| Course | LDR 307 Leadership Strategy and Decision Making (LDR/307) |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Business model analysis |
| Length | about 1,045 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Business |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for LDR 307 Week 2
Charters, Shuttles and School Contracts: Analyzing and Redesigning the Business Model of a Nebraska Motorcoach Company
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
LDR/307: Leadership Strategy and Decision Making
Week 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Prairie Star Coach Lines, its revenue lines and its figures are composites written for a model paper.
Week 1 examined how the owners of Prairie Star Coach Lines, a composite family motorcoach company in Omaha with 48 coaches, were deciding whether to buy six new coaches. The analysis showed that most declined trips fall on about 40 peak days. That finding raised a deeper question: does Prairie Star's way of making money still fit its market? The company has three revenue lines. Charters for schools, athletic teams, tour operators and groups bring in about $15 million. Roughly $5 million comes from the timetabled airport run that links Lincoln with Eppley Airfield. Contracts to carry school activity groups for three districts bring in about $4 million. This paper analyzes the business model behind each line and proposes a redesign.
What a Business Model Is
Zott et al. (2011) reviewed research on business models and found that the term had been used in many ways, but that scholars increasingly saw it as a system of activities describing how a firm does business, centered on how value is created and captured. They noted that business models emphasize a system-level, holistic view and that firms can innovate through their business model, not only through products.
Business Models and Strategy
Teece (2010) argued that a business model articulates the logic, data and evidence showing how a business creates and delivers value to customers, together with the structure of revenues, costs and profits. A business model is not a strategy; a firm also needs a strategy to make its model hard to imitate. Good models, he wrote, require insight into customer needs and how to capture value from meeting them.
Choices and Consequences
Casadesus-Masanell and Ricart (2010) proposed that a business model consists of a set of managerial choices, about policies, assets and governance, and the consequences of those choices. Strategy is the choice of which business model to use, and tactics are the residual choices available once a model is in place. Their framework encourages managers to trace how one choice, such as owning all vehicles, produces consequences, such as idle assets in slow months.
Charters: Peak-Season Value
Charter customers value safe, reliable transportation for groups, with clean coaches and courteous drivers. They book through phone calls and the website. Prairie Star sets one price schedule for all dates. Revenue per coach day is highest in April, May, September and October, when sports, school trips and tours peak. From December to February, more than a third of the fleet sits idle on most days, but the company still pays for insurance, depreciation and maintenance. The choice to own enough coaches for peak demand and price uniformly produces strong peaks and costly troughs.
The Airport Shuttle: Scheduled Service
The shuttle serves travelers who prefer not to drive or park at the airport. It runs 12 round trips a day with full coaches at early morning and evening flight times and fewer than eight passengers on most midday runs. Tickets are sold online at a fixed fare. The line covers its direct costs but earns little, and midday runs lose money.
School Contracts: Steady but Underpriced
School districts value low cost and dependable service. Contracts are bid every three years and priced per mile at rates set when fuel and wages were lower. The line is steady, keeping drivers employed year-round, but margins have fallen to near zero.
Prairie Star runs three businesses under one name and prices all of them as if every day were an average day.
Where Value Is Lost
Value is lost in three places: idle coaches in winter, empty midday shuttle runs and outdated school pricing. Value is left uncaptured on peak charter days, when demand exceeds supply but prices stay the same.
Redesign: Charters
Prairie Star will adopt peak and off-peak pricing, with higher prices on the 40 busiest days and discounts in winter, and will add a winter product line, such as packaged tours to regional basketball tournaments and ski trips. For peak capacity, it will partner with two smaller operators to share coaches rather than owning enough for every peak, applying the partnership element of the business model.
Redesign: The Shuttle
The shuttle will drop two midday runs, add online dynamic pricing that rewards early booking and sell corporate accounts to employers whose staff travel often.
Redesign: School Contracts
At the next bid, Prairie Star will price contracts to cover current costs and offer a value-added option, such as GPS tracking for parents, that justifies a higher rate. If districts will not pay, the company will reduce its school commitment.
How the Lines Depend on Each Other
The three lines are not independent. School contracts keep drivers employed in winter, which helps retain them for the busy charter seasons. The shuttle gives new drivers predictable routes to learn on. Charters generate most of the profit that funds coach replacement. A redesign that drops one line could weaken the others, which is why the plan repairs pricing on school work rather than abandoning it and trims the shuttle rather than ending it.
