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A Beginner’s Guide to Finding and Downloading Free Excel Resources

Excel is a powerful tool that is widely used for data analysis, financial modeling, and project management. Whether you are a student, a small business owner, or simply someone who wants to organize their personal finances, Excel can be an invaluable resource. However, purchasing the software can be expensive. Luckily, there are many free Excel resources available online that can help you get started without breaking the bank. In this article, we will guide you through the process of finding and downloading free Excel resources.

Understanding the Importance of Free Excel Resources

Excel is a versatile software program that offers countless possibilities for organizing and analyzing data. However, not everyone has access to the full version of Excel or can afford to purchase it. That’s where free Excel resources come in handy. These resources provide users with templates, tutorials, and add-ins that can enhance their experience with Excel without any cost. By utilizing these free resources, you can learn new skills, save time on creating spreadsheets from scratch, and improve your overall productivity.

Finding Free Excel Resources

The internet is filled with websites that offer free Excel resources for users of all levels. Some popular websites include Microsoft’s official Office website, which provides a wide range of templates for various purposes such as budgeting, project management, and inventory tracking. Another great website is Vertex42.com which offers an extensive collection of free templates including calendars, invoices, and budget spreadsheets.

In addition to these websites dedicated solely to Excel resources, there are also numerous blogs and YouTube channels that provide tutorials on how to use different features in Excel effectively. These tutorials often include downloadable files that you can use to practice along with the video or article.

Downloading Free Excel Resources

Once you have found a resource that suits your needs on one of these websites or platforms mentioned above, downloading it is a straightforward process. Most websites will provide a download button or link next to the resource you want to download. Simply click on the button or link, and the file will be saved to your computer.

If the resource you are downloading is a template or add-in, it may come in a compressed file format such as ZIP. In this case, you will need to extract the files using software like WinRAR or 7-Zip before you can use them in Excel.

Making the Most of Free Excel Resources

Now that you have downloaded your desired free Excel resources, it’s time to make the most of them. Templates can be customized by entering your own data into the cells provided. Tutorials can be followed step-by-step to learn new techniques and features in Excel. Add-ins can be installed to enhance Excel’s functionality and automate repetitive tasks.

It is important to explore different resources and experiment with them to gain a deeper understanding of how they can benefit your specific needs. Don’t be afraid to try new templates, watch tutorials on advanced topics, and install add-ins that can save you time and effort.

Conclusion:

Free Excel resources are invaluable tools for individuals who want to harness the power of Excel without spending money on expensive software. By understanding where to find these resources and how to download them, you can enhance your productivity, learn new skills, and accomplish tasks more efficiently. So go ahead and start exploring the world of free Excel resources today.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

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February 10, 2018 By Denis Oakley

What Are The Key Resources Needed To Deliver The Value Proposition?

Key Resources in the business model canvas are the main inputs and assets the business uses to function effectively. Phrased differently it is what you need. For example,

• Plant and Equipment
• Intellectual Property
• Computer Software
• Expert Knowledge
• Political Connections

The key resources overlap to a certain extent with tangible and intangible assets on the balance sheet. However, it goes much further. In the Business Model Canvas , we only state those resources that make you unique compared to your competitors in the market.

Video of the Key Resources in the Business Model Canvas

Examples of Key Resources

Let’s say you have a fashion outlet. You sell large quantities of overcapacity stock outside the city centre. Your key resources are:

• the cheap location with
• good access and
• contracts with fashion producers.

In my analysis of the Google Business Model I identified Google’s key resources as the:

• the algorithm, and
• its computing power.

Computer power included – hardware, software and the engineers to write the code and configure the software and hardware.

In all three of these cases, the companies have far more resources than they use. The resources that we focus on are the ones that are absolutely critical to the success of the business model. If you don’t have them you are toast.

• Oil Fields – British Petroleum, Exxon
• Car Factories – Ford, Toyota
• Planning Permission – Property companies
• Patents – GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer
• Monopolies – British East India Company
• Customer Data – Google , Facebook

Physical Key Resources 

These are tangible resources. For example, equipment, buildings, machines, transportation or distribution networks. Dell’s distribution network was a Key Resource, enabling them to deliver PC’s at home – years before others did the same.

One example of key resources in the business model canvas is Tesla. Tesla’s business model includes the Giga Factory which produces a significant proportion of the world’s large batteries. This gives Tesla the advantage of economies of scale in cost in its electric car production.

Physical resources are tangible things that you can touch and feel. For a company distributing beer in rural Kenya, the key resources could be:

• the lorry, and
• the reliable supply of petrol.

