well-being-through-progress
The progress economy reframes value creation by focusing on progress rather than static value. Progress is seen as a dynamic movement towards a more desirable state, with value emerging as this progress is made. This approach encourages systematic innovation by addressing progress hurdles and recognizing the complexities and multifaceted nature of value creation.
Value-in-use
The value-in-use model emphasizes incremental value creation through the active use of value propositions, solving blind spots present in the traditional value-in-exchange model. It focuses on service as the key driver of value, promoting adaptability and well-being without the goods versus services debate. Progress relies on beneficiary judgment, dialogue, and resource integration, encouraging continuous value co-creation and innovation.
Value-in-Exchange
The traditional value-in-exchange model has been wildly successful. But its narrow focus on a point of exchange and difficulties in defining what value actually is now hinders growth. Sadly, this model encourages incremental over radical innovation, and has blind spots, missing out on opportunities before and after exchanges, and hinders the shift to a circular economy.
Value recognition
What we’re thinking Value emerges through progress…but is the value that progressively emerges, well, valuable? Or, to put another way, how does a seeker feel to: get 80km of a 100km journey; learn some Mandarin Chinese; half hang up a picture? It turns out the answer is: it depends. Whilst value incrementally emerges as progress is made – from none at progress origin to maximum at progress sought – the progress seeker needs recognise it for it be become something of substance. Like accountants recognise revenue. A seeker’s recognition schedule often differs from when value emerges. It might be milestone…
Value destruction
What we’re thinking If we create value when making progress can we also destroy it? And since progress is a joint endeavour when engaging a progress proposition, leading to value co-creation, can value be co-destroyed? Yes, value can be destroyed. As it emerges from progress, if progress is hindered then it may be destroyed. However, value destruction doesn’t require a joint effort, so talk of value co-destruction, mirroring co-creation, is misleading. Lintula et al’s framework of value co-destruction is a useful tool to explore the better named value destruction further. As well as plan for recovery. Editing below here Value…
What is value?
Beyond Value Podcast Episode: Value: difficult to define, agree upon, and measure; yet we all talk about maximising, embedding and adding it to products. But this traditional view of value – despite its past success – is increasingly hindering innovation and holding back growth. It’s time to re-imagine our view of value. What we’re thinking You wouldn’t be alone in thinking value is a simple concept. We regularly use the word; adding and creating value here and there, wondering what value something brings, making value judgements, and so on. But this is rather superficial. When pushed to define what we…
Tag: Value
Value: difficult to define, agree upon, and measure; yet we all talk about maximising, embedding and adding it to products. But this traditional view of value – despite its past success – is increasingly hindering innovation and holding back growth. It’s time to re-imagine our view of value.
What we’re thinking
You wouldn’t be alone in thinking value is a simple concept. We regularly use the word; adding and creating value here and there, wondering what value something brings, making value judgements, and so on.
But this is rather superficial. When pushed to define what we mean by value, things get trickier. It means many things to many people and at different times.
Value-in-exchange is our traditional model – manufacturers increasingly embed value though the supply chain, which the gets exchanged with an end customer, who uses up that value.
That’s been a highly successful model, powering the explosive growth we’ve seen over the last few centuries. But it has several blindspots that are increasingly becoming impactful
If we instead notice that products only create value when they do something for customers, then we shift to service-forward thinking and value-in-use model.
Now we talk of increasing well-being and that service (singular) is the unit of economic exchange; value emerges through use (or in context).
Value-in-exchnage and service-forward thinking offer to solve the blindspots of value-in-exchange – and so retire growth and innovation
However, the use of the word value still drives our thinking back to exchange and the challenges that gives us in modern economy
The solution is to realise it is increases in well-being that everyone is after. And that that is operationalised by seeing increase in well-being as making progress towards more desired states
Why this matters
Value becomes comparisons of progress, made before, during, and after a progress attempt. This is the value-through-progress model we introduce
Value is not co-created, progress is often a joint endeavour, from which determination of value emerges. The time-line of value changes from a point of exchange to a more continuous activity; requiring a different engagement model, in most cases. Organisations are now concerned with persuading customers to engage with them and to not abandon progress attempts. Where progress is held up, value can be destroyed.
Innovation becomes an act of discovering ways to enable better progress (rather than embed/add more value) – something that is easier to operationalise and turn into a systemic act
Similarly, sales, becomes an act of convincing a customer you can best enable them to make progress.
Importantly, whilst improvement in well-being emerges as progress is made, this needs to be recognised by the progress maker before it becomes meaningful to them. This is akin to revenue recognition in the accounting world.