Barriers to Change
Chesbrough (2010) argued that firms often struggle with business model innovation because of conflicts with existing assets and processes and because managers have difficulty seeing beyond the current model. He recommended experimentation and leadership commitment to overcome these barriers. At Prairie Star, the owners worry that peak pricing will upset loyal school customers and that partnerships will expose customer lists to rivals.
Testing the Redesign
To manage risk, Prairie Star will test peak pricing for one season with tour operators first, run the reduced shuttle schedule for three months and pilot the coach-sharing partnership for spring. Measures include revenue per coach day by month, shuttle load factors, partner trip volume and customer retention.
Conclusion
Business model research views a company's model as the system of choices through which it creates and captures value. Prairie Star's three lines share coaches and drivers but differ in customers and economics, and uniform pricing and full ownership of peak capacity leave value uncaptured on peak days and costs uncovered in slow months. Peak pricing, winter products, shuttle changes, realistic school pricing and coach-sharing partnerships, tested before full adoption, would fit the model to its market.
References
Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. E. (2010). From strategy to business models and onto tactics. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 195-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2010.01.004
Chesbrough, H. (2010). Business model innovation: Opportunities and barriers. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 354-363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.010
Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 172-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.003
Zott, C., Amit, R., & Massa, L. (2011). The business model: Recent developments and future research. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1019-1042. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311406265
What the LDR 307 Week 2 instructions ask
The second LDR 307 assignment commonly asks students to analyze an organization's business model and recommend changes. Many students organize the work with a canvas or a simple create, deliver and capture logic, covering who the customers are, what they are offered, how they are reached and served, where the money comes from and what it costs to run. Some prompts ask students to compare the current model with competitors' or to design a new model. A strong paper uses business model research, supports each element with evidence, identifies where value is created and lost and proposes design changes that fit the organization's strategy and resources. Use scholarly sources in APA format.
How this LDR 307 Week 2 example is built
Prairie Star treats itself as one business, but its three revenue lines have different customers, cost structures and profit. The paper first defines a business model as the logic by which a firm creates, delivers and captures value, drawing on a review of the field and on research distinguishing business models from strategy. A framework treating business models as reflections of strategic choices and their consequences guides the analysis. Each line is mapped: charters earn high margins on peak days and lose money on idle coaches in winter; the airport shuttle fills seats at commuter times but runs nearly empty midday; school contracts are steady but underpriced. Research on why established firms resist business model innovation explains the owners' hesitation, and a redesign follows.
LDR 307 Week 2 grading rubric: where the points go
Business model papers are graded on analytical clarity and the quality of the proposed design. Strong work defines the business model accurately, maps each element with evidence, such as revenue, costs and customer data, and identifies where the model creates or loses value. Graders reward recognition that a company may run several models at once and that changes to one element affect others. The redesign should fit the organization's strategy and resources, address risks and include measures. Graders notice when cost structure gets as much attention as revenue. Clear comparison of the current and proposed models, ideally in a table or structured summary, helps readers follow the reasoning.
LDR 307 Week 2 help: mistakes to avoid
A common mistake is describing the product and calling it a business model. Explain how the company makes money: who pays, for what, and what it costs to deliver. Another frequent problem is treating every revenue line as the same business; different customers and cost structures often mean different models. Separate them. Some papers fill in every box of a canvas without analysis. Focus on the elements that drive profit and risk. Others propose bold new models without considering resources, such as drivers or capital. Check feasibility. Finally, show how the redesign would be tested before full commitment, since business model changes carry real risk.
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- LDR 307 Week 4: Quality and Efficiency Improvement
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LDR 307 Week 2 questions, answered
What does LDR 307 Week 2 usually cover?
It usually covers business model analysis and design, including how an organization creates, delivers and captures value and how leaders can redesign the model for a changing market.
Where can I find a free LDR 307 Week 2 sample paper?
The Week 2 business model analysis of a composite Nebraska motorcoach company, with its three revenue lines and redesign, is shown above.
What is a business model?
It is the working logic of a business: what it offers, to whom, how it gets the offer to them and how it turns that into income above its costs.
How is a business model different from a strategy?
Strategy is the plan for competing and choosing a position, while the business model is the system of choices about customers, value, resources and revenue through which the strategy operates.
Why do established companies struggle to change business models?
Research points to conflicts with existing assets and processes, managers' focus on the current model and uncertainty about whether a new model will work.
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