Derek F. Abell (born 1938)[1] is the founding president and Professor Emeritus at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin. In 2012, he also became the international dean at HSM Educação in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is a published author of books and academic journal articles, mostly in the fields of strategic marketing, general management, leadership, and executive responsibilities.[2] One of his most significant contributions has been the creation of the Three Dimensional Business Definition Model.
The Three Dimensional Business Definition model (or Abell model) helps a company define its business. Prior to Abell’s model, it was common to define a business either through its resource capabilities or its programs of activity, such as with a product/market grid.[3] According to his book, Defining the Business, Abell suggests the previous two-dimensional definitions were insufficient, and instead created a three-dimensional analysis. The three dimensions in Abell's model are:[4]
Served Customer Groups (who are the customers)
Served Customer Functions (what are the customers' needs)
Technologies Utilized (how are needs being satisfied)
Putting shareholder value in the right perspective. Chapter 9 in Organization 21C: Someday all organizations will lead this way, ed. Subir Chowdhury. Prentice Hall, 2003.
Reinventing the Management Education Industry – A Revolution in the Making. Chapter 3.2 in Business Excellence in technologieorientierten Unternehmen. Friedrik Hacklin, Christian Marxt. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2008.
The future of strategy is leadership. (2006), Journal of Business Research, 59(3): 310–314.
Leadership education as a moving target. (2005), International Journal of Leadership Education 1(1): 1–8.
Competing today while preparing for tomorrow. (1999), Sloan Management Review, 40(3): 73–81.
Strategic windows. (1978), Journal of Marketing, 42(3): 21–26.
The Past, Present, and Future of Strategy: Broadening Challenges; Advancing Insight. (2015), Iberoamerican Journal Of Strategic Management (IJSM), 13(3), 07-18.