Design a Crowd Economy Business Model - eolas

About Course

What changes when people participate directly in activities that businesses usually manage within the organization or through their established partners? What happens when they contribute funding, demand, knowledge, ideas, assets, or other resources?

This course introduces the crowd economy as a practical approach to business model innovation. Learners explore crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and co-creation, community-supported models, pre-sales, subscriptions, collective participation, peer-to-peer models, and crowd farming to understand how different forms of participation affect business decisions.

Through practical examples and a real business case, learners examine why organizations turn to crowd-based models and how participation changes financing, demand, production, access to knowledge and resources, stakeholder relationships, and the distribution of responsibilities and risk. The course also connects these decisions with strategy, purpose, sustainability, and value creation.

At the end of the course, you will design and test a crowd economy business model for a real or hypothetical business. You will identify a specific business need, determine who could participate and what they could contribute, define the value exchanged, assess how participation would change the wider business model, and examine whether the proposed model is workable.

Course Content

Understanding the Crowd Economy
Understand how crowd-based models bring people into business activities that traditionally remain within an organization or its established value chain. Explore how participants contribute money, demand, knowledge, ideas, resources, or other forms of value, and examine how these contributions affect business decisions.

Setting the Scene
From Customer to Participant
Crowdfunding
Crowdsourcing and Co-creation
Community Supported Models
Pre Sales Subscriptions and Collective Demand
Peer to Peer and Platform Participation
Naranjas del Carmen as an Applied Model
What Connects These Models
The Crowd Economy as a Business Model Question
Apply the Idea
Test Your Knowledge – Understanding the Crowd Economy

From Business Problem to Crowd Model
Start with the business problem rather than a preferred crowd model. Examine how needs for funding, demand, knowledge, assets, capacity, or relationships lead to different forms of participation and determine whether a crowd-based response fits the business situation.

Start With the Business Problem
Separate the Problem From the Need
Understand Demand Uncertainty
Identify the Funding Need
Identify Knowledge and Capability Gaps
Identify Asset and Capacity Needs
Examine Intermediaries and Direct Relationships
Apply the Problem Framework to a Business Case
Match the Contribution to the Problem
Decide Whether a Crowd Model Fits
Apply the Problem Frame
Test Your Knowledge – From Business Problem to Crowd Model

Redesigning Stakeholder Relationships
Examine how crowd participation changes stakeholder roles across a business model. Map who contributes resources or capabilities, who receives value, who performs each activity, who makes decisions, and how responsibility and risk are distributed.

Start With the Relationships
Map Stakeholders Around the Business
Understand How Participant Roles Change
Follow the Exchange of Value
Assign Activities and Responsibilities
Separate Participation From Decision Authority
Understand How Risk Is Distributed
Apply the Stakeholder Framework to a Business Case
Compare Relationships Before and After Participation
Test the Stakeholder Design
Apply the Stakeholder Map
Test Your Knowledge – Redesigning Stakeholder Relationships

Building Purpose into the Business Model
Examine how economic, social, and environmental value interact within crowd-based business models. Connect participation with purpose and strategy while assessing who receives value, which responsibilities the model creates, and whether sustainability claims are supported by the way the business operates.

Extend the Analysis Beyond the Exchange
Connect Purpose With the Business Model
Define the Value Proposition for Participants
Examine Economic Value
Examine Social Value
Examine Environmental Value
Design Participation Responsibly
Connect the Crowd Economy With the Circular Economy
Connect Economic Social and Environmental Value
Examine Trade-offs and Evidence
Apply Purpose and Value to the Business Model
Test Your Knowledge – Building Purpose into the Business Model

Applying the Crowd Model to Your Business
Apply the complete crowd economy framework to a real or hypothetical business. Design a crowd model around a defined business need, establish how participants contribute and receive value, assess how the business model changes, and test whether the proposal is workable.

Choose the Business Opportunity
Design the Crowd Contribution
Design the Exchange and Relationships
Connect the Model With Purpose and Value
Test Whether the Model Works
Build Your Crowd Model Proposal
Wrapping Up
Test Your Knowledge – Applying the Crowd Model to Your Business
Related Reading and Learning
Write a Review

Add this certificate to your resume to demonstrate your skills & increase your chances of getting noticed.

Student Ratings & Reviews

No Review Yet

About Course

What Will You Learn?

Course Content

Setting the Scene

From Customer to Participant

Crowdfunding

Crowdsourcing and Co-creation

Community Supported Models

Pre Sales Subscriptions and Collective Demand

Peer to Peer and Platform Participation

Naranjas del Carmen as an Applied Model

What Connects These Models

The Crowd Economy as a Business Model Question

Apply the Idea

Test Your Knowledge – Understanding the Crowd Economy

Start With the Business Problem

Separate the Problem From the Need

Understand Demand Uncertainty

Identify the Funding Need

Identify Knowledge and Capability Gaps

Identify Asset and Capacity Needs

Examine Intermediaries and Direct Relationships

Apply the Problem Framework to a Business Case

Match the Contribution to the Problem

Decide Whether a Crowd Model Fits

Apply the Problem Frame

Test Your Knowledge – From Business Problem to Crowd Model

Redesigning Stakeholder Relationships Examine how crowd participation changes stakeholder roles across a business model. Map who contributes resources or capabilities, who receives value, who performs each activity, who makes decisions, and how responsibility and risk are distributed.

Start With the Relationships

Map Stakeholders Around the Business

Understand How Participant Roles Change

Follow the Exchange of Value

Assign Activities and Responsibilities

Separate Participation From Decision Authority

Understand How Risk Is Distributed

Apply the Stakeholder Framework to a Business Case

Compare Relationships Before and After Participation

Test the Stakeholder Design

Apply the Stakeholder Map

Test Your Knowledge – Redesigning Stakeholder Relationships

Extend the Analysis Beyond the Exchange

Connect Purpose With the Business Model

Define the Value Proposition for Participants

Examine Economic Value

Examine Social Value

Examine Environmental Value

Design Participation Responsibly

Connect the Crowd Economy With the Circular Economy

Connect Economic Social and Environmental Value

Examine Trade-offs and Evidence

Apply Purpose and Value to the Business Model

Test Your Knowledge – Building Purpose into the Business Model

Choose the Business Opportunity

Design the Crowd Contribution

Design the Exchange and Relationships

Connect the Model With Purpose and Value

Test Whether the Model Works

Build Your Crowd Model Proposal

Wrapping Up

Test Your Knowledge – Applying the Crowd Model to Your Business

Related Reading and Learning

Write a Review

Earn a certificate

Student Ratings & Reviews

LEARN

EOLAS

RESOURCES

Stay on top

Curated learning, fresh insights, and new opportunities, direct to you.

Redesigning Stakeholder Relationships
Examine how crowd participation changes stakeholder roles across a business model. Map who contributes resources or capabilities, who receives value, who performs each activity, who makes decisions, and how responsibility and risk are distributed.