Unit Economics as a Tool for Analysing the Effectiveness of Business Models

In the modern digital economy, the assessment of business performance is increasingly shifting from aggregated financial reporting to customer-focused metrics. The diploma thesis Unit Economics as a Tool for Analysing the Effectiveness of Business Models examines unit economics as a key approach to evaluating sustainable profitability, identifying growth drivers, and assessing the scalability potential of business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) models.

In the theoretical part, the research explores the methodology for calculating unit economics indicators and their relationship with classical financial analysis, demonstrating that unit economics complements and extends traditional approaches to assessing business efficiency.

The practical part of the research focuses on two small and medium-sized enterprises based in the United Kingdom: the first operating under an e-commerce (B2C) model, and the second following a subscription-based (B2B) model. On the basis of the calculations, methodological specifics in the computation and interpretation of metrics for both types of business models were analysed.

The results revealed key challenges specific to each model: a high churn rate and a long customer acquisition cost (CAC) payback period in the B2B model, and a lower customer lifetime value (CLTV) to CAC ratio compared to the reference metric in the B2C segment.

Recommendations were provided to improve performance indicators to increase efficiency prior to further scaling, as scaling a business model without addressing negative unit economics metrics leads to growing operational losses, which may ultimately result in financial failure.

The diploma thesis also explores the impact of human capital on improving efficiency at the unit level and confirms that strategic talent management directly contributes to increasing CLTV and reducing CAC, thereby strengthening the overall financial sustainability of the company.

In conclusion, it can be stated that unit economics represents a fundamental tool for assessing the profitability of a business model and a key metric in making investment decisions aimed at sustainable growth.