In contrast, for a logistics company in the UK the key resources could be:

• the route planning software, and
• the warehouse automation system.

Both companies do something similar but the market and the competitive environment mean that what they see as key resources are quite different.

Human Key Resources

Human resources are the people that you need to do the work. People are often how you transform key resources, through activities into the value proposition. In most cases, human resources are either bodies or knowledge.

When I ran a food delivery operation we needed lots of motorcycle delivery riders. We weren’t really concerned about the quality or the skill set of the people. We just needed enough of them who could ride a bike and had insurance. An even starker example would be the West Indies sugar plantations. Slaves were imported from Africa and put to work on plantations. Output was correlated to the number of slaves on the plantation, not to their willingness, strength or knowledge.

In contrast, knowledge is all about particular domain knowledge or relationships. A consulting company’s key resource may be the lead consultant’s knowledge of economics that he has acquired over 30 years and won a Nobel prize for.

Conversely, it could be a different consultant’s Rolodex of all the property developers he has drunk whisky and played golf with over the same time period.

Financial Key Resources

Many businesses need cash for operations or capital projects. If you are going into chip fabrication or jet engine design you need scads of money to invest in the research, development and plant construction.

As a startup going into a new category, for example like Uber , then money becomes a critical key resource as you can use your wall of money in a land grab as you attempt to build market share ahead of competitors.

Intangible Key Resources

It is also important to remember that key resources may be more intangible. A patent that allows you to have a monopoly on producing a drug or which blocks a competitor’s access into a market are also key resources. Trade secrets and know-how are also important.

A good example of a know-how that is a key resource is the Toyota Production System which has enabled Toyota to consistently increase its productivity and quality over decades through process improvement .

Another example is the Audible business model . In this case, some of Audible’s key resources are the network effects that come from the number of audiobooks on its platforms and the sunk costs of many customers with hundreds of books that they have access to.

How to Determine Your Key Resources

There are four key questions that you need to ask

• what key resources does the value propositions require?
• what are the key resources required by our marketing and distribution channels require?
• which key resources are required to deliver our customer relationships? and,
• How do key resources support our revenue streams?

When you do this exercise it is often useful to talk through the customer’s user journey.

For example, if we look at the Rent- the- Runway business model

• the customer goes to the website – we need a website – and,
• chooses a dress – we need a stock of dresses, then
• has it delivered – do we deliver it ourself or get this outsourced
• wear it out for the night, and
• returns it to be drycleaned – another requirement

So from the user journey, we can see that we need

• cleaning and repair

The next step is to ask

How do we deliver all these?

When I build a business model  there are two or three ways of deciding the key resources.

The first is the simplest. I look at what other similar companies are doing and look at their key resources. Then I tailor the current business model to reflect how other companies in the industry work. This is a safe middle of the road approach. It’s not desperately interesting but you have a reliable outcome.

Working backwards from the Key Activities

Alternatively, you work backwards from the key activities in the business model. Here you have worked out what it is that you need to do in order to deliver the value proposition.

Then you work on what you need to have in order to deliver the key activities. You can think of it as building a bridge. You know you have to design the bridge and construct it. What are you going to need to design it? Engineers and Architects. What are you going to need to construct it? Building materials, planning permission, construction equipment and more engineers.

With startups, you can make this very powerful by looking at very different ways of delivering the key activities. For example, in the Apple business model , all the manufacturing is outsourced and Foxconn is a key partner supplying the manufacturing resource .

Starting from the Value Proposition

The final approach is to look at your value proposition and decide what are the resources that you need in order to make it happen. If I wanted to build a search engine for recruiters then the key resources would be a search engine and a large number of CVs. My key activities would then ask how do I get these and make them accessible to recruiters in order to generate revenue.

Playing with Key Resources In the Business Model Canvas

One of the things that I love about the business model canvas is that it makes it easy to open your eyes to more possibilities. The key resources are great for this. As an entrepreneur , you always have a choice of make, rent or buy. This depends on your appetite for risk, expected returns and available cash. It also has a huge impact on your cost structure

If you were designing the Airbnb business model , you could decide to build your own custom website and have everything just the way that you want.

Alternatively, you could pay another company a monthly fee to white label their commercial product, or you could buy an existing room-sharing website and rebrand it.

Airbnb decided that it would make its website. The Uber business model is based on not making or owning its own cars. Instead, it rents them and the drivers.

You can make this decision with all your key resources. In fact, if you don’t make these decisions then you are missing a trick and could make significant improvements to your business as a result.

You can apply this to all your key resources.

These are your Key Resources. Add these to your canvas.

