain of supermarkets also a subsidiary of the Canadian Empire company. Their
business model to enter the market has been primarily through acquisitions of smaller
discounted brands such as Safe Way’s, Freshco, Farmboy to name a few. While the company
holds various portfolio’s its focus is on grocery supermarkets. The model revolves targeting to
increase the market share and record more sales of the existing customers by diversifying with
more options presented and their needs being catered for. Following this, grocery giants as such
focus primarily on collecting goods and groceries from individual suppliers, organise and sell
them to individual consumers as per their requirements.
3. Outline the major differences in Facebook – Netflix and Sobey’s business models focusing
on what each sells (how it earns its revenue) and what it spends (costs it incurs) to make
the sale? (use general terminology)
Facebook’s indigenous source of income is through advertising, which is 97% of its earnings as per its
2021 annual report whereas adverts revenue through Meta(facebook’s parent company) can be run
through a multitude of platforms such as Instagram, Messenger as well as quite a few 3rd Party
applications in the market as of now. The majority of the expenses to the provider are mostly on
research and development which is more than a third of its budget. Not forgetting to consider the new
datacenter and the cost for its infrastructure, maintenance and security that take up major portions
from the expenditure budget to maintain the quality and the high standards set.
Netflix’s business model is based on subscriptions from the end users. Generally the company offers a
periodical fee for access to all the entertainment and infotainment content on its platform available by
region to all its users. Netflix’s expenses are mostly focused on buying film rights for movies and TV
shows from the copyright holder which includes a per annum payment as well as further royalties
depending on the success of the content. Their focus in recent years has been about pipelining loads of
self-produced and proclaimed TV shows and movies, as well as expanding their datacenter to
accommodate the necessary infrastructure for the vast population that relies on Netflix.
Worksheet B – Examining Businesses
Sobey’s Business model as stated is the continued expansion through acquisitions of smaller brands,
expanding their e-commerce presence as well as renovations and obtaining a surplus of advertisements.
A small chunk of their expense is towards community development which has to be their strongest trait.
The company earns its money through an ever increasing number of consumers at their grocery stores
as well as from the benefits of expansions to be able to accommodate more products and increase sales
to meet the needs of every consumer for maximum profits. The parent company has also been able to
increase its affluence and diversity by merging into many areas such as fuel, liquor and real estate.
Worksheet B – Examining Businesses
Marks are awarded using a scale of 0 – 5 for each question (5 marks total)
0 – no evidence or is copied and pasted
1 – little evidence – portions are copied and pasted
2 – needs improvement (vague, unclear, lacks fluency or details. etc.)
3 – good (generally well-described but contains vague wording or
descriptions/explanations and lacks detail.
4 – very good (well-described/explained is lacking some fluency, the response is well
described/explained, may lack some support or clear example.)
5 – excellent (excellence in its description/explanation, fluent, is supported with clearly
written examples and contains appropriate detail.)