We have an innovation problem; contributing to stagnating growth (the “tepid twenties” as the Chief of IMF has called it).
We’re re-imagining VALUE as a view of making PROGRESS (to a more desirable state) – addressing blindspots in our traditional view
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- Our traditional value model (value-in-exchange) has been wildly successful…
- …but it has innovation and growth blind spots:
- before, after, and across a point of exchange
- a goods vs services mentality
- …and a poor, hard to leverage, definition of value
- Progress – moving over time to a more desirable state – is our new focus. It:
- is simpler to define, capture and act upon
- comprises functional, non-functional and contextual elements
- is made through a series of resource integrations.
- removes the point of exchange
- Value now:
- incrementally emerges as progress is made – value-through-progress
- needs to be recognised – akin to revenue recognition – for it to be meaningful; often on different timescale to it emerging
…where PROGRESS PROPOSITIONS are bundles of supplementary resources, offering to reduce a seeker’s lack of resource hurdle to making progress
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- Progress propositions address a lack of resource (the fundamental, of six, progress hurdle) limiting progress.
- They include a proposition specific:
- resource mix – employees, systems, data, goods, physical resources, locations
- proposed series of progress-making activities (better known as instructions, manuals, process, recipe…)
- But they introduce 5 new progress hurdles to minimise*.
- Propositions sit on a continuum between:
- enabling
- relieving
- …based on who performs the majority of progress-making activities
- Progress is now a joint endeavour; value is co-created
* (lack of resource), adoptability, resistance, lack of confidence, misalignment on continuum, equitable exchange
…leading us to a more ACTIONABLE definition of INNOVATION and a set of innovation levers – based on improving progress
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innovation: creating and executing new – to the individual, firm, market, industry or world – progress proposition(s) that offer some combination of:
- improving how to make today’s potential progress
- increasing progress that can be made (getting seeker’s closer to their individual progress sought)
- reducing one or more of the six progress hurdles*
- persuading value to be recognised quicker
whilst maintaining, or improving, the survivability of the innovator (individual, organisation, ecosystem, service system)
And the progress economy reveals a variety of levers making innovation more systematic, not least:
- altering the resource mix
- improving individual resources
- moving along the continuum
- responding more individualistic to progress
- reducing progress hurdles
- enhancing progress-making activities
…revealing actionable definitions, architectures and tools
…and finding we can offer the new notion of value called for to transition to the CIRCULAR ECONOMY
one of the biggest challenges…to transition from linear to circular is that it requires…revisiting the very notion of value creation
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2023) “From ambition to action: an adaptive strategy for circular design”
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- Traditional Value-in-exchange thinking (embed⇒exchange⇒destroy) encourages the linear economy of take⇒make⇒waste
- Value-through-progress thinking frees us from the distracting focus on a moment of exchange
- Firing up the circular economy…if that is the progress being sought
selected cases and examples
[under development – anything below is likely to be a placeholder / work in progress at the moment…]