Business Model Innovation

Business model innovation is all about combining all these factors with the other nine segments of the business model canvas and finding potential patterns that match the problem that you are trying to solve. They also have to deliver lots of value to your customers and solve their pain.

Business model design is frequently far harder than many entrepreneurs realise and it is good to have a guide to help bring things together. It is also critical to have a clear idea of how you are going to test your business model . This is so that you can validate it early and save time and money, or pivot whilst you still have a runway .

How to Build a Great Business Model Canvas – The FREE Course

This free course is in 10 lessons – each with a video and accompanying text. It describes how the business model canvas works and how to use it.

• Introduction 
• Value Propositions
• Marketing & Distribution Channels
• Customer Relationships
• Key Resources
• Key Activities
• Key Partners & Suppliers

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Business Model: Key resources

The next element of the Canvas that we will go over is the Key Resources.

When I ask entrepreneurs what resources they need, most of them say that they need money, or capital as we call it in business jargon. However, they usually leave out other resources that are sometimes more important than capital.

The resources are needed to create value for your customers. They are considered your assets and they are needed to sustain and support your business. These resources can be categorized into four main categories:

• Physical resources , such as raw material, buildings, vehicles, transportation, storage facility, machines and factory.
• Human resources , or staff, such as a talented engineer or marketing experts. These resources are more important in companies in the knowledge-intensive and creative sectors.
• Intellectual resources, such as your brand, patents, copyrights, partnerships, and customer databases. This can include recipes for those who deals with food. Or it can include a particular way of doing things (that maybe only you know).
• Financial resources, such as cash, credit etc.

I will give you a concrete example. If you produce hand bags, you will need to have: work space, machines to stitch, people to manage the machines, materials (e.g. fabric, thread and zips) and money to keep the operations going. You may also need to protect your handbags and could for example build a strong brand that customers relate to you and your business.

Take away: So, if you haven’t already done so, write down all the resources you need to effectively execute your business. Organize them into the four categories to make sure you stay on point and don’t forget anything.

Esther’s resources

Before I developed my business model canvas, I was unsure about what resources I would need the most to start my pumpkin business. Step-by-step, I started to prepare a list of the resources that I would need and gradually I realized that it was more than initially thought. But I am so happy I did it since the list helped me keep my eyes open when I had meetings with potential business partners that had better access to some of these resources that I had.

As raw materials I needed the pumpkins from my garden. I was growing them without major costs. I also needed sugar and spices to create juice, sauce, jam and wine. Then I needed jars, lids and packages to package the products.

Moreover I needed at least one more person (human resource) to help me with preparing the products, packaging them and carrying them to local market with a vehicle.

Initially I used my own kitchen (physical resource) to prepare the products, so I did not need to spend money on space.

Lastly, I needed some capital to pay upfront to fill the purchase orders from my customers.

However, I knew going forward I would need more resources. For example, to grow my business I had to leave my house and find a professional kitchen to cook. I also needed to buy a car or bike to transport my products to the market, a computer and website to grow my online presence and get into e-commerce. So already from the beginning I listed both my initial resource needs as well as future resource needs so that I kept in mind what I needed to grow the business.

Take away: Now take another look at your resources and make sure you are not missing something important.

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Key Resources Building Block in Business Model Canvas

Published: 19 July, 2023

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Table of Contents

Key resources in Business Model Canvas

In the Business Model Canvas, Key Resources appear within the Operating Model. They also play a large role when you’re examining innovation’s risks.

Within the Business Model Canvas, the Key Resources Building Block plays an important role in understanding what model resources we have available to fuel our innovation, as well as understanding where a key resource is missing.

By using the Unite extended Business Model Canvas, you can gain a deeper understanding of the potential risks linked to specific Key Resources. It helps shed light on dependencies and provides strategies to mitigate these risks. Download the Unite extended Business Model Canvas now to leverage its benefits and enhance your grasp of the role of Key Resources in innovation and risk management.

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What are Key Resources?

In any business, the Key Resources are the essential inputs used to create a compelling value proposition , serve the targeted customer segment , and deliver products or services effectively. These resources are the cornerstone of a successful business model and can be both tangible and intangible resources .

Identify and list your Key Resources , which can be categorized into physical, financial, intellectual property, and unique people skillsets. Particularly focus on the core and differentiating strengths or capabilities that you may be able to leverage.

Every business model succeeds or fails in how key resources are found and used. In short, we can use our Key Resources to build our value proposition by best utilizing our talented human resources and other assets. At Digital Leadership, we offer Business Model Strategy services to empower companies in identifying their strengths, unique selling points, and key activities that deliver exceptional value to customers. By aligning your resources, capabilities, and processes with your value proposition, you can distinguish your business and attain a sustainable competitive advantage. Our strategic gu

Find out how we can help you

Corporate training, innovation consulting and much more.

