For a company to maintain or achieve its market leadership position, it needs to look beyond the final product or service. It’s essential to understand, optimize, and align all activities that add value to the customer.
The value chain is one of the most popular instruments for achieving these objectives. It provides a systemic view of a company’s internal activities, helping to identify opportunities for improvement, cost reduction, and increased efficiency.
Want to learn more about the value chain? Continue reading this post for a 男人j桶进女人p无遮挡全过程 guide to implementing it in your business!
What is a value chain?
The value chain is a business process management methodology that was developed in 1985 by Michael Porter. It is based on the premise that businesses already operate through a chain of activities and that, by analyzing them, it is possible to add more value to the customer.
Porter divides these activities into two main groups: primary processes and supporting processes. Understanding which activities add value for the client is the aim of mapping them.
This practice allows us to identify any inefficiencies or waste that affect costs and consumer evaluation and correct them.
It also enables the optimization of processes that add more value to the customer. In addition to generating greater financial gains for the business, addressing these areas allows you to clearly see which of your competitive advantages can be exploited.
Understand the details of each of them!
Primary processes
Primary processes are those that directly contribute to creating value for the company’s customers and are also known as core activities.
Among them are:
- inbound logistics (receipt and storage of inputs);
- operations (transformation of inputs into products or services);
- outbound logistics (distribution of the finished product);
- marketing and sales;
- after-sales services.
Support processes
By assisting with the main company operations, support processes indirectly contribute to value generation.
Check out examples of processes that can fall under this classification:
- company infrastructure ( financial management , planning, communication and others);
- human resource management;
- technological development;
- acquisition of supplies and equipment.
How should the value chain be applied in your company?
Now that you understand the concept of the value chain, it’s time to learn how to implement it in your company.
Follow a step by step guide!
Understand the business and its processes
The first step to implementing a value chain in your business is to have a clear understanding of how the company operates. Therefore, map out the main processes and workflows, from input to delivery of the final product or service.
This can be done in a variety of ways, including analyzing internal documents, direct observation, and team interviews. For easier visualization, you can create a simple flowchart.
For a bakery, for example, it would look like this:
Flour and yeast purchase > Bread production > Storage > Counter sales > Customer service.
Map value chain activities
With the processes understood, it’s time to classify each activity as primary or supporting, following Porter’s model. The value chain’s visual representation makes analysis easier to understand and makes it easier to spot bottlenecks and areas for development.
Note how the categorization of primary processes could be done in a clothing store:
- operations : quality control of parts and stock organization;
- outbound logistics : delivery of goods to retail locations;
- marketing and sales : campaigns to attract customers and boost business;
- after-sales services : customer service and complaints management.
The support processes in the example would be:
- infrastructure : management of store facilities;
- human resource management : training and management of employees;
- technological development : implementation of an inventory control system;
- acquisition of inputs : contracts with reliable suppliers.
Evaluate the costs and efficiency of each activity
Continuing the process of implementing the value chain in your business requires evaluating the costs and efficiency of your activities.
The task involves looking at each of them and asking questions like:
- Is this activity essential to the client?
- Does it add perceived value?
- Is there waste or bottlenecks in the process?
These questions help identify critical points that can affect the company’s performance. Keep in mind that bottlenecks often result in rework, poor-quality products or services, and customer dis男人j桶进女人p无遮挡全过程.
Take, for example, a restaurant that has insufficient delivery drivers to meet demand, generating customer complaints about delays and late deliveries. This issue can be resolved by outsourcing the delivery service, for example.
Search for optimizations and monitor the results
Once you’ve mapped your activities and identified critical points, the focus should be on implementing solutions that correct inefficiencies and deliver benefits. Some possibilities include automating tasks, training your team, establishing strategies, and more.
Consider a cosmetics store that only sells in-person. To improve the customer experience, it could create a website and accept online orders. This measure may be enough to increase its reach and revenue.
In any case, after investing in improvements, measure the results to ensure that the changes have a positive impact and are sustainable in the long term. To do this, consider using KPIs (key performance indicators).
Examples of KPIs include cost per unit produced, rework rate, customer 男人j桶进女人p无遮挡全过程 level, and contribution margin per product. These indicators allow you to assess progress and make adjustments whenever necessary.
As you’ve seen, implementing a value chain is a strategic step for businesses to grow in a structured and efficient manner. By mapping internal activities, identifying bottlenecks, and seeking optimizations, it’s possible to transform processes into sources of market advantage.