What Is Value Chain Analysis?
Find out how value chain analysis helps businesses study specific processes to make them more efficient.
- Business owners may use value chain analysis as a tool to deconstruct each process that their company employs.
- Making ensuring the product is delivered to clients as smoothly as possible is one of the objectives of value chain analysis.
- A value chain analysis leads to a more effective and competitive firm.
- Entrepreneurs and small company owners who want to comprehend and enhance their business processes should read this article.
Business leaders use value chain analysis as a tool to deconstruct each process that their company employs. This study may be utilized to enhance each of the company’s operational procedures, increasing corporate efficiency and creating a competitive edge.
Firms of various kinds, from sole proprietorships to enterprise-level businesses, employ value chain analysis. Every organization has a different set of procedures to carry out its operations, and each one of them may use value chain analysis to examine and enhance these procedures.
What is value chain analysis?
A value chain is the whole spectrum of commercial operations that are carried out to bring a good or service from inception to delivery. These activities include design, production, marketing, and distribution. The value chain for businesses that manufacture items begins with the raw materials used to create the products and includes everything that is done before the product is sold to customers. Value chain analysis identifies any flaws in these procedures and hastens time to market while reducing costs and increasing quality.
Value chain analysis has the power to transform an organization, enhance the goods and services it provides, and strengthen ties with other businesses and their consumers or customers. The goal of value chain analysis, according to the United States Postal Service (USPS), is “to produce value that surpasses the cost of delivering the product or service and provides a profit margin.”
Value chain vs. supply chain
A value chain is similar to a supply chain, but it takes into account a few extra factors.
According to Jon Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, “the supply chain generally looks at the parts or materials that go into a product, where a product is manufactured, and the transportation logistics of getting it from the factory to the store.”
According to him, the value chain “considers contributions such product design, research and development, advertising, and other marketing.” Even the effort of the accountants, bankers, attorneys, and IT specialists who make a product viable is taken into account.
What is Porter’s value chain framework?
Michael E. Porter from Harvard Business School was the first to establish the idea of a value chain. Porter explored the value chain idea in his book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. Porter also established the Five Forces model to illustrate organizations where they stand among their competitors in the marketplace (Free Press, 1998).
Porter argued that “Competitive advantage cannot be grasped by considering a corporation as a whole.” It results from the several distinct tasks that a company completes in the design, production, marketing, delivery, and support of its product. Each of these operations may help a company’s position in terms of comparable costs and provide a foundation for differentiation. Learn how to analyses your competitors.
Porter divides a company’s operations into two groups in his book: main and support.
Primary activities
These are a company’s main duties, or all the tasks required to make and market its product:
Inbound logistics involves the receiving, storing and distributing of raw materials used in the production process.
Operations is the stage at which the raw materials are turned into the final product.
Outbound logistics is the distribution of the final product to consumers.
Marketing and sales involve advertising, promotions, sales-force organization, distribution channels, pricing and managing the final product to ensure it targets the appropriate consumer groups.
Service comprises the actions needed to maintain the product’s performance after it is produced, including installation, training, maintenance, repair, warranty and after-sale services.
Support activities
Support activities help the primary functions:
Procurement is how the raw materials for the product are obtained.
Technology development can be used in the research and development stage, in how new products are developed and designed, and in process automation.
Human resource management includes the activities involved in hiring and retaining the proper employees to help design, build and market the product. These could be tracked with a human resource information system.
Firm infrastructure refers to an organization’s structure as well as its management, planning, accounting, finance and quality-control mechanisms. This can include cloud computing and accounting software.
How do you conduct a value chain analysis?
A company should identify each stage in its manufacturing process, note phases that may be removed, and consider other potential improvements before doing a value chain analysis. This aids businesses in identifying the best customer value and expanding or improving that value, leading to cost savings or increased output. Customers will select you over your competitors when they receive high-quality items at reduced prices at the end of the process.
Value chain analysis may be done using either a cost advantage or a differentiation advantage strategy. These are the filters you should use to examine your company.
Cost advantage
Businesses should identify the cost drivers for each activity after defining their main and supporting activities. An element that impacts an activity’s or process’s cost is known as a cost driver.