Related: Business Capability Map: A Practical Business Approach

Examples of Key Resources:

• Fashion Outlet: Imagine you own a fashion outlet that specializes in selling large quantities of overcapacity stock outside the city center. Your key resources are: a) Cheap location with good access: A strategic location that allows easy access to suppliers and customers, minimizing transportation costs and attracting bargain-hunting customers. b) Contracts with fashion producers: Exclusive partnerships with fashion producers that provide a consistent supply of overstocked items at discounted prices, ensuring a competitive edge in the market.
• Google Business Model: When analyzing Google’s business model, several key resources emerge as essential components: a) Index: Google’s vast index of web pages and content forms the foundation for its powerful search engine, enabling users to find relevant information quickly and efficiently. b) Algorithm: Google’s proprietary search algorithm, constantly refined and improved, ensures accurate and relevant search results, enhancing the user experience and increasing user loyalty. c) Computing power: Google’s robust infrastructure, encompassing hardware, software, and a team of skilled engineers, supports its data centers and complex computations required for various services.
• British Petroleum (BP) and Exxon: In the oil industry, companies like British Petroleum and Exxon rely heavily on key resources such as: a) Oil fields: Access to vast oil reserves and expertise in extraction and refining processes is vital for their operations and revenue generation. b) Advanced drilling technologies: Investment in cutting-edge technologies for efficient exploration and extraction of oil reserves gives them a competitive advantage.
• Ford and Toyota: Automakers like Ford and Toyota require specific key resources to maintain their competitiveness: a) Car factories: State-of-the-art production facilities that enable large-scale manufacturing of vehicles, ensuring timely delivery and cost optimization. b) R&D capabilities: Investments in research and development to innovate and improve vehicle designs and technologies, catering to evolving customer demands.
• Google and Facebook: Tech giants like Google and Facebook rely on key resources like: a) Customer data: Extensive user data collection and analysis allow personalized experiences and targeted advertising, driving user engagement and attracting advertisers. b) Computing infrastructure: Massive data centres and computational capabilities are essential for handling vast amounts of user data and delivering seamless services.

Types Of Key Resources

The types of Key Resources include Human resources , Financial resources , Physical resources , and Intellectual resources. They are each outlined below.

Every model template includes Key Resources, Key Resources can look differently depending on the focus of each specific template, to make conceptualizing your Key Resources easier, however, we usually think about them as falling into one of four categories.

Human Resources

These are your people. Someone has to enact innovation. Ultimately, your human resources do the work of transformation. You’ll need to ensure that your workforce has the skills necessary to move the business forward. Don’t ignore your key partners at this stage, outside organizations may have human resources that you can use with only minor investments.

As you complete a Business Model Canvas, you reflect on the people you’ll ask to do your work. Simply, do you have the bodies in place necessary to put your innovation plans in motion? 

Managers can influence the performance of their human resources in a number of ways. An incentive system rewards performance, though it can be controversial in how they’re applied, be sure to completely think through the incentives you offer, and how employees can obtain them because a poorly applied incentive system can ruin morale and negatively impact performance.

Human resources can also be influenced through organizational schemes . Innovation teams, specifically formed, can have a tremendous effect on the direction a company takes. Other types of organizational designs can funnel talent toward specific tasks or challenges. Good managers know how to best leverage the human resources they have, encouraging the creativity and insight it takes to be truly innovative, they also recognize when an organization would benefit from hiring key employees who will help plans move forward productively.

Human Key Resources Examples:

• People who create the product or service
• Truck drivers who deliver products
• Customer service agents
• Managers who oversee production
• Salespeople
• Human resources employees
• Information technology staff

Financial Key Resources

The numbers are the numbers. The funds you have available, either on hand or at reasonable interest, are your Financial Resources.

When considering your Financial Resources, don’t neglect your access to capital markets . Can you borrow funds? Does it make sense to go into debt? Properly applying credit might give you the opportunity to begin innovation that promotes lasting growth. As a startup venturing into a new market segment, such as Uber did with ride-sharing, financial capital emerges as a critical key resource. Having substantial financial resources allows you to embark on a “land grab” strategy, rapidly capturing market share ahead of competitors as you strive to establish a dominant presence.

