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Our traditional thinking about value is grounded in the assumptions and the models of an industrial economy. According to this view, every company occupies a position on a value chain. Upstream, suppliers provide inputs. The company then adds value to these inputs, before passing them downstream to the next actor in the chain, the customer (whether another business or the final consumer). Seen from this perspective, strategy is primarily the art of positioning a company in the right place on the value chain — the right business, the right products and market segments, the right value-adding activities.
Today, however, this understanding of value is as outmoded as the old assembly line it resembles and so is the view of strategy that goes with it. Global competition, changing markets, and new technologies are opening up qualitatively new ways of creating value. The options available to companies, customers, and suppliers are proliferating in ways Henry Ford never dreamed of (Normann and Ramírez, 1993: 65).
Normann and Ramirez are making the point that the world is changing and new collaborations or what they called value constellations are coming together.
Moving from a value chain to a value constellation or a business ecosystem requires new ways of thinking and systems thinking provides the best way possible forward.
I am keen to explore more of this space as ecosystems in business, social impact and public policy are becoming the norm due to the complexity of the challenges we are facing.
