1
,Table of content
1. Introduction 4
2. Stakeholder analysis 5
2.1 Identifying the stakeholders 6
2.1.1 Internal stakeholders 6
2.1.2 External stakeholders 7
2.2 Stakeholder Analysis 9
2.2.1 Stakeholder View 9
2.2.2 Power-interest grid 10
2.2.3 Salience model 11
2.3 Results from the stakeholder analysis combined 12
3. Business Model Canvas 13
4. The causal loop diagram 14
4.1 Methodology 15
4.2 Causal loop diagram 15
5. Scenario analysis 18
5.1 Methodology of scenario analysis 18
5.2 Scenario development 19
5.3 The Wind Tunneling technique 24
5.4 The robust solutions 26
6. Conclusion and discussion 27
7. Reflection 30
References 32
Appendices 36
Appendix A: Elaboration on salience model 36
Appendix B: Elaboration on Business Model Canvas 37
2
,Appendix C: Clustering of trends 41
3
, 1. Introduction
The process of digitalization has played an essential role in the conversion of information into
digital formats that, over time, have grown in an entirely different worldview. Access, use, and
spread of information is a completely different process compared with fifty years ago. Within
the last two decades, through the rise of the internet, an entirely new society has come to exist,
the online society. As in 2020, online digital platforms impact every sector in a society (van
Dijck, 2020). Although there are most certainly some adverse effects that can be felt from this
shift - like the spread of disinformation, fake news, hate speech, as well as privacy breaches,
and security leaks (van Dijck, 2020) - the current COVID-19 crisis has highlighted some
benefits of the further digitalization and platformization as well.
One sector that has increasingly tested the benefits of digitalization and platformization
over the last year is the higher education sector. Though media such as smart-boards, video-
material, and extensive projections of presentations have been used for a while now, the
problem of social distancing has led educators to move towards and make increasingly use of
methods to improve distance-learning. Although born out of necessity, students now have the
ability to complete their studies from the comfort of their own homes, attending classes from
all over the world, something the traditional business models of higher education institutions
could not offer.
Universities in the Netherlands have seemed to adapt quite well to the new challenges
the sudden COVID-19 outbreak has brought (VSNU, 2020). Some difficulties remain, though,
as the online-connection and -experience is different from the on-campus approach (RIVM,
2020) and questions about privacy and exams seem to remain.
As Radboud University has always tried to keep an eye out for the student's well-being
and wants students to stay connected (Radboud University, 2020), the question rises how much
of this connection from afar will last when the COVID-19 outbreak is under control. While
focusing on the Nijmegen School of Management - one of the Radboud University faculties -
we want to understand how much of the recent digitalization and platformization developments
should be transformed into the business model of the Nijmegen School of Management. With
this paper, we want to answer the following question:
Due to the digitalization and platformization developments, how should Nijmegen School of
Management transform its current business (eco-system) model towards the next generation
business (eco-system) model?
4
,Table of content
1. Introduction 4
2. Stakeholder analysis 5
2.1 Identifying the stakeholders 6
2.1.1 Internal stakeholders 6
2.1.2 External stakeholders 7
2.2 Stakeholder Analysis 9
2.2.1 Stakeholder View 9
2.2.2 Power-interest grid 10
2.2.3 Salience model 11
2.3 Results from the stakeholder analysis combined 12
3. Business Model Canvas 13
4. The causal loop diagram 14
4.1 Methodology 15
4.2 Causal loop diagram 15
5. Scenario analysis 18
5.1 Methodology of scenario analysis 18
5.2 Scenario development 19
5.3 The Wind Tunneling technique 24
5.4 The robust solutions 26
6. Conclusion and discussion 27
7. Reflection 30
References 32
Appendices 36
Appendix A: Elaboration on salience model 36
Appendix B: Elaboration on Business Model Canvas 37
2
,Appendix C: Clustering of trends 41
3
, 1. Introduction
The process of digitalization has played an essential role in the conversion of information into
digital formats that, over time, have grown in an entirely different worldview. Access, use, and
spread of information is a completely different process compared with fifty years ago. Within
the last two decades, through the rise of the internet, an entirely new society has come to exist,
the online society. As in 2020, online digital platforms impact every sector in a society (van
Dijck, 2020). Although there are most certainly some adverse effects that can be felt from this
shift - like the spread of disinformation, fake news, hate speech, as well as privacy breaches,
and security leaks (van Dijck, 2020) - the current COVID-19 crisis has highlighted some
benefits of the further digitalization and platformization as well.
One sector that has increasingly tested the benefits of digitalization and platformization
over the last year is the higher education sector. Though media such as smart-boards, video-
material, and extensive projections of presentations have been used for a while now, the
problem of social distancing has led educators to move towards and make increasingly use of
methods to improve distance-learning. Although born out of necessity, students now have the
ability to complete their studies from the comfort of their own homes, attending classes from
all over the world, something the traditional business models of higher education institutions
could not offer.
Universities in the Netherlands have seemed to adapt quite well to the new challenges
the sudden COVID-19 outbreak has brought (VSNU, 2020). Some difficulties remain, though,
as the online-connection and -experience is different from the on-campus approach (RIVM,
2020) and questions about privacy and exams seem to remain.
As Radboud University has always tried to keep an eye out for the student's well-being
and wants students to stay connected (Radboud University, 2020), the question rises how much
of this connection from afar will last when the COVID-19 outbreak is under control. While
focusing on the Nijmegen School of Management - one of the Radboud University faculties -
we want to understand how much of the recent digitalization and platformization developments
should be transformed into the business model of the Nijmegen School of Management. With
this paper, we want to answer the following question:
Due to the digitalization and platformization developments, how should Nijmegen School of
Management transform its current business (eco-system) model towards the next generation
business (eco-system) model?
4