- Workday duration and equipment setup
- pay scales
- components used to create things
- Shipping
Your company should understand the connections between operations so that it may decrease expenses in other areas if costs are lowered in one. Then, you may find ways to lower total expenses. [Discover how to upgrade your company’s technology to reduce costs and increase productivity.]
Differentiation advantage
The first step in this process is to identify the activities that add the most value for consumers. What operations distinguish your company and add the greatest value? These could involve the following:
- Using relevant marketing techniques
- understanding products and systems
- quicker phone response
- exceeding client expectations
The next stage is to assess these tactics to raise the value they offer. For instance, you may concentrate on customer service, expand the choices for customizing goods or services, provide incentives, or include more product features. Choose the one that will be most valuable and able to be sustained over the long term from among these unusual activities.
What are the goals and outcomes of value chain analysis?
You may find areas in your company that can be enhanced for productivity and profitability by using value chain analysis. In addition to making sure your mechanical procedures are as effective as possible, you also want to maintain clients’ feelings of security and confidence so they will continue to support your company. Your firm may identify ways to enhance its value offer and stand out in the market by researching and evaluating the quality of your products and the efficiency of your services, as well as lowering corporate expenses.
What are the benefits of a value chain analysis?
There are multiple benefits to value chain analysis:
- Learn the fundamentals of the many procedures that your company employs and the reasons behind them.
- Determine any workflow bottlenecks that exist or might arise, as well as any additional inefficiencies.
- Aim to automate, outsource, or restructure jobs that can.
- Reduce waste and deprioritize or remove useless work.
Businesses may identify key activities, improve workflow, and boost efficiency using the insights they obtain from value chain analysis. These, in turn, lower expenses and overhead, boosting the company’s profit margins.
What are value chain management and mapping?
Value chain management is a way to coordinate all aspect of your company’s operations. It may be necessary to make changes to a number of systems, structures, and procedures while managing value chain operations. The trick is to identify prospective innovation areas (some even argue innovation is the key to successful businesses).
Maintaining the value of a firm requires developing a plan to build and improve operations. Businesses can more clearly understand where they need to improve and where they may save expenses. Additionally, it enables companies to priorities their efforts when determining the value, they wish to add.
Creating a value chain map may help you identify how each of your business operations affects the organization and its clients. Following that, you may decide what to change and how. Communication is crucial in both value chain management and mapping. Stakeholders must stay in touch and be willing to work together throughout the organization’s processes.
What is an example of a successful value chain?
Starbucks is a great example of a company using the value chain concept to create value for its clients. The business establishes links around the globe through its activities, ensures the highest-quality tastes, and seeks to create a sustainable future. Its value chain and continuing study make this feasible.
Like many others, Starbucks’ value chain is intricate, but it guarantees value that will win over customers and keep them loyal to the business. Starbucks starts by offering customers the chance to sample a selection of coffees made with beans from places including Latin America, Africa, Arabia, Asia, and the Pacific (inbound logistics). The business visits coffee producers frequently and forges ties that last a lifetime. Starbucks forms alliances all around the world to provide its consumers with the greatest coffee. The company’s coffee is afterwards sold in shops all over the world (operations, outbound logistics), enabling customers to savour premium tastes at home or in a nearby Starbucks.
Interacting with consumers and ensuring that the business offers top-notch service are additional components of Starbucks’ value chain. The organization uses the excellent opportunity for engagement provided by its social media accounts to support its marketing, sales, and customer service efforts.
Starbucks describes their coffee as “the product of a lengthy journey—from the field, via the farmer, roaster, and into your anxiously awaiting hands. Each stage is crucial in determining the flavour of that coffee.
The value chain analysis examines every stage and looks for methods to improve the procedure so Starbucks can continue to be the most competitive company and the most cost-effective one in the industry.
Why does value chain analysis matter?
An extensive investigation of every action a company performs, from sourcing raw materials through producing, distributing, and selling its goods or services, is known as a value chain analysis. This research provides business owners and managers with in-depth knowledge of the key profit and expense areas inside their organization. With that information, businesses can cut waste, spot strategic advantages, and allocate resources to their most profitable operations.