Financial Key Resources Examples:

• Cash: money or its equivalent.
• Bank Deposits: money placed into banks, including checking accounts and money market accounts.
• Holdings of Stocks: publicly traded stocks can be easily converted to cash, and are considered financial resources of an organization. These stocks are traded on stock exchanges, like the NASDAQ or the NYSE . It takes only a few minutes to sell stocks on the market.
• Holdings of Publicly Traded Bonds: There are various types of bonds that can be included in the financial resources of an organization: U.S. government securities, mortgage bonds, foreign bonds, corporate bonds, etc…,
• Foreign Currency Holdings: These are currencies issued in another country. Foreign currencies can be held in a local or in a foreign bank. Foreign currency can be quickly converted to local currency, thus they are considered part of the financial resources of an organization. Also, many international companies need to hold amounts of foreign currency to carry out their operations, like selling abroad or paying foreign suppliers.
• Checks: checks are instruments that contain an order that directs a bank to pay an amount of money to the check holder. Checks can be easily converted to money, and sometimes, checks can be used to pay suppliers: checks are financial assets.

Source: https://economicpoint.com/financial-resources-examples

Physical Resources

These are your tangible resources, including capital-intensive production facilities, materials, supplies, property, and equipment. Maybe you have storage areas full of raw materials, or pallets loaded with products. Or maybe you have a point of sales system shared across distribution networks. Consumer goods companies are likely to have vast physical resources, while creative industries might rely heavily on their human resources and less on manufacturing facilities or warehouses.

Infrastructure-driven businesses are likely to have materials other businesses lack by the time they’re considering innovation. While that sort of investment can be a signal of a successful business model, it can also have the effect of paralyzing management decisions. “We have all this stuff,” decision-makers think, “and so much capital wrapped up in it, all our solutions have to justify those prior purchases.”

Clearly, that’s not a path toward innovation. It takes a brave visionary to change directions sometimes. Your physical resources don’t have functional value if they are holding you back.

This is a good place to consider some common intangible resources, also. Software, for example, would often not be thought of as a “physical resource” but purchased computer applications in the business world behave like material objects more than truly intangible resources. Related intellectual property often behaves more like a physical resource than an intangible one. Potentially substantial licensing fees for software and other technology must also be evaluated to see if it works in your business model to add value.

Physical Key Resources Examples:

• Machinery and equipment: This includes the tools you use to make your product, as well as any machinery and equipment that goes into the manufacturing process (for example, a CNC machine).
• Buildings and office spaces: If your business requires a physical location, this may be one of your biggest expenses.
• Vehicles and trucks: If you’re selling a service or product that requires shipping, or if you have an on-demand delivery service for customers, vehicles are an important part of your business.
• Point-of-sale systems: These are useful for businesses that accept in-person payments from customers.

Tesla provides a compelling illustration of the significance of key resources in the Business Model Canvas . Central to Tesla’s business model is the Giga Factory, a facility that holds a crucial role in manufacturing a substantial share of the world’s large batteries. This strategic asset affords Tesla a competitive edge by capitalizing on economies of scale, resulting in cost efficiencies throughout the production of their electric vehicles.

Intellectual Key Resources

Your business is smart, and within its material and its people rests a vast collection of proprietary knowledge acquired through years of hard work and investment. How can you leverage what you know? In other words, what are your Intellectual Resources?

Your business model no doubt relies on what your human resources know. It’s important, then, to have a clear view of the members of your organization’s specialities, education, and experience. They are potentially untapped key resources that can add to your value proposition.

Knowledge management must be part of your overall innovation strategy . Your customer databases must be properly protected and utilized. What kind of information do you keep in those customer databases, and are you properly taking advantage of what you know about your customers? Are you similarly tracking other key partners so you can work with them in the most productive ways?

You should also consider how you’re developing your Intellectual Resources. Many successful business enterprises install a corporate university to educate and train their human resources in-house. That’s a cost-effective way of growing from within that isn’t necessarily capital-intensive. An exemplary illustration of an Intellectual resource rooted in know-how is the Toyota Production System . This invaluable expertise has been instrumental in driving Toyota’s consistent enhancement of productivity and quality for several decades through continuous process improvement.

Intellectual Key Resources Examples:

• Systems and processes
• Customer knowledge
• Customer databases
• Copyrights and patents

How to Determine Your Key Resources

The interconnection of key resources and the value proposition.

