comprehensive inquiry

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Definition

The comprehensive inquiry is the holistic inquiry of the business organization, covering all its aspects, elements, and interrelationships. This inquiry is at the core of strategy development, used in the creation of strategy for business model innovation -- the design of business organizations 'to be'. It is used for understanding the existing business organization - its problems, opportunities, behaviors, etc., employed for strategic assessment.

This inquiry is complemented by the strategic focus inquiry and the culture inquiry.

The business model serves as the guiding light (see inquiry) for the comprehensive inquiry, with its four aspects and business model elements. See business organization aspects for an explanation of the aspects and their role in inquiry. See business architecture for an architectural view of the business organization based on the four basic aspects.

Comprehensive inquiry process --
The inquiry follows the basic structure and principles of systems inquiry as explained in inquiry, systems inquiry, and iterative inquiry. The comprehensive inquiry has five sub-inquiries which collectively make up a holistic inquiry of the business organization. These inquires are each performed in iterative cycles -- one cycle being the execution of each of the five inquires listed below. Each inquiry execution fills in a portion of the business model. Portions of the model are further completed and refined with successive iterations. --

  • purpose inquiry -- An inquiry of the business organization from the purpose perspective as defined by the purpose aspect and focusing on, but not limited to, the business model elements in the purpose architecture.
  • function inquiry -- An inquiry of the business organization from the function perspective as defined by the function aspect and focusing on, but not limited to, the business model elements in the function architecture.
  • process inquiry -- An inquiry of the business organization from the process perspective as defined by the function aspect and focusing on, but not limited to, the business model elements in the process architecture.
  • structure inquiry -- An inquiry of the business organization from the structure perspective as defined by the structure aspect and focusing on, but not limited to, the business model elements in the structure architecture.
  • aspect integration inquiry -- An inquiry of aspect and business model element integration. This inquiry focuses on the interrelationships that result in the efficiencies, uniqueness, capabilities, and competitive advantages of the business.

Inquiry results --
The primary result of the inquiry is a business model for the actual business, either 'as is' or 'to be'. Other results include improved strategic thinking and business savvy. In the case of strategy formation, the process results in a business design alternatives, one or more of which are deployed.