The Progress Economy

Operand resources

Operand resources are those resources we need to do something with to make progress.

operand resource – a resource that needs to be acted upon in order for progress to be made

based on definition in Vargo, S.L.and Lusch, R.F.(2004) ‘Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing’, Journal of Marketing 68(1): 1–17.

The most obvious examples are goods – cars, hammers, sweets, machinery, etc. And in our modern, IT-forward, world, that includes digital goods – such as music and video streams. Data, usually as a digital goods, has become an increasingly important resource.

We also see locations, such as hospitals, classrooms, garages, as operand resources. So are their digital companions – websites, mobile apps, social media and virtual worlds.

As we discussed earlier, some systems are operand resources. Like a word processor or a manufacturer’s tooling. Both these examples need to be acted upon in order for progress to be made.

However, there is a stark contrast to the traditional goods-dominant mindset to note. Operand resources, such as goods, do not constitute the primary source of strategic benefit in the progress economy. That role, as we have seen, belongs to operant resources.

Let’s look at the typical operand resources seekers and helpers have and how they acquire them.

Seeker’s operand resources

As seekers progress through life, they accumulate a diverse array of operand resources. Arnould, Price, and Melsha, whose paper we encountered earlier, propose that seekers acquire their operand resources through:

• finding or self-creating
• inheriting or being gifted
• from previous [exchanges with helpers]

Arnould, Price and Melsha (2006) “Toward a cultural resource-based theory of the customer”

Take a moment to look around your own home, I’m sure you’ll notice numerous goods and potentially systems that fall into these categories. Your home itself is an operand resource, a location, you use in various progress attempts – to rest in, to feel safe and protected, to entertain etc.

In the last section we spoke of a seeker being the primary operant resource. And of the proposition continuum that tells us a seeker’s operant impact reduces the closer we get to relieving propositions. That does not mean their role as an operand resource necessarily increases. In fact it doesn’t change in three of Lovelock & Wirtz’s processing categories (possession, mental and information; see here).

However for the people processing category, a seeker may even function as an operand resource themselves. For example, during surgery or getting a hair cut.

Helper’s operand resources

Turning our attention to a helper’s operand resources, they are any:

• goods they offer (produced or sourced; physical or digital)
• tools/systems they use
• their physical and online locations

Whether a system is considered an operand or operant resource depends on its contribution to facilitating progress. For instance, a database is categorized as an operand resource since it requires action, while a chatbot can be regarded as an operant resource, leveraging its knowledge to assist users.

Helpers acquire their operand resources through

• finding them
• purposely developing them
• previous exchanges
• securing allocative rights to them from other helpers.

Securing allocative rights means either taking-over another helper (buy), or forming a partnership/ecosystem (ally). This includes platform-style helpers – those that offer to connect two other parties together.

The curious case of goods

Historically, goods have been seen as the primary driver of growth, while services were considered less important. This conventional view traces its roots back to Adam Smith’s seminal work, “Wealth of Nations”.

In the progress economy we look at goods differently.

Goods are, like all other resources, a carrier of capability. Their super-power is to freeze skills and knowledge, allowing them to be transported in time and location. Those skills and knowledge are then unfrozen during acts of resource integration.

An example will help here. Let’s consider listening to a band. You can directly experience their skills and knowledge by attending a live concert. Alternatively, you can listen to their CD or digital stream. In this second case, their performance (application of skills and knowledge) has been “frozen” in a recording studio onto a digital recording, transported physically or digitally to your location, and “unfrozen” when you press the play button (integrating the recording resource with a playback resource).

Goods, as service-dominant logic tells us, become distribution mechanisms for service provision.

Goods are distribution mechanisms for service provision

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What does this really mean? Well, a goods can be swapped for another resource that carries the same capability; and vice-versa. In practice it might be a many-one swap.

Nevertheless, we can envisage a swap of resources rather than the goods-dominant logic battle between goods and services.

Wealth as an operand resource

We often think of wealth as a resource. Does that hold up in the progress economy?

Well, wealth and value in the goods economy are somewhat synonymous. Wealth being a measure of value you hold that you can exchange. In the progress economy this is not true. Value emerges from making progress and needs to be recognised by a seeker for it to be real.

Wealth is the capability to partake in transitive service exchange. It is carried by service credits of which money, assets, IOUs, bitcoin are some examples of implementations. The more service credits you hold the wealthier you are and the more service you can indirectly exchange for.

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