Your Key Resources make your business what it is: only you have that particular collection of people, customer knowledge, and key abilities. Taken together, they encircle how you build your value propositions and conduct your key activities. For a successful business model, the link between key resources and the value proposition is crucial. Key resources are the assets and capabilities that help a company create, deliver, and capture value for customers. The value proposition is the unique value a company offers to its customers through its products or services. Understanding this connection is essential for improving the business model and meeting customer needs effectively. Let’s explore how these two components are interconnected:

• Value Creation: Key resources are essential for turning the value proposition into a reality.
• Competitive Advantage: Unique key resources strengthen the value proposition’s market positioning.
• Value Delivery: Key resources ensure efficient delivery of the value proposition to customers.
• Resource Allocation: Specific resources are strategically allocated to support the core value proposition.
• Innovation and Adaptation: Key resources enable companies to innovate and adapt the value proposition.
• Value Capture: The interplay drives revenue and profits by meeting customer needs effectively.
• Resource Optimization: Understanding the connection helps optimize resource allocation for efficiency.

Key Resources play an important role in expanding business and value, and so is a big element of The UNITE Value Proposition Canvas. Unlock the potential of your business with The UNITE Value Proposition Canvas Model as a powerful tool that empowers businesses to expand and create value. One of the key elements within this canvas is the recognition of the vital role played by Key Resources in driving business growth. By carefully connecting each customer segment to their most crucial key resource, you’ll gain invaluable insights into the essence of your business model. You can download The UNITE Value Proposition Canvas now and discover the keys to unlocking your business’s true potential for success.

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Key resources and different types of business models.

A business model is a framework within which a company offers products or services to customers. It includes the structure, key resources, and processes that enable a firm to create, deliver, and capture value. The study of business models is called management science.

Businesses use business models to compete in the market and achieve sustainable success. A successful business model is one that can be replicated and can be applied to similar markets.

In general, business models separate businesses into three types:

• Product-driven Business.
• Scope Driven Business.
• Infrastructure Driven Business.

1- Product Driven Business Key Resources

Product-driven businesses are focused on developing a product and then finding the market for it. This is the opposite of the market-driven model where companies focus on what customers want, and then develop products to meet those needs.

The product-driven model is generally used by smaller companies that have a specific niche or audience in mind. For example, if you have a product that solves a specific problem for a certain group of consumers, then that’s who you’ll market your product to. This can be particularly effective when you have limited funds but still want to make sure your business has some level of growth potential.

The Key resources of these companies are human and intellectual because they usually are able to access intellectual property and know-how in their specific industry and particular niche.

2- Scope Driven Business Key Resources

The key aspect of Scope Driven Businesses is that they will have a clear idea of who their customers are and what they want from them. This means that they will have to spend time trying to understand their customer’s needs and wants before they even consider creating any products or services for them.

The key resources for such a business include:

• An understanding of what your company does best and how you can differentiate yourself from the competition.
• A clearly defined target customer segment.
• An understanding of who it is that you want to serve and how they think, behave, feel and believe.

3- Infrastructure Driven Business Key Resources

Infrastructure-driven business refers to companies that make their earnings by utilizing their infrastructure, For Example:

In the Telecommunications industry, it requires an initial large investment in infrastructure. After that, it will reap the benefits over time with just a small investment to keep its systems up to date,

Amazon is also an infrastructure-driven business because its main function is selling products online. The company can leverage its scale by using economies of scale to drive down costs and increase profits.

The key resources for an infrastructure-driven business are:

• Infrastructure (network, platform, etc.)

Identifying Your Key Resources

Building a strong business model requires attention to all available key resources. We find it useful to brainstorm lists of resources with a variety of team members. Human resources employees will recognize opportunities that a warehouse employee won’t know about, but the warehouse worker will be really smart about logistical matters.

Your IT specialist has insights into your telecommunications infrastructure while your accountant can identify vendor financing opportunities. Each resource mentioned by your team is analyzed and evaluated for its importance in your overall value proposition.

Reflect on the key resources listed in your brainstorming. How do they contribute to your overall business model, and what is missing? Innovation isn’t just a dream; most businesses can identify increasingly important components to their growth efforts as their plans progress.

Capital Resources in Key Resources

Capital resources are an essential component of key resources for any business or organization. Key resources are the strategic assets that a company possesses to create and deliver value to its customers. Capital resources, specifically, refer to the financial assets, funds, and investments that a company uses to operate, grow, and sustain its business operations. These resources are crucial for several reasons:

• Investment and Growth: Funds for research, expansion, asset acquisition, and growth opportunities.
• Infrastructure and Technology: Enables efficient operations through acquiring and maintaining physical and technological assets.
• Human Resources: Attracts and retains talented employees with competitive salaries and benefits.
• Marketing and Promotion: Invests in marketing to promote products/services and build brand awareness.
• Risk Management: Acts as a buffer during economic downturns or crises.
• Innovation and Adaptation: Fuels research and development to stay relevant in a changing market.
• Competitive Advantage: Secures better deals and invests in advanced technologies for a competitive edge.
• Debt Reduction and Stability: Pays off debts and maintains a healthy debt-to-equity ratio.
• Long-Term Sustainability: Crucial for the organization’s growth and stability in the long run.
• Investor and Stakeholder Confidence: Signals financial health and fosters trust for delivering returns.

