Business Model Environment in the Segment of Language Schools

Abstract

The paper presents a part of the research on business models of language schools from Lower Silesian Voivodeship. In Poland. The influence of the surrounding elements of the enterprises on the components of the business models according to the template of A. Osterwalder was assessed. The analysis covered the majority (96 – approx. 66%) of language schools in the Voivodeship. A survey consisting of 31 surrounding elements of the enterprises was prepared, and its respondents included owners or managers of these enterprises. The results allowed to isolate the most important elements according to two dimensions of the assessment of the surroundings, i.e. according to significance and favourability. In the further surroundings, such an element was constituted by, among others, seasonality of the demand on the language services market, and in the immediate surroundings, among others, the threat from the substitutes. The components of the business models in the analysed segment which should undergo modifications as a reactive form of adaptation of the models to the conditions of the environment were indicated. Concrete solutions depend on recognising the gap between the value offer expected by the clients and the value proposition of the enterprise.