Connecting The Dots: The UNITE Business Model Framework

The business model canvas serves as a powerful tool for entrepreneurs, prompting them to explore a wide array of possibilities. One crucial element that sets it apart is the emphasis on identifying key resources. As an entrepreneur, you possess the freedom to make strategic choices regarding these resources: whether to develop them in-house, opt for rental agreements, or acquire them through purchase. The decisions made in this regard have a profound impact on your overall cost structure. The UNITE Business Model Framework includes a number of canvases that focus on value creation and finding the right business model to meet your   customer segment and customer needs.  The framework is built to inspire drastic changes that help you  find a competitive advantage.  Our hope is that your company grows through business model innovation, and so we again encourage you to look deeper into our website and the book.

Here is a summary of the key ingredients of the framework:

The Key Resources building block in the Business Model Canvas identifies the essential inputs a business needs for its value proposition, customer segment, and product delivery. These resources can be human, financial, physical, or intellectual. Identifying and leveraging key resources is crucial for optimizing operations, delivering value, and gaining a competitive edge. The UNITE Business Model Framework provides a comprehensive approach to understanding and utilizing key resources for long-term success.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. what is key resource value.

Key resources value refers to the significance and strategic importance of the essential inputs a business possesses to create, deliver, and sustain its value proposition. These key resources play a vital role in the success of the business model by enabling the company to differentiate itself, offer unique products or services, and gain a competitive advantage in the market. Identifying and leveraging key resources effectively allows businesses to optimize their operations, improve value delivery to customers, and achieve long-term success.

2. What are key resources and capabilities?

Key resources are the primary inputs that a business requires to operate, create value for its customers, and achieve its objectives. These resources can be tangible or intangible, such as human capital, financial assets, physical infrastructure, or intellectual property.

Key capabilities, on the other hand, refer to the unique abilities and skills that a business possesses to perform specific tasks or activities effectively. These capabilities are often closely related to the key resources and contribute to a company’s competitive advantage. For example, a well-trained workforce can be a key resource, while the ability to innovate and develop new products can be a key capability.

3. What are resources in a business?

Resources in a business encompass the assets, materials, and capabilities used to conduct operations, produce goods, and deliver services. They can be tangible, like machinery and inventory, or intangible, such as knowledge, intellectual property, and brand reputation. Properly managing and allocating resources is vital for a business to attain its goals and stay competitive in the market.

4. What are the 9 types of resources?

The nine types of resources in a business can be classified as follows:

• Human Resources: The people who work for the company and contribute their skills, knowledge, and expertise to its operations.
• Financial Resources: The funds and capital available to the business for investment, growth, and day-to-day operations.
• Physical Resources: Tangible assets like machinery, equipment, facilities, and inventory that are used in the production process.
• Intellectual Resources: Intangible assets such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, and proprietary knowledge that provide a competitive advantage.
• Informational Resources: Data and information that the company collects, analyzes, and uses to make informed decisions.
• Technological Resources: Tools, software, and technological infrastructure that support the business’s operations and innovation.
• Natural Resources: Renewable or non-renewable resources used in the production process, such as water, minerals, or agricultural products.
• Social Resources: The company’s relationships and networks with stakeholders, customers, suppliers, and partners.
• Reputational Resources: The brand reputation, customer loyalty, and public perception of the company.

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Business Model Canvas

Key resources.

Key Resources describes the most important assets required to make a business model work. These are the resources that allow an enterprise to create and offer a Value Proposition, reach markets, maintain relationships with Customer Segments, and earn revenues.

When developing your Key Resources segment, closely consider the first four blocks. Your resources will have to comprehensively account for any accepted hypotheses thus far; if you don’t have the means to provide value, then there is no value. With that said, many resources will be obvious, and may not need much debate. However large decisions, such as real estate acquisition, should be subject to scrutiny.

This begins a phase of the BMC that will have you making more phone calls to businesses than customers, and it’s imperative that you ask questions that will develop your BMC further. For this segment, identifying solutions through research should account for about half your experiments, and making the right phone calls should be the other half.

Questions to Answer:

• What Key Resources do our Value Propositions require?
• Our Distribution Channels?
• Customer Relationships?
• Revenue Streams?

4 Categories of Key Resources:

• Physical – Buildings, vehicles, machines, raw goods, etc.
• Intellectual – Brand, proprietary knowledge, patents, partnerships, etc.
• Human – Creativity, experience, etc.
• Financial – Cash, credit, stock, etc.

Our Experience: 

The DoughJoe-  In our limited amount of time it was difficult to accommodate the long list of necessary resources; you’ll find some businesses more prompt in their response than others. It also may be useful to solicit advice from someone in your target industry if it’s available, since certain resources may not be obvious.

Crepe Expectations-  For our food truck, we considered all of the different types of resources (physical, financial, human, and intellectual) and laid them out in a resources assumptions spreadsheet. We estimated our numbers based on research through the databases on the library websites (see Helpful Resources ) and through articles posted about established food trucks and some of the resources they utilized.

For more information and further reading, click here .

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Key Resources In The Business Model Canvas: What To Include?

One of the more important (though at times trickier to define) sections of the business model canvas is the key resources section. Particularly for small and early stage ventures--there can be some confusion about what to include here.

So let's just get right to it.

What are key resources in the business model canvas?

In a nutshell, your key resources are those assets which are absolutely essential for your business model to work.

They describe all the valuable things that will be needed for you to actually deliver on the promise (or value proposition) you're making to your target customers.

For example, if you're selling items online, then a website, hosting and Ecommerce infrastructure are kind of essential resources for that model to be at all feasible!

In contrast, if you're running a B2B service company that does consulting work for other businesses, your key resources might be your team of expert consultants, and perhaps some specialized software or equipment.

Useful prompts for your key resources section

• What do you need in order to bring your value proposition to life?
• What are the necessary inputs for your business model?
• What assets or capabilities do you need to have in order to make your business model work?

Tying your key resources back to the core value proposition your business is making can be a useful way to check off your most important assets. Especially if you are projecting forward to some future value proposition, or considering a venture which doesn't quite exist yet--start by imagining a future where you are delivering on your value proposition perfectly, then picture the assets that would need to be in place to do so effectively.

Common types of key resources

Key resources come in a few common forms, and it's worth taking a moment to consider each of these larger categories when brainstorming your own business' key resources.

These are, according to Strategyzer :

Physical resources

Intellectual property.

• Bonus: Digital

A little more on each below.

Physical resources refer to assets like infrastructure, equipment, real estate, delivery vehicles, inventory and basically any assets that are grounded in the physical world; ie. made up of atoms,

For example, a coffee shop needs a location, brewing equipment, and (of course) coffee beans! Other examples of physical resources might be:

• A retail store needs shelves, registers and products;
• A food delivery like Deliveroo business needs vehicles (in this case bicycles!), uniforms and packaging materials; and
• A manufacturing business likely needs a factory, tools and raw materials.

In an increasingly online business world, intellectual property resources are incredibly valuable. This includes things like any patents, copyrights or other legal protections that you might have on your products or processes. But it also refers to your brand, proprietary software and systems and even data warehouses that you may have collected through business activities.

Human resources

Your human resources are, quite simply, your people power. This could be a team of in-house experts, your contractors, or even just yourself if you're a solopreneur. Understanding the role that human resources and talent will play in your broader business model is a key piece of the canvas; are you dependent on highly skilled talent (e.g. niche software developers?) or are you more dependent on a high volume of low-skilled workers (e.g. Deliveroo delivery drivers).

Financial resources

This could include investments, grants, lines of credit, or even just cash on hand. Other common financial resources are invoices (if you're selling on credit) or accounts receivable (if you're selling products or services before they've been paid for).

Some business models have higher capital demands than others, in which case being clear about the financial resources needed up front (and throughout) are essential--you can have all the other forecasts and projections going in the right direction, but if you run out of cash, everything will end in a hurry.

Digital resources

Not included in the original model, I've added this as a specific consideration for modern online businesses. While there's some overlap with the Intellectual Property resources, I think it's worth making a point of considering your digital resources that will be deployed (and secured) as your business model develops.

Things like:

• SEO and digital real estate: How much of the digital search space do you own? And how much can you realistically win?
• Virality: Do you have assets which are inherently viral, or access to channels which can go viral readily?
• Automation: If manufacturing facilities and systems are a key resources in physical space, thinking through areas of your business' digital knowledge processes that can be automated (and building or developing those systems) can also be considered a key digital resource in your business model.

Filling out the Business Model Canvas

We'll be adding to this series on filling out the Business Model Canvas in due course; in the meanwhile, if you'd like to duplicate an editable template of the business model canvas in Notion, you can do just that with the link above.

Happy business building.

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